Cynthia Liu, the founder of the K-12 News Network and a public school parent in California, urges President Obama to read “Reign of Error.”
Liu warns him that he won’t like it, but that is exactly why he must read it. He must listen to views other than the ones he gets from his staff and the Department of Education, which no doubt gives him a rosy picture of the great success of Race to the Top.
Liu writes:
“Those babies and toddlers you kissed grew up some, and are now entering kindergarten and first grade. In some states, children as young as first grade might be taking tests on art instead of actually creating art, or doing worksheets for “homework”. Under such age-inappropriate instruction, the joy and curiosity most children are born with seeps from their spirits like air from a balloon, the sparkle of excitement in their eyes and important questions like “why?” and “how?” stop. And their parents are MAD. Not at teachers, but at unending tests, one-size-fits-all data-driven instruction, forty and fifty kids per classroom, and important things still missing from the school day like art, music, physical education, science, history, and more. You see, that’s what Gen X parents grew up with — orchestra, marching band, jazz band, choir, three school plays a year, wood shop/industrial arts, school librarians and school nurses. ALL THAT IS GONE IN MANY SCHOOLS. Parents are mad because those who went to American public school decades ago know that our children are getting less now than we had then. That’s wrong. President Obama, parents, and teachers, are increasingly mad at YOU.
Liu admires President Obama. She thinks there is still time to get it right.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s clear that Barack Obama has precisely the Department of Education that he wants. It would be great if he read the book, but I doubt very seriously that it would do any good. He seems to be a true believer in standards and testing, privatization, VAM–the whole deform package. The deformers are a remarkably recalcitrant lot. It’s very, very rare that anything penetrates their certainty. The typical deformer is self-certified member of the top rungs of the meritocracy who can’t be wrong about anything. Barry Obama is twice certified by the people, which compounds the problem. I think that he thinks that on educational issues he has a mandate, or at least a free pass. And he has inhabited the deform echo chamber for a long, long time now.
I have to agree.
I emailed the DOE with specific questions on Ohio charter schools and I got back an incredibly patronizing and dismissive dictionary-definition of “charter schools” by an employee who was hired to promote charter schools. This person has some title, I don’t recall what, specifically.
I live here and I’ve been reading about Ohio “reform” since 2009. Responding to questions with the federal statutory definition of “charter school” is an absolute blow-off. I was a little amused that they believe parents who have been living with “reform” for more than a decade now require definition of terms 🙂
They’re not interested in hearing from public school parents.
The fact is Arne Duncan’s views on education are virtually indistinguishable from those of Jeb Bush. Duncan doesn’t use the phrase “government schools”, but he may as well.
K12NN is posting articles that you may not see elsewhere. In the Los Angeles area, we need to promote more community involvement and awareness before it’s too late. The attempted rollout of iPads for well over 600,000 students, a plan conceived and orchestrated by our Broad Academy Superintendent, is finally shining a light on the corporate lead policies that are not just reckless and poorly thought out, but could ultimately bankrupt a district that is already in major financial trouble.
Check this out: http://bit.ly/1e73gzN
K12 News Network is a valuable tool for us and Cynthia is always on track with her essays. She recently published one of mine, and we educators in LA seem to be mainly in unison on the issue of Deasy/Duncan/Obama/Broad and the other seeming enemies of public education.
Unfortunately, the wealth and nepotism that is represented in LA, and in California, politics, makes it daunting for those of us in support of strenghthening and preserving our public schools.
‘Educator’, above, talks of the possibility of our LAUSD school system possibly going bankrupt in time. Many of us worry that is the goal of the current Superintendent Deasy and his mentor, Eli Broad. Ergo, $1000 iPads for 650,000 students, without controls. Once bankrupt, the scenario may read that the billionaires, certainly Broad and Riordan (plus Waltons and Murdoch), could swoop in and take over, and easily privatize, the second largest school district in the Nation.
Great idea. I will write a letter to the President. Perhaps if all teachers wrote a letter encouraging him to read the book, it might make a difference. We have to keep trying…Our children are suffering from all this mandated bunk… Teachers are walking out of schools. If I retire this year, I will continue to fight for our students everyday on another front..CAn’t wait..Hear my VOICE..
If you write a book called Audacity of Hope, you would want to improve the public schools to put your own children in them. Hope is wanting for every child the best that you want for your children.
The dream of a decent and equitable education for every child in America is still alive. Every president should want to put their child in the worst school in D.C. The lowest common denominator should be so good that it is good enough for even the president’s child. That would be having some skin in the game and leading by example.
Obama’s position on education is the neo-liberal stance that he has for everything else. Cynthia, you must look at the big picture: Penny Pritzker backed and bankrolled Obama.
NSA, Tuesday’s kill list, comparing the shutdown to striking workers who should be fired, Obama put social security and medicare on the budget table at a point when the republicans weren’t even bringing it up, the very secret, behind closed doors unless you’re a CEO of a multinational TPP deal, supporting Monsanto’s gmo seeds and food while Michelle Obama plants an organic garden at the White House, Obamacare the working public’s gift to the insurance companies, the American medical industry, and the list goes on.
How can anyone ignore the whole package of the empty shell our president is? A hollow, lying, angry excuse for complete lack of humanity.
Look at Obama’s actions not his rhetoric.
Yes…Mdm…Pritzker on the Chicago school board, and now chosen by him to be in Obama’s inner education circle, is probably as telling as his support of his basketball buddy Duncan. All that you report shows him to be a major corporatist…his appointment to head the FDA was the VP at Monsanto. Michelle is the true bait and switch element. It is heartbreaking to watch this whole shell game and have NO power to make change. We can write endless letters to the WH to no avail. No one ever reads them.
We seem to all have caught on to this political sham. And yes, actions speak louder than words.
Please save me a rocking chair next to you and teach me to knit.
We’re ready, you and me, Ellen, got my knitting too. When will the rest of the citoyens de notre paye open their eyes?
Thank you for your words.
Mme.
Get it straight. Obama and Duncan could care less about Diane, me, you or anyone else except what their masters have determined what they will do. They have been this way since at least the start of 1990. Do you really think they care what she or you say or do unless it is pain. Words don’t count unless it causes PAIN. Then they might listen a bit to shut them up. This is why I have taken on the iPads and we drove off Marshall Tuck from King Tony’s PLAS schools for stealing 1/2 of the school funds, Jaime Aquino for his illegal Title 1, thanks to the California Title 1 Parent Union, and my analysis and documents on the iPad fiasco and world wide robbery by Apple. Let’s also not forget the problems with Microsoft. They sent down who said they were the main community person for Microsoft to LAUSD to complain about their being not able to compete. So, even though I hate Gates and Windows 7, this is business and the potential financial survival of many school districts so I called the L.A. office to find her to offer help to get the $200 with a 5 year guarantee device instead of the $1,000 device with only 3 years guarantee. They did not know who she was and gave me the number for Seattle. I called and they did not know and then when I asked how they did not know of their own person for billions they hung up the phone. I tried to call again and my call was repeatedly shut off as soon as it rang. So, I recalled the L.A. office and they told me where to go. OK, now you are going to also, as is Apple, have a very bad set of days coming soon. This is just the beginning as you have no idea of the information and documents I have on this internationally. By the way, the post office just took a flash drive out of two envelopes, resealed them and sent them on sealed with nothing in them. They messed up as this was sent to someone very close to major law enforcement. Stupid is as Stupid does. After over 40 years of this do they really think I care if they do that? They just got me more after them for this stupidity. Just Keep it Up Fools.
Just a note of explanation.
George is neither a parent nor an educator, and although he frequently speaks his opinions at LAUSD School Board meetings, he is not a functionary of government, nor a representative of the many educators in LA and in California who post on this blog site.
What’s your point?
Even if George is paid to go to the school board, good on him. Where are all the teachers, teachers representatives, and parents at these meetings?
Looks like they’re all out eating frozen yogurt while public education died. Explain that.
TC, clearly you are not a teacher. I certainly hope that you are not connected to TC (Teacher’s College the hated workshop model) but I digress. Surely you are not a teacher, because if you were you would know that teachers are not out eating frozen yogurt. They are at home, wriitng lesson plans, strategy lessons, guided reading lessons, commemorating the mountain of data that is required by schools these days, sifting through their conference log notes, creating materials so called artifacts, and quite possibly updating their logs that they must keep to record the harassment they are subjected to in so many schools these days. I speak as a NYC teacher. Yep, that!s what’s going on out there in the world of teaching in Obama RTTT education land.
Ya, I realize teaching is hard work, which is why I never pondered that job. Frozen yogurt, its just a joke.
Who is responsible for protecting public education???
All citizens equally?
Parents more so?
Public school teachers because they live it everyday and know what is going on?
The public school teachers union? (one would hope)
I agree w/Mme DeFarge, writing letters to neoliberals, might as well post them on the wind. My sense is this juggernaut cannot be stopped until middle & upper-middle-class voters get angry & start to organize and apply pressure. Voters everywhere are behind the 8ball because of lack of info– due to media pandering, parroting conservative & liberal platitudes instead of investigative journalism. These voters are selfish. In the Midwest they were sure deform was all about dumping fat-gov ed policies & union-bashing, which would surely lower their taxes. In the Northeast they were sure deform was all about fixing those awful inner city schools, & would ‘obviously’ never reach a hand into their solid, well-performing schools for which they pay very high property taxes.
Let’s hope the sleeping giant is waking up.
It is clear to us and to the world that the 38% or so of the Tea Party can now not only punish America. but can make us lose the full faith of our economy for all the lenders to us, China, Korea, Japan, the Saudis, and if they call in their T-bills, we will go under as a nation. For the first time in our history, under shrub Bush, we became a debtor nation, and no Dem president, and surely no Repub, seems to pull us out of that stance.
But we see all elected officials enter office middle class and end their careers as multi millionaires. They are allowed insider trading. They are allowed to take graft in the form of donations to their campaigns, and all the perks of being our representatives.
But they mainly represent only themselves. Our system of government has gon
gone down the tubes.
This softward today seems to be sick…and I cannot review what I write so pleas excuse typs.
software is sick..excuse typos please.
I did the same thing. I received an e- mail from the Obama campaign in which they asked me to rate issues in order of importance. My eyes went straight to a section that asked for comments. I wrote that I was concerned about the current attempt to destroy the public schools. I suggested that the president and Arne read your book. I know he won’t read my suggestion but perhaps somebody will. I don’t lead any organization. I have no influence. I’m just a retired Detroit teacher who can’t believe what’s happening.