There is a pattern on the rug.
First, you silence the teachers’ unions.
Then, you strip teachers of tenure, ie, any job protection, to keep them fearful.
Along the way, you keep saying that the public schools are broken, failing, obsolete.
Keep demonizing teachers.
Destroy public confidence in public schools.
That clears the way to hand public money to private corporations. That opens the door to for- profit schools.
As Randi says in this article, “Follow the Money.”
Here is how it happened in Indiana.
There was a snag in the plan when the voters turned out privatizer-in-chief Tony Bennett and elected Glenda Ritz, who polled more votes than the governor.
Since then, Tony Bennett was hired by Florida but resigned because of a grade-fixing scandal back home in Indiana. And Governor Mike Pence has set out to strip the job of Commissioner of Education of all its powers, to sneer at the voters and keep the destruction of public education on track.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Keep telling it the way it is. The way it’s going, a lot of parents are going to opt for home schooling, and a lot of children will receive a better education.
Home schooling is a pretty pale substitute for being taught among your peers by certified teachers. I shutter to think that’s the way this nation is headed.
arg. *shudder* of course.
I think I’d shutter that thought also!
Actually, homeschooling is an excellent way to educate kids. All the certified teachers I know who homeschool their own kids (and there are many of them) say that their training for the classroom was irrelevant when it came to teaching their own children. And given that homeschoolers learn among a community of people of all ages, not just age-segregated classrooms, they develop social skills superior to kids in school. Colleges love them — my own two kids are doing great there. Perhaps it’s time to open your mind to what’s working in the world of education.
I bet when disaggregating data, while controlling for parental wealth/income and the mother’s educational level, public school kids would crush homeschooled kids. Our public school kids crush everyone else when such an analysis ensues.
We in Indiana are all to familiar with this story. Let me add to it. The superintendent of the Merrillville public schools, Dr. Tony Lux confronted Bennett here in Highland saying he could tell him right then which schools would receive high ratings in Bennett’s A – F ratings, those with the most money. He also wrote a beautiful column for our local paper and had also previously written for our local papers.
Unfortunately, where educators look to the truth, money supersedes in importance all too often and the power structure seeks to push their limited agenda. With the power these entities too often succeed and “truth” suffers. We can only hope that “you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free”. It will take time but after the elections yesterday there is hope that maybe the tide is turning, not everywhere, but enough to give us hope and continue the good fight.
best thing in this article:
“So abhorrent is the attack on Ritz and traditional education that there are those who are floating her name for governor in 2016 when Pence is expected to seek a second term. I don’t know that Ritz could win. But given the way it is going, she well could be the hallmark of the Democratic governor candidate’s campaign.”
I have a question: why is this just happening now? Why has it not been attempted in other decades (privatizing public education)? Is it because the public education realm has gotten so big it is just too tempting for money-seekers to not want to turn over every stone? Or did the hold that Democrats had weaken with the signing of NCLB? I am reading as much as I can (when I have the time), but if anyone has a succinct answer, I’m always appreciative.
Joanna,
It’s not “just happening now”. What we are seeing is the culmination of decades of far right, usually with fundamentalist christian roots/leanings, backlash/blowback against the perceived heathen anti-establishment culture that managed to push America a little out of its cultural stupor of the post war era. One can go back to the John Birch Society, the Minutemen of the 50’s/60’s, and especially the pre-Christian Coalition folks in the 70’s like Weyrich, Robertson, Falwell, Grant and Dobson.
They made long term plans and have played it out. You have to hand it to those early guys, they followed through to “re-establish” a “christian nation” and are still at it (their successors as many of that generation have died off. What we are seeing is the culmination of the marriage between the religious right and the business community/free market ideologues/neo-liberals.
And the neo-liberals were just drawn in by the money? Aren’t they nihilists (like they carry Ayn Rand in their cars and stuff). And then you bring in Gates who just is a tool and a wallet for accomplishing what they want?
What a mess.
What an odd time to be a teacher.
My father might have been a preacher, but he is no fan of the right wing. I never imagined a time in life when their thinking would dominate over his. So many moderates just assumed moderate thinking would always prevail. Not so now. I still have trouble getting my father and his brother (a mentor to me over the years with a PhD in education) to see how Obama’s folks have hurt education. Thankfully, my husband is beginning to pay attention.
Duane, as always thanks for taking time to explain to me. I feel like Virginia from Yes Virginia There Is a Santa Claus on this blog sometimes.
In the 70’s a private company named Behavioral Research Laboratories came into Gary, IN to run a school. The wave of the future. They lasted about 3 years because they were not more successful than the public schools. in spite of their promises.
I think it’s linked to the economic meltdown. People are just trying to stay afloat, not lose house, feed their kids, etc. The top one percent is calling the shots. People are scared. The Koch Brothers, et.al. are giving money to Tea Party, etc. to do their bidding. Just like the prison system was bought out. Prisoners are being fed on pennies per day to suck money out of the prison system. The super wealthy looked around and thought, “what next?” No one in this country would have health insurance, if it weren’t for UNIONS. But unions are considered evil now. A society should be judged on how it cares for the most needy. We are failing. Social Services are cut. Kids are being short changed across the country. I am in California, where schools get 2 cents of each dollar we send in taxes to the Feds. The state gets 23 cents and 2 pennies go to Public Education K-12. And yet the Common Core is Federal.
I too think it has really taken off since the 2008 financial meltdown. First the tech bubble, then the real estate bubble and the middle class net worth is down 40%. They have to go where the money is, and public education (half a trillion dollars in funding per year) has to look very tempting.
I have always thought that too, that money searchers are leaving no stone unturned. And yet I think Duane is right in that the far right Christian fundamentalists (not knocking their faith–I go to church) but their narrow view of what is acceptable for everyone was well organized enough to be something people ran to in times of desperation. And they were poised and ready to bring a vision they had to reality. And that is swirling around those of us who are pretty sure we can figure this out without doing away with public schools.
Some on this blog have stayed away (and admonished staying away) from pointing out persuasions of “far right” or “far left,” but we really can’t tiptoe around those descriptors at this point. In fact, tiptoeing might be how we landed in some of this mess to begin with (like why were people not furious when Governors signed on for RttT?).
Far left met far right and the middle is falling out the bottom. Help.
I have become very involved in the anti reform movement, but one thing keeps bothering me. The only thing that ultimately keeps these charters going is the fact that parents are sending their kids to them. I know there are very good ones out their, but why do the fly by nighters keep proliferating?
That’s one of my biggest questions too.
Marketing!
YES! False advertising and parent dissonance.
It IS marketing! The parents who send their children there have bought into the “choice” propaganda… they’re feeling empowered because their local public schools seem to pale in comparison due to the de-funding.
But marketing only gets parents in the door. Don’t they check out what’s going on once they’re in there? And even if they fall for it and enroll their kid, don’t they follow up? Visit the school? Talk to their kid? Etc.?
Good parents do. My neighbors sent their kids to a charter for two years and became disenchanted with the high teacher turnover, the prescriptive lesson plans and the extremely regimented daily practices.
Their kids returned to the public schools this year and they seem much happier and actually look forward to school.
I have come to the conclusion that if teachers are going to expect their union to do something, they are going to be holding their breath. Unless teachers become activists, one school at a time, this will continue. So either keep your heads in the sand, or do something. I just feel bad for those teachers who are trying so hard to get their teachers informed and involved, and it’s all falling of deaf ears.
This is so true… so many are wrapped up in just surviving… it’s basically like “shock doctrine.” When folks are up to their ears in survival, they’re too preoccupied to pay attention to the insidious legislation that sneaks in when their nose is to the grindstone.
“First, you silence the teachers’ unions.
Then, you strip teachers of tenure, i.e., any job protection, to keep them fearful.
Along the way, you keep saying that the public schools are broken, failing, obsolete.
Keep demonizing teachers.
Destroy public confidence in public schools.
That clears the way to hand public money to private corporations. That opens the door to for- profit schools.” That perfectly describes Chris Christie and what he has been doing for the past 4 years. Except that he did not silence the NJEA, not yet anyhow. The NJEA has been fighting back but it’s been very hard since they are under constant attack by Christie and the corporate/right wing media. Christie eliminated the COLA for current and future retirees, he has not properly funded the teachers pension and he forced some changes in tenure but fortunately it was not too drastic. It now takes 4 years to get tenure instead of 3 and the process of getting rid of poorly performing teachers has been somewhat streamlined. We will see how that works out. This loud mouthed bully who constantly demonizes the NJEA and teachers was reelected in a landslide for 4 more years to do more damage to NJ schools. The Democrats cooperated with Christie by backstabbing the Democratic candidate for governor, Barbara Buono. Significant numbers of Democrats came out and actually endorsed Christie while another large contingent just ignored Buono. The wonderful teacher, Marie Corfield who was running for the NJ assembly lost by a significant margin in my 16th legislative district. This could drive a man to drink.
AND…Christie is poised to run for President in 2016! Talk about needing a drink…. He won’t be getting my vote and I have been sharing his view of education with everyone I know since I stared learning about him on this blog this past summer, including the video of him yelling at that brave teacher.
You have exactly described the current state of public education in North Carolina with one glaring exception: being a “right to work” state, aka non-union, it has been very easy for first goal to be accomplished. No need to silence a union where none exists, a very frail NC Association of Educators which has been cut off at the ankles.
This is NOT a big surprise with the last 2 governors (including the current one) NOT being support of “PUBLIC” Education but charter schools.
It is not just the GOP – the Democrats are infested with reformers including our own President and his staff. Politicians are cheap as they must raise funds to no end. The hedge funds have to money to play both sides. They own both parties. Yes the Democrats give us a better chance to save our schools, but we must win the primaries to have that chance. Check out the DFER and see the play. http://www.dfer.org/
Diane – please, please, please run for President!
If we follow Randi’s advice and “follow the money,” we will see that millions of it has gone to organizations she leads or holds considerable influence over.
What conclusion should we draw from that?
I’m making a documentary film about how high-stakes testing and the corporate reform agenda has been destroying our public schools. (Diane Ravitch has already been interviewed for it:)) I’d like to include a piece on Indiana. I’m reaching out to Glenda Ritz, but if there are any teachers/parents out there who are interested in participating in an interview, please contact me: shannon@shineonpro.com. Thanks!