Abraham Lincoln:
“If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character–that is the goal of true education.”
My thought:
Do we have the courage, the intelligence, the integrity, and the fortitude to change our vision for education?
Or must we remain mired forever to the petty goals of those who think that the only thing that matters is what can be measured? To the small-minded functionaries who discount imagination, creativity, and wit because they can’t put a number on it?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
magnificent
Speaking of magnificent, I have to tell you how much I enjoyed your critique of the ELA standards! I didn’t get to read it until the next day and so wasn’t able to comment while it was still up on Dr. Ravitch’s blog, but I’ve bookmarked it for future reference. I especially liked the part about the way the Common Core views literature as a mere occasion for the exercise of “skills.” Literature is imagined as a mental exercise: we can pin two butterflies on a board and enumerate their likenesses and differences, or we can do the same thing with two poems. The poems, being more difficult to pin down, are thought to be more rigorous. What we need not do, it seems, is to let our students know that someone wrote these things with the hope that readers would learn from them, delight in them, or set store by them.
Unless, that is, we happen to cherish that hope ourselves—unless we as their teachers believe that our students are, or can become, thoughtful and self-reflective enough to access the pleasures of poetry and other forms of literature in their own lives. We would have very high expectations, indeed, if we expected our students to be not only critical readers, but capable ones.
My fear is that too many in power don’t see the need for that vision change. Just the other day I again voiced my concerns about the heavy testing and scripted teaching that is being required to be used by me and my colleagues. I was, again, told that we are using “rigorous, research based reading materials from one of the most trusted publishers in the country” and that there would be no change in following it completely.
When your administrators trust a publishing company more than they trust their teachers the battle seems nearly un-winnable.
I’ll keep fighting, with the outcome for me either being fired or changing the world, and the first is the most likely of the two.
Hang in there, but don’t hang yourself. We need more teachers who challenge the GAGAers. What’s that ol Eagles tune, “Take it to the Limit”? They’d love to get rid of you. I know I’ve been forced out for standing up against this (and I could see it in their eyes that they enjoyed using their vindictive power against me), as they called it at the beginning of this nonsense “data driven dialogue.” Sounds so innocuous doesn’t it, but I knew it would be insidious but not quite as insidious as it is.
Thought-provoking questions in the service of a “better education for all.”
“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” [Ionesco]
Thought-provoking answers in the service of a “better education for all.”
“Questions are never indiscrete, answers sometimes are.” [Oscar Wilde]
Put enlightening questions and indiscrete answers together. Risky business. Then you incur the wrath of the Billionaire Boys Club and their edubully underlings because you are standing between them and $tudent $ucce$$.
“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” [Oscar Wilde]
Dangerous ideas. Critical thinking. That is why this blog is now at over eight and a half million hits.
😎
The important things in life are immeasurable – they are what is in one’s heart.
I don’t think too many people are reading your research, etc. in Arizona. Today’s Arizona Republic had a viewpoint section that read like an en advertisement for exactly what you are fighting against. I am so disheartened. Basis and Great Hearts are listed as the best models for other schools to follow. A through F ratings are used as the way all schools should be rated, Arizona is compared to other countries, and on and on. It is time for this state to wake up. The parents, teachers, public are not being told the truth. Read the following about technology: http://www.azcentral.com//community/mesa/articles/20131202phoenix-school-districts-struggle-to-set-tech-rules.html?source=nletter- Help, help, help!
By teaching to the test and sticking to the text, I’m afraid we’ve lost a whole generation of creative thinkers and innovators. This has been the strength of our country in the past, and I’m afraid we are going to be so much poorer in the future because of it.
“Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham. Can you tell me where he’s gone? He freed a lot of people. But it seems the good die young. For I just looked around and he’s gone.”
Good song.
Unfortunately, they had to add an extra verse.
or 2. or 3.
I hope you’ll keep this topic alive, Diane. Having seen much of public schooling from various perspectives, I wonder if we really understand what is required to change our vision.
Are we ready to abandon the business management model of schooling that we’ve had for over a century?
Are we ready to say good-bye to teachers colleges and return to teachers who are masters of the disciplines they teach, and not just “pedagogical technicians” who arrogantly believe they can teach anything?
Are we ready to start ignoring the charlatans and true believers who peddle incompetent programs and materials and technologies that promise a royal road to becoming educated?
Will we return local control to our schools by limiting the powers of state and federal bureaucrats and school administrators, who often make a living by perpetuating problems and phony solutions?
Will we stop using teachers and schools to provide all sorts of social programs that have nothing to do with learning?
Will we return to a curriculum that will enable our children to enter a democracy as functional young adults and reject the current model of textbook training?
Will we start demanding that parents and students put in the effort and time needed to learn?
Will we stop being so sentimental about schools, teaching, and learning, and focus on what we need to do to produce young adults who will participate in a democracy?
If not, then maybe we deserve the Common Core; because the Common Core is the culmination of our current model of schooling. (No, I won’t call it “education”.)
This would be an interesting set of questions to discuss. I to hope that Dr. Ravitch takes them up in future posts.
Thanks, Teaching! I’m fighting as best I can to stop the corporate take-over of our public schools, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to do to make them better.
“To the small-minded functionaries who discount imagination, creativity, and wit because they can’t put a number on it?”
From two who did:
“What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde
“We have the best government that money can buy.”
Mark Twain
I am honored to link you to my Facebook page. I am deeply grateful to for your writings and efforts. You speak the truth to power. Together we cannot and must not fail to change the dangerous course our country is taking regarding public education. Quote the greatest who ever lived! Learn from them! Fight the power! Get up, stand up, fight for your rights!
correction: grateful to you for your writings
Education must have a mission. Without a commitment to that mission by the president, the Secretary of Education, school district adminitrators and teachers, the field is left open to capture by Wall Street charlatans and unscrupulous foundations such as Gates, Broad and Walton. The mission cannot be manufactured and imaginary such as to “make our students college and career ready in order to compete in a global environment.” The mission must be something big and sincere and necessary, like President Kennedy’s mission: to eliminate poverty, to eliminate war and to land a man on the moon. That is a mission worthy of support and inspirational for our youth.
If we let young people know that we are counting on them to solve current problems and we expect them to use their creative and intellectual powers to do so….they will pick up the mantle, especially if we make it clear that we will support their efforts with great educational opportunities, excellent institutions of learning and a commitment to succeed. Education takes on a greater value in this way and requires greater investment and respect. http://woodburygazette.com/clients/woodburygazette/12052013.web.pdf
Diane, here is the viewpoint printed in yesterday’s paper. http://www.azcentral.com/opinions/articles/20131215new-arizona-education-main.html
More than ever, a conversation needs to started in this state. We need to get you to Arizona before more damage is done.
I was watching 60 minutes last night and it had a story on the NSA. They began to talk about the recruitment process, and the phenomenal number of brilliant American students that they high. They are not only brilliant, but they are creative, independent problem solvers. The NSA went on to talk about a summer program that they have that brings in high school students. Often times these young people are able to solve complex problems that has everyone else stumped. They are recruited from public schools. During World War II, we fought against the to best armies the world had ever seen. Our country won because we had a independent thinkers who could work outside of the box.
Just something to think about.
That is an unfortunate waste of talent. We need to offer these students a way to solve our real problems…..like poverty, food scarcity, and lack of potable water for many people in the world. If we do not offer them something else to do and a worthwhile wage, these bright young people will continue to be recruited by lousy over funded insitutions like the NSA, the CIA and Homeland Security.