I hope teachers will find the inner strength to stand up to the bullying by governors and legislators. If you can’t teach, find another job. But if you are a good teacher and you are devoted to making a difference in the lives of children, don’t give up. Stay and fight. Join grassroots groups. Join the Network for Public Education. In every state there are groups of parents and educators standing shoulder–to-shoulder against the cultural vandals now in charge in places like North Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. We will prevail, because their goal of destroying public education and turning teaching into a job for temps is so wrong that it will eventually be repudiated by the voters. We must work to make that day come sooner.
Here is a note from a teacher in North Carolina about the poisoned atmosphere for teachers in a state determined to crush public education and professional teachers:
“What do I, a NC public school teacher, think? I think it’s time to relocate. I chose to settle in NC b/c of its strong support for public education, but that’s now a thing of the past. The state govt is hell-bent on destroying both the teaching profession and the public schools.
“As soon as I am able, I will join the exodus of good, experienced teachers to anywhere but here…”
I wonder if Teach for America can produce enough temps to replace the experienced teachers who are leaving North Carolina? Perhaps the legislature will use this opportunity to increase class size, flip classrooms, and encourage home schooling and virtual charters?
Don’t leave. Stay and fight.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I probably never disagree with you Diane, but a teachers life is stressful enough under a poor administration, teacher trashing, no supplies, not enough to live on, etc. that it takes all you have just to teach. To fight too, that’s a lot ot ask. Perhaps the exodus itself will be the last straw for the people of that state. They will demand better teachers, which teach for America won’t provide, nor charter schools etc. I fought here in LA and it broke my health, and I had to retire early.
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I have NOTHING against the good people of NC, but I have everything against the state government and the feds who impact it.
I have said this in the past, and controversially so, but I will NOT spend my tourism dollar in NC. I have been aching to visit Ashville, which I have heard raves about, but I will not.
If ever I am in NC, it will be to join protests and demonstrations.
This is no slight intended at all against people like Joanna Best (who I believe is a North Carolinian), but for whatever it is worth, the state government there should know that other bottom lines will and should be affected when a state boasts its amenities and beauties (and there are TONS of them in NC!) but devestates its citizenry in the name of abandoning social and communal obligations and duties.
Of course, NY is no angel either, and we face a gorwing tide of anti-government ideology from – believe it or not – the government.
To all those who live in other states, look upon NC as a warning as what can further evolve in your own stae and START mobilizing with small and large grassroots organizations . . . . . .
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Agreed. On a road trip last summer from FL to NY, we gassed up and ate in either VA or SC to avoid spending any money in NC because of how they treat their teachers. But the bigotry they put in their constitution about gay marriage had something to do with my boycott as well.
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I think this is a good idea. Is there some way to let the tourism board of NC know that teachers and union members will be spreading the word to keep their dollars out of NC?
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Robert–
(Try as I might I can’t stay away from this blog).
Yes I am in NC. I am not leaving. We are tied to this state. I have family from mountains to coast and ancestors were here in the 18th century.
We were asleep at the wheel last election. We elected a number of ALEC members and, as everyone knows, other very short sighted leadership. I believe that will change beginning in November.
It is a very good idea to let the tourism industry see the impact as described here. If we lose one person, the state has lost.
The only good thing I can see out of all of this is that this leadership will, hopefully, crash and burn quickly (we just have to keep them from taking the rest of us with them).
I don’t take any offense at ridiculing NC leadership right now. It’s atrocious.
That said. . . these guys in Raleigh consider Asheville to be a haven of sin and hippies. So you can still come to this end of the state!! The many microbreweries and farm to table restaurants will be glad to have you. The governor moved his offices in Asheville into a mobile unit and I have not heard of him utilizing the Western residence. Point being, if you support Asheville you make a statement (instead of, say, Charlotte).
I love my state. All of it. And I believe brighter days are ahead.
I get down too. Especially when trolls get in on my comments here. I do a lot of crafting and praying to stay motivated. I love the school where I work. And I love my students.
Were I supporting my family on my own, I would probably also look around at other prospects. But I am the wife of an attorney and I do not support my family on a teacher’s salary.
There are people stepping up to the plate and running for office in November. So I agree with Diane. Try to hang in there if you live and teach here.
The more ridiculous Raleigh looks right now the better, because then the quicker we can get them out of there.
And we will.
So all trolls aside, I will try to be present on this blog as a positive voice, despite what I felt like yesterday.
The 60-30-10 thing pushed me to frustration quite a bit (even if it was just a “brainstorm”)—but please know there are thinking and well-educated people in NC who want a solid middle class and the assurance of opportunity despite income or race or creed, or any other aspect someone with exclusion on their brain might come up with as an excuse for faith in short-sightedness or prescribed agendas like ALEC.
At the MLK breakfast in Asheville, over 1,000 people held hands and sang “We Shall Overcome,” and amidst my tears it renewed my energy that, as life is never without struggle, this is a struggle worth being strong for.
And thank goodness for the 680 students eager to sing and learn at their public school where I have the privilege to teach!!! (Where the current representative in our legislature has never visited despite me inviting him three times). His new political opponent has visited!! We shall over overcome.
(And do come on and visit Asheville. You will be glad you did).
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I do not mind your boycott as long as you let people know why (like email our legislature). Otherwise it just makes us poorer and hurts our businesses. Joanna lives in one of the most beautiful places in the world. The NC Mountains and Asheville are gorgeous. I live on the other end of the state an also am fortunate to have one of the nicest places to vacation as my home in Wilmington, NC. We have several gorgeous beaches within a 15 minute drive and a cute little southern city on the river that looks like a mini-Savannah or Charleston. I am still preparing dozens of new teachers every semester and most plan on teaching in NC. the only silver lining in this whole fiasco is there will be more than enough job openings for them. But most of my time is spent supporting teachers these days since life is rough for them. If you want to help vote for AIMHigh http://www.aimhighernc.com/
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Janna and Joanna,
I will write to the appropriate parties in your state, including the chamber of commerce and chamber of tourism and explain how I feel. I urge all others to do the same.
I support you in your efforts to save your state and the state of education, no pun intended. If we had a system of fair taxation and not a congress that allows a large group of American corporations to house a present accumulation of $30 billion dollars offshore, then program like AimHigh would be easily funded, as longas there was the political will to do so. To have this present arrangement is perverse.
NC used to be the most progressive of all southern states . . . .
Chapel Hill is the base for Mel Levine, from “All Kinds of Minds”. . . I had learned so much from his program and writing. I believe he has fallen into trouble in the last few years and don’t know if accusations thrown his way were proven true or false.
Still, I accurately associate NC with all sorts of wonderful developements in different realms of life. My friends have a second home in Ashville and have been asking my wife and I to visit.
There is no time right now to anything but work my regular hours, work overtime for no pay, and just do paperwork . . . . .
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I see it both ways. I have seriously considered leaving. I have seriously considered staying, but I honestly don’t see it getting better in North Carolina. I really don’t. I don’t have any documentation to prove this, but rumors are that teachers with 20+ years may be offered an early retirement package. I don’t read any negative comments about the state of Delaware. Are all states becoming like North Carolina? I wonder what will the pay raises look like. I am certified math/science and social studies, I don’t feel like I deserve more money than an English teacher or a health/PE teacher. I just don’t know. It is increasingly more difficult to live here and fight.
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I do feel badly for those who live in NC and love their state, legitimately so. Of course, this can happen anywhere in the USA, and in varying degrees.
The state government of NC should be remembered harshly by its people and by history for doing this. And that is not a trolling statement by any means . . . . .
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Robert–I hear ya.
Efforts are underway to get new leadership elected.
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Sometimes, one has to hit rock bottom before they can rise from the ashes and be reinvented. I have faith in most people and in common sense, for lack of a better term. I am trusting of the notion that citizens of NC will change elections in the next 6 years.
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I think, as I say below, that the way to fight is for teachers to infiltrate community (as I think they might have more at one time).
Socialize with people other than teachers. Volunteer. Be on a community theatre or symphony group. Take a Saturday morning at a soup kitchen. Go to a church supper or community fish fry. Go to the Jewish community center. Connect.
Talk to people.
Go out for a drink with a friend and talk about what is going on without talking about self, per se.
Don’t just hang with teachers.
Put a human face on this to everyone you know. Ask them what they think about Common Core. Ask them if they are familiar with ALEC.
Teachers can fight by just being visible outside the classroom.
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Stay and Fight if one truly has day-to-day, on site comrades. But if not? These toxic “reformists” target authentic teachers, isolate them, bully them using every bureaucratic punishment permissible and threaten their professional certificates if they dare to speak out against the state-endorsed tyranny. These are the stories that must now be published far and wide but be clear that mental and physical well-being is under siege. When there is no more room for struggle then it is time to move on and let events take their course. We do not need martyrs to the cause and the technocrats won’t sit Shiva or shed tears at the wake
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One has only to do some real reading of the history of labor to understand we are once again in the trenches of disrespect and abuse. Fighting the fight affects your health but working under the conditions of this time also affects your health and the attitude of government is… To hell with your health!
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Mary,
Actually, it’s “To hell with you.” We are simply no longer valued here. If we were to suddenly be vaporized, another warm body would be dragged in for even less pay and benefits and things would continue.
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Ms. Cartwheel Librarian,
Sadly, you are correct. But there are good people out there who are attempting to educate anyone and everyone who will listen. It’s a mission well worth undertaking, but very hard to do. From your title above, “Librarian” I can understand your frustration. Bad enough not to be granted your human dignity, this is happening across the United States, but the very job that “you” do is being thrown to the wolves. Libraries are becoming a thing of the past, Phys Ed is out the door, Social Studies, and Science are irrelevant. Who makes this stuff up? I believe in the power of numbers. When we all stand against this debacle. We will make a difference.
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Mary,
Thank you for your kind words. When Pat McCrory was mayor of Charlotte it is my understanding that public libraries lost a lot of ground. Now that he is our governor, I keep waiting for …
Perhaps the closing of libraries was coincidental but that is part of his legacy. Sadly, during difficult financial times, the need for public libraries increases greatly and these are difficult financial times.
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Informed, look forward.
Change things by being involved. Command respect by letting people know you. Talk to people.
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In response to the push to do more for less and with less in public education, a colleague of mine flippantly asked, “what’s it going to take–a student knifing in our schools–to get officials and the community not to take notice?”
Sad. Those of us sticking it out realize our experience to navigate around the bureaucracy and still help kids succeed is inadvertently subsidizing the cuts and minimizing the damage done by “duh reformers.” We are keeping the public schools taped together despite the efforts of “duh reformers” to dismantle what’s been proudly built.
Teachers are quitting in higher numbers in my state and local community. Common core is producing a common theme–enough! Teachers ponder….do I quit or do I stay?
I ask, are veteran teachers subsidizing “duh reformers” efforts by staying? Should get out of “duh reformers” measures and metrics and let them crash the system?
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Network.
Go to Sunday School.
Volunteer.
Be visible.
Talk to people.
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It’s tough to remain hopeful because it isn’t just public schools in these states. They privatize everything; prisons, probation, halfway houses, court fine and fees collection. We’re fighting right now to keep our juvenile detention center public. The idea of a profit motive and no transparency in a juvenile detention center just terrifies me.
I’m seeing privatized foster care in my county for the first time. I think it’s a corporation out of Michigan, but who knows, right? It just …appeared. I imagine money changed hands in the statehouse, of course. I’m not clear on which parts of the Ohio code they’re regulated by. The code hasn’t changed, so I don’t know if they’re regulated at all. Maybe regulation is done on a private contract basis, as is the case with Ohio charter schools. If so, I’ll never see that contract.
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Fear for a society where the sorrows and misfortunes of life are profit centers…
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Their tactic for getting rid of teachers in my building (80% ESL, 97 FRL) is to make ALL teachers wrote exemplar lesson plans for all subjects everyday. These templates are 4-5 pages long, for 5 subjects a day. Our PLC time has been taken away due to County “experts” meeting with us daily to check up on us and make sure we are aligned with the pacing guides. All group planning must be done after school. We lost 15 veteran teachers last year and at least 12 are leaving this year, including myself. Why stay when I can move to another state which pays $20,000 more per year? There’s too many people with no educational experience making the laws in NC.
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Change it!
Find an informed person you respect and encourage them to run for office.
Be empowered by knowing that you are a valuable member of community BEYOND your role as a teacher.
Approach people. Join a walking or running group.
Make time. Find time.
That is how you get people treat you humanely. You acknowledge their need to feel important, and you acknowledge your own.
Be seen.
Be visible.
Be connected.
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Great point, Joanna, that one must socialize with people other than those in one’s own profession. By doing so, we put a human face on this whole situation. The more we do so intentionally, the more we can join forces.
I have been saying ad nauseum that it will be the voters and parents of all states who will mainly turn this thing around and NOT mainly teachers and their anemic unions.
The people still have the power but they are like an elephant tethered by a cotton twine. The poor beast does not realize it has so much strength to snap that tether in seconds because he believes he is bound by the idea of the tether rather than its actual properties in real life. He is bound by his own belief system.
How limiting.
By socializing with others and telling our stories and embracing their stories and experiences with education, we all stand to snap those cotton twines in milliseconds . . . . .
We are still the majority. This is still a democracy in terms of the machinery that puts people into office . . . .
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The last sentence resonates with me. I find myself pleading with my daughters, both excellent public school teachers home on child care leave, to homeschool their children, my grandchildren.
My kids have grown up watching us, their parents organize and orchestrate a grassroots organization to protest the taking of land without compensation. As children, they accompanied me on several occasions to lobby our legislators in Albany, NY. They got one of the best educations of their lives in those corridors and legislative offices. For grassroot organizations to be effective “one” person needs to be passionate, have time, and energy. The membership needs to realize that something is terribly wrong with what belongs to them. That would be our education system. In order for grassroots to be effective, people must be willing to join the fight, on the battleground. That’s where our younger generation fails to get it. As a former chapter leader (and again, I state, I am a conservative thinker not a raging liberal) I witnessed horrors and defended staff against abuses that would never have occurred even 15 years ago. But when you tyrant orally the forces to attend a necessary rally or conference, the excuses begin. I have a medical appt., I have no baby sitter, Johnny has soccer practice and so on. We are in the state we are in largely because of the apathetic stance of a membership, in my state, and I’d venture to guess, in many other states. The powers that be, recognize and understand that apathy all too well and they orchestrate their power because we, the people, allow them to. I know I’m probably preaching to the choir but I hope intelligent people take on the cause that you, Diane, are so passionate about. Clearly, at age 45 (chuckle) you have nothing to win or lose. You could still be an historian. Oh, that’s right, you worry about your grandchild, as I do mine. You are my hero Diane, because you fight the good fight, in the way you know how, for a younger generation, not yourself.
Oh, and petitions signed online have pretty much no power.
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Petitions, in general, are considered to be the voice of the poor and disenfranchised.
Better to talk and talk and talk and badger anyone you know with connections. Try to have a drink or lunch or something with people in elected office.
All the more reason to belong to churches and civic groups. Rotary. Country clubs. Anything that connects various parts of community.
Teachers need to be connected in community as more than just teachers. Volunteer. Meet other people in other professions. Make time.
Do it.
That’s how things get done.
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That was an auto correct above… “When you try and rally the forces”. Sorry bout that.
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The one regret I have is that I didn’t make my feelings known when I left the profession. That is why I am doing so now. I have a wife, teacher of the year nominee, who hasn’t yet left the profession (but is close to doing so) who I’m fighting for as well a daughter still in the public schools in North Carolina. There is no one in NC fighting for teachers. Yes, teachers need to fight, but how and at what expense? When the “Walk Out” that was scheduled was announced, teachers received emails basically threatening their jobs if they stayed home. Most were too scared to take part. This in a state where tenure is trying to be taken away, so they will soon be able to let you go for whatever they deem fit. The NCAE caved and decided a “Walk In” was a better idea than a “Walk Out.” That was a miserable failure, as is the NCAE in general. They’ve been collecting dues for decades with zero results.
Sure, we all got into the profession because we love children and want to impact their lives in a positive manner. However, we do expect to maintain some quality of life as a professional. Not only do we have to educate the youth of this country at a high level, but we have to fight to make a livable wage? That’s insane. Yes, I think teachers should fight, but in NC if you are a quality educator you must be prepared to leave the state or the profession. Until the state reaches a complete crisis, nothing will change.If you are a highly skilled, talented individual, you can be successful outside of the classroom and be rewarded for your success. You can even stay involved in education, but don’t let a state beat you down and make you think there is nothing else you can do. Stand up, fight, but if changes aren’t made, take your talents elsewhere. There are many other professions and businesses that would love to have you. They will treat and compensate you accordingly.
They talk about getting rid of poor teachers, but there lucky there are enough warm bodies in NC to have a teacher in each classroom. They’re fortunate to have as many kindhearted individuals who are willing to overlook the abuse. I love North Carolina but the public school situation is comparable to some third-world countries. When Estonia and Hungary rank well above you in education, it’s time to look in the mirror.
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My thoughts exactly, only in regards to my state: FL. The vast majority of teachers have no spine, they take whatever is thrown at them. As someone who has a spine and a mouth to match, I had to quit for my mental and physical health. Since teachers aren’t willing to organize and fight, that means that nothing will change until the powers that be are desperate to fill teaching positions again, and they will be forced to increase salaries and improve working conditions. I did my part by quitting. Maybe I’ll return to teaching someday, but not until conditions improve radically.
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NCAE is not a union, and can only do but so much since NC is a right to work state. A walk-out would have been seen as a strike, which is unlawful in NC. NCAE never endorsed the walk-out but did endorse the walk-in due to state laws regarding unions.
Otherwise, I agree with your statements!
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It was illegal when I walked with my union in the 70’s. Did it anyway.
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The mirror should show a person connected to their communities. Someone who talks to people of other professions. Out and about.
Don’t put the light of being. a citizen first, teacher second under a bushel. Go to mixers. Mingle. Step out of the social comfort zone.
That is how we save the public schools.
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FL should be on that list. Tenure is now illegal. Isn’t that the definition of a temp job: not expecting a job past June?
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Excellent advice, Diane! The most effective reform comes from within. Those of us who have been doing this for a while have endured these slings and arrows before. For me, the best strategy was to shut them out and focus on my students in the classroom, for many the only safe haven in the turmoil around them. I survived and they excelled far beyond expectations.
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I would never tell someone to stay if they don’t feel they can take any more. I myself started counseling 2 weeks ago to deal with the work-related stress, insomnia, digestive problems, and high blood pressure before I drop dead. There is no parental rising up agains the system in my county. The parents here have been fed a diet of “failing schools, lousy teachers” for so long that many now treat us with contempt and challenge anything we say or do.
In the past I’ve always had good relations with my parents and felt like I was part of a partnership. This years I feel that I am targeted not only by the state and district but by the parents as well.
I am a former Teacher of the Year but because I have chosen to work in Title I schools with poor children I am now headed toward losing my teaching certificate permanently because it is impossible for our students to achieve the ever-higher cut scores on the FCAT test. My “Highly Effective” rating for last year was reduced to “Effective” this year due to the overall school grade of “F” even though I have never taught any of the tested kids (new to this school and teach 1st grade, an untested grade until now). Next year we will receive a mandatory “Needs Improvement” if our school receives anything less than a “C”.
Then the new CCSS tests kick in which Diane acknowledges drop the scores another 35% or so and I will receive my second and final “Needs Improvement”.
Under current Florida law I will then lose my teaching certificate permanently and it will be illegal for any public school district to hire me for any reason. I will lose more than a job: my 3 college degrees (a BA and 2 MA’s) will be rendered worthless and the roughly $50,000 I spent on these and achieving my National Board Certification will have been for nothing. My health is already suffering greatly, as is the health of all my colleagues.
It may be easy to urge people to stay and fight but there is a very high cost associated with staying and no teacher organization that I am aware of is doing the least thing to help people who are suffering and losing everything by fighting.
Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that the days of public education in the USA are over. Perhaps we need to rethink what we do and how we do it.
Perhaps we need to accept that change happens and this change it too far gone, too well-funded, and too politically popular to fight through traditional and conventional means.
Perhaps we need to start helping each other by envisioning something new and different in the way of independent schools that are separated from governmental and corporate control.
Don’t tell others to become martyrs in a cause that may already be lost. Those of us who are one paycheck away from homelessness and destitution have more to think about than protecting an institution that doesn’t care at all for us anymore and is actually hostile and dangerous for us.
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Wow Chris, the print is bleeding on my screen. God bless. Yours is a nightmare situation. I have heard about the loss of certification here in NC as well and I think, “no it won’t happen.” It has to be illegal, surely there is a class action lawsuit or some other effort going on in Florida.
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I would like to think that lawsuits may slow down the juggernaut but this is all straight from the ALEC-written legislation that drives education policy in Florida. What is happening here now is destined to be spread to other states as quickly as possible by ALEC-friendly legislatures.
Thank you for you well-wishing. Things are horrible here. In my county 18 elementary and middle schools were deemed to be “failing” this year and only 4 received A and B grades.
We were told last week at a faculty meeting that if we fail to raise the school grade from F to B then we will be replaced by “teachers who are qualified to teach these children” and that by failing to raise the school grade we are, in effect, “abusing these children by depriving them of a good education.”
It doesn’t become more clear than that, does it? We are on our way out, one way or another and soon to be replaced by younger, cheaper, and less-able to question place fillers.
So ends a vocation and career. . . .
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Chris:
Tell your story.
Tell it. Tell it again. Tell it and tell it until you have nobody else to tell it to.
If this is what you are up against, fight!!! Go to the media. Find a reporter who needs a story.
ALEC forgets that there are plenty of rich people who do use public schools. There are plenty of people who can and should say “I pay taxes and my options should not be limited to a private school or a charter that is not accountable to anyone.” Even though your state puts more people in the NFL than any other state, there are a few potential Rhodes scholars in the mix whose parents like public school. Find them. Talk to them.
Don’t take it on the chin. Don’t lead with your chin, either, but do go find the public school supporters. They do exist.
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You need to find another job and leave now. Think about teaching overseas if it fits with your family situation. Don’t take it personally. In the Soviet Union thousands were sent to the Gulags for no fault of their own. These things happen in history, and it is fascism, no doubt about it. I also agree that this will come to all of us eventually. Get out, and don’t wait for them to fire you or mark you ineffective. It would be far better to leave with good credentials than to wait for the axe to fall. Don’t be a teacher in Florida. Use this next year to get your resume in order. Teach in a private school or teach overseas. (If you want to remain a teacher) You’ll find something. Don’t try to win a game that is rigged against you.
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Man do I consider myself lucky!!! I moved myself and my son out of NC a year ago. I knew things were bad but could never predict all this. How shocking!!! I am so grateful we are not there any more. I do feel sorry for the many people we do know and how they are suffering under such horrible circumstances. Many of the families I knew were already homeschooling their children. In the county we lived in 5000 children were being homeschooled. All of this is devasting but as been coming for a long time. How is the Federal Gov’t going to implement the common core to all those homeschoolers? That should be interesting.
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Stay strong and encourage your colleagues to provide your own assessment, one that is real and one that is designed to support the education of your students. With that as a first step, you can take back yur profession http://www.wholechildreform.com.
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I am a Nationally Board Certified teacher from NY who teaches English language arts to low income immigrant English language learners.
I have been teaching for 20 years in public schools only. I taught 8 years in New York City, and 12 in Westchester County, NY.
I have been extremely, unspeakably fortunate to have worked for very good schools with great faculty and leadership on all levels. We have our grave challenges, but the culture of professionalism has always been, by and large, strong.
One of the biggest objections I have to what is going on in NC is that sheer irony of promoting pedagogical excellence and now promoting the obliteration of it.
I am citing evidence from a Wikki article about who was a mastermind and mover of the NBCT program and WHERE he came from. Can the irony be any more cruel?:
“NBPTS was formed in response to a 1986 report issued by the Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, a group funded by the Carnegie Forum on Education. The report, entitled A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century, called for the creation of a board to “define what teachers should know and be able to do” and to “support the creation of a rigorous, valid assessment to see that certified teachers do meet these standards.” The founding president of NBPTS was James A. Kelly, and the original chair of the board of directors was the Honorable James B. Hunt Jr., former governor of North Carolina.”
The people of NC should wake up and rise up. I am sure they aleady are, but y’all will need parents joining you big time if your efforts are to prove successful . . . . .
Also, I don’t keep up with NC politics. Where is James Hunt now? Is he still alive, and if so, if he is healthy, what does he say about all of this?
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Jim Hunt is promoting Aim Higher. He is calling on the current governor and legislators to raise NC teachers’ salaries to the national average within the next four years.
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I think that is excellent. But how does he feel about unions, tenure, and seniority, as well as pensions and health benefits? How does he feel about taxing the wealthy for a fairer share of taxes to, in part, pay for such programs?
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Hunt’s name comes up on this blog periodically.
He has a foundation, but it seems like just money for large thoughts like “education begins with leadership.” He is speaking at the same conference Diane is in a few weeks. We’ll see what he has to say.
But the politicians all give lip service to supporting schools. ALEC guys are convinced they are helping.
Hunt did a lot. I have read the speeches of GovJim Martin, though, who served in between Hunt’s two terms, and things were not that great after Hunt’s first term for teachers. Martin actually got a lot moving forward in that.
Remember, Democrats often do not come from the kind of money Republicans might have and therefore are often more easily seduced by it.
You cannot love money more than the state you are elected to serve. It won’t work.
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Robert, I sent a reply declining my invite to the National Board upcoming summer conference when I saw that they were featuring David Coleman, Charlotte Danielson, and a who’s who of the reformy crowd as speakers.
My livelihood and my career are about to be destroyed by the policies and documents produced by these people and I could not sit silently and listen to their nonsense drivel about how they and they alone have discovered the magic keys to fixing education as they rake in millions on the backs of experienced teachers and poor children. They are evil.
The National Board sold out along with all the other professional organizations.
That is why I am so pessimistic and have little faith that anything will change for the better in what’s left of my lifetime. Prove me wrong, NBPTS!
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You’re right. Money will not serve you. You need to serve the people. Great point again, Joanna.
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Robert, I love that you wrote “ya’ll”
:-). You know your audience.
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In Texas, a big expression is “Ya’ll come back now, Y’hear!”
Very endearing. The South always fascinates me. . . So foreign, yet, I can see the purity in many people there not wanting big government in their lives.
I am a fan of very big government, but alas, I want the feds out of the picture altogether. Perhaps eliminating the Department of Education would be best.
I only believe in big government when it serves the vast majority, as it does in France and Denmark and Germany, to name a few.
Here, it says it serves the people because the people ARE the government, but our surrogates in DC mainly serve the rich.
I’m seeing torches and pitchforks if this does not turn around in five years . . . .
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I think most teachers will stay and fight IF THEY CAN for as long as they are able in hopes that sanity eventually wins out. But there are many teachers who have families that depend on them. They cannot endure a battle where the odds are highly favorable that they will eventually be fired. The stress is not good for one’s health and if a person has children, this must be considered (not to mention the total lack of job security that feeds and puts a roof over the head of one’s family). The “corporate ed reform” raiders know this and are trying to hold out long enough to weaken the teaching force. With enough false PR they stand a chance at wearing down real teachers before the public revolts in mass! Horrible situation.
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I am deatly afraid of civil unrest and rioting, and it’s not just because of education . . . . It’s the whole gestalt of wealth, power, and income distribution in the United States.
Although I am considerably well off – at least by my own standards – I do NOT want to live in a society of impoverishment living next door to the guarded and gated. I do not want to live in a culture where the majority of my fellow citizens have little dignity in their ability to be middle class or better. This will not be a democracy if this is going to be the case.
And the reformers are part and parcel of such a cataclysmic shift, and it’s wrong.
It’s just plain wrong.
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Robert,
I agree. And it seems there used to be a political party that tried to stay mindful of that (actually, I think both were mindful but one wanted to leave charity up to churches and the other believed it took both government action as well).
I read the book THIS TOWN about the culture of keeping up with the Joneses in DC, and after thinking about Jim Hunt it dawned in me that the notion of a statesman is one that seems to be undefined right now. I figure if you hold a public office, that if you just go looking for handouts under the cover of a foundation after you serve, you stand the chance of undoing what you achieved in office.
We all know about this mixing of messages, missions and money now days such that it seems there is only one political party. Perhaps it is because our elected officials serve, then go duck for cover and handouts—rather than maintaining the esteem, and responsibility, of a true statesman (or stateswoman). I always assumed being retired from elected office had the same carryover as retiring from law, medicine or the ministry. But anymore it seems like time in office propels a person into celebrity status and then they go into hiding, putting their names on a foundation and taking money from whoever would give it, but no longer standing up for principles despite the money being dangled there.
? Surely not all. But some. Hence our struggle to find the strong and experienced leadership who stands up for the little guy by standing with them. It takes guts. And strength. And sacrifice.
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Robert, you are so right. Many, many others are waking up to the realization that achieving economic equity for all citizens will ensure that our democracy flourishes. Our future hangs in the balance.
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Excellent and reliable points, Joanna.
Keep writing; I’ll keep on reading.
I am hoping Chemtcher will forgive me . . . . I like his/her writing as well.
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We are well on our way to a South American style country. Ross Perot warned us about Globalization and “free trade” a long time ago. No one listened, and here we are. There are low level crappy jobs, and a few high level jobs for the well connected. There is not much left for the middle class. They are not going to bring manufacturing jobs back. Are they going to pay Americans a dollar an hour or a dollar a day. This is a race to the bottom, and this is where Capitalism ends. At the end of Capitalism, we each other figuratively. They will drain education dry now for profit, and then there will be nothing left.
When the Donner party got trapped in the mountains, the American indian scouts watched them engage in cannibalism. The indian chief asked his scout to tell him what the white people were like, and he (reportedly) told him, “They eat each other.” That about sums up the American story from beginning to end. We are the locusts of the world, and we are going to pay for what we did to the indians, the slaves, the environment. This is all part of our destiny as a civilization. Education is just a small (albeit fitting) part of the grand narrative. Why did my relatives ever leave Europe??
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I would go back to Europe in heartbeat if I could. It would not at all be so great there and there are many grave problems, but social and fiscal justice have evolved there beyond our dreams, and no one reduces themselves to a pauper to pay for medical bills or get assistance for housing. There is simply a greater equaly distribution of income then what we have here.
Or course, this will probably trigger Harlan to write something or TE or Bernie1815 . . . . I will not waste my time.
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Two of my college roommates left the U.S. in 1998, and another one already had citizenship abroad. They must have had something figured out a good decade ago, eh?
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Robert–there is a way for us to deal with all of this when we begin to honestly confront poverty.
That must be the twin sister to fighting for public school. And that means a realization that “college and career ready” might actually not be a lofty enough goal because it does not meet people where they are.
We have to push for a society that meets people where they are, not where we wish they were. So stop wishing you were in Europe so we can do that.
Put Asheville trip on your calendar. It’s like Europe.
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I will entertain Ashville.
But I have to say, Joanna, that the only thing remotely like Europe is, well, Europe. French and Spanish are my other languages. It still may one day be worth looing into teaching at an international school there when I’m older.
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Thank you, Dr. Ravitch. Your blog, your wisdom, your common sense and encouragement helps me to courageously continue to provide a quality education for my students. I do believe that common sense will prevail. I will not give up.
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Nazi Germany only ceased being Nazi Germany because 80% of the world was engaged in war against it for years. If the Germans had not invaded the Soviet Union there would still be a Nazi Germany. Where are the countries or great powerful forces fighting against this? It’s going to take a lot more than a few messages on a blog or a few school districts. I am not so optimistic. This is the future…History is cyclical…
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Mike. If that is your mindset then that is what you will enable, by your energy, to happen.
Fighting entropy is part of life. History can be cyclical, but being informed can help change that.
This story is not over. “The record is not over yet” (to quote my man Wyclef Jean).
Get visible. Talk to people.
Don’t hang back.
Go after the outcome you want like you would a hot date. Or a new thing you’d wanted for a long time and had saved for.
To acquiesce to defeat is to have enabled it all along.
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WISE words!
I know that it’s in my DNA that one day when I no longer am teaching, I will still continue the fight for education as a public trust and responsibility. It will be a hill to proudly die on.
No one, including myself, has a guaranteed job and certainly, job security is attenuated every year, month by month, whether by budget woes, evaluation systems, or removal of tenure. The sky is the limit. But we must all fight for what is just, noble, moral, and right, and we will not just be fighting for ourselves, but for future generations . . . .
I cannot possibly state the consequences that I think should befall someone like Paul Ryan, for example . . . . Not now, and certainly not here.
Ditto for ALEC . . . . . .
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As one of the grassroots folks out there and a teacher, please hang in there. If NY teachers have banded together to fight this we will prevail!
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And …here we go…..NC’s failed computer software will cause more woes..
http://www.citizen-times.com/viewart/20140124/NEWS01/301240030/
Seems to me ..NC jumps in over their heads in every situation..no thought whatsoever to the problems that might occur….
Jumping headfirst into technology because it is technology…not because it works….
They want to be first at everything..racing to the top and falling flat on their faces…
Same with the CCSS……They threw it at the teachers…I mean they literally threw it at the teachers…standards had so many mistakes..they were laughable……..
Curriculum is so chaotic and cluttered…it too is laughable…
But the bottom line remains….it is not the standards..I know how to teach any standards to any student……THE PROBLEM IS THE TESTS…….HUNDREDS….that measure zilch….
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Yes Neanderthal.
I have alienated a lot of people by saying that the CCSS, no matter how one feels about them, is NOT the problem, but rather, it’s the high stakes testing attached to them that is the catastrophe . . . .
We teachers and administrators have ALWAYS had standards to deal with. This is nothing new . . . .
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I agree with Joanna that we have to keep talking to everyone. Read the Tipping Point and Contagious about the power of personal connections and using our own networks.
We also need to vote with our pocketbook by refusing to spend money to further enrich reformers.
Educators need to inundate their respective political party events and talk and talk and talk. Five educators at a political club meeting can contol the narrative at an event. Make friends there and keep talking. It is not just the education profession that is under siege, it it the post office, mental health, government workers…… Everyone is growing very frightened about the dismantling of our democracy. We have to find each other. Diane, we need a plan that is more than blogging about how bad things are. Please share ideas. It feels as though we can’t fight them, they have too much power.
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