Here is Mercedes Schneider with a brilliant post about the Obama U.S. Department of Education. She writes brief sketches of eight key appointees, each of whom is tied to the privatization movement.
When the President wonders why his party was so badly beaten at the polls earlier this month, he might think about the millions of educators who work in public schools and the millions of parents whose children attend good public schools; they are disgusted by Race to the Top, non-stop testing, test-based teacher evaluation, the Department’s preference for charter schools over public schools, and the millions of public dollars directed to TFA and charter schools. Educators were at one time a key part of the base of the Democratic party. As states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee lashed out at teachers, no protest was heard from Arne Duncan. As billions were cut from school budgets in Michigan and Pennsylvania, the Obama administration was silent (Duncan wrote a letter to Governor Corbett of Pennsylvania about the defunding of Philadelphia, but it was a faint protest, not like actually showing up). At present, educators and parents feel abandoned by both parties.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Obama administration is almost over. If we are going to save public education, if we are going to reverse the corporate education trend, we have to get to work on 2016. Now. Start organizing in Iowa, New Hampshire, Colorado, Minnesota, and Michigan.
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Whom are we organizing behind James?
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Well said, it’s everything I’ve been thinking but have been unable to put into words.
What can we do about the situation??
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Exactly…WHO is for public education? or rather who hasn’t been bought out yet?
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Let no candidate get away with rhetoric that offers a silver bullet solution to education or a set of talking points that are as robotic as a doll with a programmed speech–activated when you pull a string.
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Laura H. Chapman: I am going to riff off of your succinct and pointed comment.
With all due respect to all the commenters on this thread, I don’t think picking any “lesser evil” over a “greater evil” gets to the heart of the matter. Someone a while ago rephrased it as picking the “more effective evil” over the “less effective evil.” I think this is a more accurate way of putting it.
The above argument is simply a variation, IMHO, of the old “don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good” approach that is articulated so many times by the self-styled “education reformers.” For example, Tony Bennett, the former Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, stated in 2008 that when it came to standardized testing, it “is the mechanism we have. We may not like it.” [See THE MYTHS OF STANDARDIZED TESTING, 2011, p. 1]
But are they sincere and consistent when they articulate the above? Oh my…If you look closely, they aren’t willing to cede on any essential of their business plan that masquerades as an education mode. It’s just what an old dead Greek guy said:
“Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.” [Homer]
Lately the edupreneurs and their edubullies and edufrauds and educrats have been in full rebrand/spin mode. Their actual conduct? This blog today includes a posting on imposing loyalty-oath type silence on teachers dissenting from the “education reform” party line, as well as the continuing effort to silence public dissent from the rheephorm consensus. Those who are in the middle of creating a two-tiered education system that favors THEIR OWN CHILDREN [the advantaged few] at the expense of OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN [the vast majority] want “compromise” all right, which is their way of saying we can surrender under slightly more favorable terms if we give up every substantive and important point we make and want to see realized in practice.
No. Hold everyone’s feet to the fire.
After all, in the interests of “meeting the other side halfway” why doesn’t the “shrill” and “strident” owner of this blog change the latter part of her blog’s title to show her good will towards folks like Bill Gates who went, and sends his own children, to Lakeside School, a choice that is diametrically opposed to what he wants mandated for the vast majority of other children? Wouldn’t that show she is being practical and considerate and putting the interests of children ahead of her own?
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for “Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discuss what Bill Gates wants.”
“With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.”
William Lloyd Garrison was right then. He’s right now. And so, if I read her correctly, is the owner of this blog.
Just my dos centavitos worth…
😎
P.S. Sometimes a commenter will misconstrue what I’ve written. So let me sum it up: hold everyone’s feet to the fire.
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Also I’ve been hearing the “we may not like it, but we might value it. You don’t like everything you value.”
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Joanna Best: there are other versions of what you mention.
One is the “this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you but it’s gotta be done” and another is “spare the rod, spoil the child.”
The last a reminder, natcherly, that we’re the “child” and we’ve got to learn to take our “medicine” no matter how bitter because first, last and always, when you’re a beneficiary, enabler and enforcer of “education reform”—
“It’s all about the kids.”
Rheeally!
😎
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Amen to that, Laura!
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Who would have thought Obama would be so against public ed back in 2008….he talked a good line about change….thought he would un-do the bad Bush years…instead we got more of the same. I don’t know if any front runner would be trust worthy.
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Whenever I encounter well-educated Bay Area professionals and tell them I’m a teacher, the invariable response is, “At a charter school?” Invariable. They’re hoping I’ll say yes and thereby prove I’m a good teacher, not one of Them –the mediocre, child-hating, lazy unionized teachers. That’s how much the reformer narrative has permeated the Ivy League set. Recently I was at a party talking to a very nice, liberal Silicon Valley start-up CEO who was smitten with KIPP and hoped I would sing its praises too. He listened to my critique and it seemed to disabuse him of his crush. I wish the teachers’ unions would make clear straightforward arguments in TV and radio ads to sow doubt about the reform narrative. Use the tactics that Big Oil uses to sow doubt about global warming.
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Absolutely agree, Ponderosa, that the unions must do major advertising spelling out the public education side of the equation, and using statistics of successful schools and successful matriculation. And the poverty and diversity stats in California, plus the lowest funding of public ed in California, 49th in the union.
The media is not going to report on this, so this must be purchased print and air time. All public school teachers should be lobbying their union reps to present this perspective to leadership. This is a vital use of union dues to protect teachers jobs and public universal education.
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If we had access to the kind of money that Big Oil has, the world would be a fairer place.
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The unions are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
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I have mentioned before on this blog that all should watch Zephyr Teachout on Bill Moyers show. http://www.billmoyers.com. She makes a strong case that we have a broken government run by and for the plutocrats. They don’t care what teachers or parents want or need. The government we have does not respond anymore to the concerns or issues of the 99%. The government only listens to the big money donors, and as long as they see a buck to make in charter schools, or privatizing the military, or building the Keystone pipeline, that is the government we will have.
Prof. Teachout tells in her interview how, when she attempted to raise money from some Wall Street types, they told her, we like you but we don’t like teachers unions. The message was you can take the money but you will have to shut up when it comes to your beliefs. She turned down the money. Our two party system is broken because those two parties have both sold out.
The reality, I believe, is that 2016 will be the moment for progressives to begin the process of taking back the government so that it is truly representative, and that can happen if people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are willing to take the lead, and teachers organize to take back their unions from the current leadership which has been too ready to accept money from those whose agenda is to dismantle public education, instead of standing on principle and protesting and demonstrating for what is right.
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YES…though most of us have known all this for years, and certainly since the Obama victory in 2008 based on “hope and change” but then he surrounded himself with Larry Summers and Robert Rubin, and he chose Goldman Sachs denizens as Cabinet members.
Only Elizabeth Warren can be a realistic candidate for Prez in 2016. Hillary is a worse plutocrat than Obama and will flush public ed down the toilet. Another Repub posing as a Dem.
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Sorry, Diane, off-topic, but you have to read this to believe it (every time I think I can’t be surprised any more, some one comes along and proves me wrong). Dope farming for education: http://schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com/2014/11/dope-farming-new-source-of-revenue-for.html
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Respectfully, if teachers and pro-public schools individuals and activists, voted for Republicans on November 4, they were frighteningly short-sighted. Yes, the Democrats have made a bloody mess out of public education and special education is not on life support. Democrats need 8 weeks in a Detox unfit to get off the Gates, Broad, Walton, Zuckerberg Kool-Aid….But Republicsbs want public education gone. They want the USDOE gone, the want IDEA gone and they want tax credits and vouchers. From where I sit and stand, I will education and lobby Democrats to fight for truly public education for every child. In the meantime, the next four years (and more) will be depressing and devastating for America’s children and their teachers, and for those of us who care.
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Sadly, I don’t agree. I will not waste my time lobbying Democrats who take my small change and then either work to kill public schools (Sen. Booker and Gov. Cuomo come to mind) or talk a good game during their campaigns and then clam up on the orders of their friends and masters when it’s time to actually make policy (I’m thinking President Obama or Debbie Wasserman Schultz, both no shows in Wisconsin when Walker was on the ropes back in 2011). Better to start the work now to either take back the party and only support progressives in the party ranks, or leave and build a third party movement that will have broad appeal.
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Brilliant,
The Democrats have abandoned Public Ecucation. Voters have shown that they will support the “lesser evil” and therefore the Demicrsts need only be a little bit worse than Tea Partiers.
Walk away from Dems and urge ALL YOU KNOW TO OPT OUT.
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I voted Republican. It would be hard to find a bigger corporatist than Cory Booker.
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Or perhaps the situation is a bit more complex. For example, Democrats elected a new Governor in Pennsylvania. They re-elected a Democratic governor in Minnesota. A Democrat was re-elected in the US Senate – a person who supports both district and charter public schools. A number of people who post here (included Diane) are very happy about the person who was re-elected State Supt in California.
It would be worth talking with Democrats in places like Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan, where there were very clear choices for Governor, and in Iowa (and other states) where there was a clear choice for US Senate, but where the Republicans won.
Teacher and other unions were very active in most of the states mentioned above. Democrats won some and lost some, although as noted, the Senate switched from Democratic to Republican control.
It will be interesting to see what happens in 2 years.
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At least the Democrats under Donna Brazile formed Democrats for Public Education. I would assume they intend to be involved with some type of political action to support public education. They purport to support “excellent public schools for all children.”
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Supporting both charter and district schools is like supporting both the tapeworm and its host.
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Great analogy.
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Somehow colleges and universities manage to simultaneously compete and cooperate without being swallowed up – in fact, students benefit from a variety of shared programs.
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Soon to be Democratic Governor Tom Wolf won in my state because the electorate across the state, in every demographic, hated Gov. Corbett, many for reasons having nothing to do with his budget cuts to public education. For example, in Republican Centre County, home of Happy Valley, the voters despised Corbett for his cuts to state universities and his mishandling of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at PennState. So we now will have a Democrat Governor who has said he wants to tax the frackers, raise taxes on the millionaires, close corporate loop holes, pass fair funding legislation for public schools, and return local control to the Philadelphia school system. BUT, the legislature, since the election, now has a bigger Republican majority than it had two years ago, and the conservative Republican majority leader in the state senate has been replaced by a Tea Party favorite.
So, good luck Tom Wolf, but sadly, I don’t see his election, or the election of another Democrat here and there (most of whom do not give any weight to what teachers are saying), making a difference. Only a movement which enlists the unions in educating the masses to stop voting against their futures and to reject the current leadership in both major parties has any hope of creating the change we want: an end to over testing and fraudulent teacher evaluations, full funding of public schools, and respect for teachers.
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GST,
The “union” supports Cuomo and other like minded individuals.
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I know the “union” has been a disaster for us generally in recent years but, speaking from the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, the PFT has fought the good fight in Phila. against Corbett, and the PSEA has worked hard the past 4 years to prevent every one of Corbett’s initiatives, including ending tenure, ending seniority, ending payroll deduction of dues, and vouchers. The “union’ has missed the boat totally on teacher evaluation and standardized testing, going along to get along, and that has to change, and that will only happen when new leadership recognizes that neither major party merits our support as they are presently constituted, and the union’s job is to advocate for its members and only for its members 100% of the time. That would include spending dues money to educate the public to wake up and understand that what they are voting for, if they are still voting, is poison.
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Really devastating piece on Duncan’s DOE and bailing out a rip-off for-profit college chain.
They should be questioned on this. Ted Mitchell should be asked how it happened that the federal government signed off on this deal:
“Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said he was “shocked” that the Education Department would support the deal and questioned whether keeping Corinthian open under any management was in the best interest of students or taxpayers.
“To prop up a school whose main purpose seems to be to get federal money is a misguided use of federal funds,” Cohen said. “When a school like [Corinthian] that has a checkered history is on the mat, throw in the towel. It’s over.”
I don’t have any hope that Congress will do anything. Ed reformers so dominate in DC that this stuff is never investigated. It’s “bipartisan” too which means it;s lockstep.
It’s a club, and we’re not in the club.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-dozens-of-failing-for-profit-schools-found-an-unlikely-savior-a-debt-collector/2014/11/28/c3ea8218-7411-11e4-a589-1b102c2f81d0_story.html
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Lots of youtube spoofs of the Everest college commercial. Generally bad, but a few great lines mixed in.
“Everest College is accredited by the west coast commission of non-accredited schools”
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Diane,
I have enjoyed reading your blog, articles, and books for years. I have learned so much
What concerns me is that I never hear the discussion of why the conditions of teaching are so bad, beyond the unfair assessment of teachers through standardized tests..Why is there such a high turnover of teachers?
I had to retire from teaching at a Title One School because the behavior of the students prohibited me from teaching math and science. Not a word on this huge phenom in our Title 1 Schools. Keep the bad behaviotr in the classroom to manipulate the driopout rate, etc
The leaders in education ignore this “white elephant”. Without a teacher’s assistant in many classes, it is impossible to actually teach. This is the ultimate, ugly endgame of povery: Not Education but rather Classroom Management.
Why don’t leaders help create the conditions neceaasry for learning?
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The necessary conditions for learning cost money. If we really wanted to do this education thing right, we’d have school wide positive behavior systems like Responsive Classroom, Conscious Discipline, and Restorative Justice.
We’d also have social workers, counselors, and Nurse Practioners in every school that needs them. Every school would have Gym, Theatre Arts, Music, Art and other extracurricular activities. Parents would be welcomed in the school and a large healthy PTO would be encouraged. Committees of teachers, parents, principal would decide what the students needed and have free reign to reject initiatives that made no sense to their school. Standardized tests would not be high stakes and teachers would not be VAMmed.
It is the NCLB and RttT that manage to get rid of those needed things and replace them with charter schools, decreased budgets, decimated the Arts, and demoralized teachers, students and parents. All in the name of reform. Get rid of the high stakes testing and punish-and-close tactics. Then we’ll see REAL education in the schools.
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I can just say personally as a public school parent that I resent paying ed reformers in government at the state and federal level to weaken existing public schools.
I don’t care if their intentions were good, or if they had some Grand Plan that included trashing public schools to promote their preferred system. That IS NOT what they were hired to do. No one hired them to replace public schools. They were hired to improve public schools. If they planned on replacing public schools, they should have run on that.
I don’t want another lecture on how public schools suck. I want them to do their jobs, whether they value public schools or not.
Pubic schools are political orphans in this state. In fact, politicians get huge mileage out of bashing our schools. I’m sick of it. I don’t want to pay people to do this. Let Gates or Broad pay them. They should get paid by the people they’re actually working for. Arne Duncan and his merry band of reformers don’t value public schools? Then they shouldn’t have taken that job, because they’re supposed to be improving public schools, not running their personal privatization agenda.
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To respond in a form of a question….
WHAT IS NO?
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As a parent in a “PAARC state” this bothers me too. The CEO of PARCC promotes ed reform and ed reformers on her Twitter feed.
https://twitter.com/lmcgslover
For God’s sake. Can we get ONE person who isn’t a member of this exclusive DC club running public school policy? The Common Core is being tested on tens of millions of public school children. Maybe we could have someone who actually values public schools running it? How is this even modeling “critical thinking”? It’s lockstep. They surround themselves with people from inside this same circle of 150 people.
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Yes, both major parties are controlled by the plutocrats who are demolishing public education and the public sector generally. There is no hope of changing this situation by sticking with the Dems, who will nominate Wall St agent Hillary Clinton in 2016. When Hillary is nominated, Sens. Warren and Sanders will come onto the platform to support her, along with teacher union presidents Weingarten and Elskesen and other union presidents lining up; this is why Snes. Warren and Sanders are tolerated within the Dems; they appeal to progressives but stand by the plutocratic wing; such decent politicians have no chance of changing their party until large mass movements from below raise a ruckus. There is however a short-term solution to the attack on public education: inspire as many parents as possible to opt-out of the PARCC and SBAC testing. PARCC etc. need the kids to take them in huge numbers; if parents refuse the tests, they will cheat Pearson/Gates/Amplify of the mass subjects they need to validate the testing. To focus now on the Dems or national politics in the two-party game is not feasible; we do have the capacity to rally parents to opt-out and that is a serious power to use against the privatizers and plutocrats. Are folks planning to come to Ft.Lauderdale MLK weekend for the big United Opt-Out Conference?
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I have more faith in Sen. Sanders than you. If he runs in 2016 as a Democrat it will only be so that he can debate Hillary Clinton on the same stage. Should he lose that bid, I have to believe he will return to his independency and Vermont, and leave the celebrating to Bill and Hillary at the Democrat convention.
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Yes!
Opting out is a powerful weapon that the reformers have yet to counter. Soon,?there will be threats to link PARCC and Smarter BS with grade level promotion!
This spring will be a very important time. If teachers, college professors, BOE members, principals, and other informed citizens OPT their loved ones OUT, the deformers ca be stopped. If not, they win and public education loses.
No excuse for Opting In.
Further, avoid all Amplify products if you can, sabotage if you must.
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Here’s the latest charter promotion from Duncan’s DOE:
http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/progress/2014/11/georgia-innovation-fund-projects-open-students-minds-to-what-is-possible/
Does anyone in the building do anything other than open charter schools? I get that they prefer these schools and they all came from “The Movement”, but one would think they would feel some ethical duty to, you know, actually work on the schools that 90% of kids attend. I guess this is what happens when you choose to hire people who spent their entire careers promoting privatization.
The US Department of Charter Schools would be a better description. It’s as if public schools are already gone.
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Chiara and others. Thought this might interest you:
http://www.ed.gov/budget15?src=feature
“The President’s fiscal year 2015 budget request for education
The President’s budget request reflects his strong belief that education is a vital investment in the nation’s economic competitiveness, in its people, and in its communities. The administration’s request for $69 billion in discretionary appropriations represents an increase of 2 percent over the previous year and slightly more than the 2012 discretionary level for education before the sequester. Three-quarters of that funding goes to financial aid for students in college, special education, and high-poverty schools (Title I). The remaining 23 percent of the budget targets specific areas and reforms designed to leverage major changes in educational opportunity and excellence for all students, including the expansion of access to high-quality preschool, data-driven instruction based on college- and career-ready standards, making college more affordable, and mitigating the effects of poverty on educational outcomes. Much of this leverage is achieved through competitive awards to states and school districts committed to educational innovation and transformation. But the lion’s share of the 2015 request—nearly 90 percent of discretionary spending—goes to formula funds that address the needs of disadvantaged poor and minority students, students with disabilities, and English learners.”
Lots of money in there for district public schools students and schools.
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Except it doesn’t go to existing public schools unless they accept the terms, and the terms are written to comply with a very narrow ed reform agenda.
I resent it, Joe. The fact is this isn’t Duncan’s money. It’s our money, and 90% of kids go to the public schools he disfavors.
You know what ed reformers are ultimately going to be measured on? Not opening charter schools. Improving public schools.
They fail on that measure. They fail on what they run on, which isn’t privatizing public schools, but improving them.
Obama’s legacy on education is opening charter schools. That’s it. That’s what he accomplished. That isn’t what he ran on.
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Actually, Title One funding goes by state designed formula (generally) to schools that serve the highest per cent of students from low income families.
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69 Billion. First, how does that number compare with the budget for the military and our never-ending global war on terror?
Second, Three quarters of the 69 billion goes to financial aid for students in college (just as more and more students and parents discover that college is not worth the expenditure (see, for example, Teachers colleges); special education and high poverty schools (what will the money be spent on – teachers, wrap-around services, counselors, nurses, paper, books, equipment and other resources, or technology aligned with standardized tests, both sold by campaign donors)?
The remaining 23% targets specific areas and reforms “designed to leverage major changes in educational opportunity and excellence for all students” ( like, for example, more “data-driven instruction based on college and career-ready standards.”). Sounds like Obama is doubling down on the Common Core and standardized testing.
Oh, and anyway, I am sure McConnell and Boehner will be anxious in January to put this budget up for passage right after they finish passing their immigration bill and a gun control measure which honors the memories of the dead children and teachers from Sandy Hook.
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I vouched for Obama in 2010 when public school teachers who are Democrats here started telling me he was bad for public schools.
I shouldn’t have done that. They were right. I was wrong. He is bad for public schools.
They weren’t saying “bad for teachers unions” or “bad for my career”. They were saying the Obama Administration doesn’t support public schools.
That’s accurate. They don’t. In fact, they don’t mention public schools at all unless it’s to deliver another scolding, patronizing lecture or a threat of economic sanctions. I don’t know where they get off with this. How many of these Gates people have ever entered an Ohio public school? They know nothing about our schools. Nothing. They seem to think the only functioning public schools are in “wealthy suburban areas”. We have two sets of schools in this country, according to Duncan’s DOE. We have the “failing urban” set (another broad-brush lie) and the “wealthy suburban” set.
I don’t think they understand the country they live in let alone the public school system. It’s more complicated than that. For “systems thinkers” they’re dumb as rocks on “systems”.
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I think the disconnectedness is a global problem. The pope, in his address to the European Union scolds them for this.
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Why has President Obama taken a position against our public schools? To me, there are two possibilities:
Those of us in education know that the Waltons, Broads, etc. have wanted to change the landscape of education for many years. It’s possible that these billionaires promised Obama a lot of money for his campaign in exchange for his support in dismantling public education.
The second possibility is the fact that Obama himself attended private schools and might see that as his ticket to his success. To me, the critical factors in his success were the emphasis his mother and grandparents placed on education, in addition to good health and natural ability, but he might not see it that way.
I feel certain about one thing: The candidate who supports public education and teachers will have a good chance of being the next president. Teachers are not as powerless as they think.
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Too bad President Obama didn’t realize that his wife has done quite well as a graduate of a public magnet school.
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IMHO, unless Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination, neither major party candidate will support public education and teachers, but in 2020 or 2024, who knows. Perhaps by then one or both of these parties will have gone the way of the Whigs and Federalists, and a new progressive party can win with the help and support of public school teachers.
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I am in agreement with the first half of your comment. My crystal ball is not
operational tonight.
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Robert Reich recently reported that corporate owners and others in the 0.1%, contributed 4 times the amount that worker associations contributed to Obama’s campaign.
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Also Obama’s sister attended a corporate backed school in Indonesia, so he likely equates charters with her experience.
I think he blames public schools for perpetuating minority poverty. Period. Whether or not it makes sense, it’s what he has resolved to believe.
In my opinion there are two sets of savvy-ness a person must master to succeed in America. One is a true academic accomplishment (reading, writing, sense of history, etc) and the other is sort of a Cosmo savvy—can you carry on a conversation at an airport bar etc. So minorities were largely barred entry to white every day living, so they developed their own Cosmo savvy-ness, and it did not rely on “white accomplishment” in the academic sense. Slowly the divide widened, with a few minorities pulling their way up a food chain with a certain Cosmo- savvy, and I think these minorities draw more attention to themselves than humble middle class minorities working hard to master true academics and a good work ethic, with no real concern for Cosmo-savviness. Same with middle class whites (albeit there too you have the gray collar professionals— sales, realtors) who rely on their Cosmo-savvy knowledge to make it. So the question arises: why would schools be viewed as success factories when the successes are somewhat humble, and the difference between minority Cosmo-savvy is different from mainstream white Cosmo-savvy (although less and less, really)—-must mean schools suppress minorities, or perpetuate their status.
I think it’s a matter of who is visible.
We’re an easy target, public schools. Always have been. Low apples when needing a power trip.
And I think Obama is not really paying attention to Public education (we are not Cosmo-savvy as an entity, therefor we are easy to brush off–like a dumpy girl in a bar).
To me the question of “how to turn around Public schools” is the wrong question because they aren’t a businesses. Just like Diane has said all along. We are coming up with answers to problems we didn’t have and we are ignoring the real questions.
Ironically, capitalism will allow for the creativity we need to solve these issues (in time). Meanwhile, we have to hope public schools remain intact, which is looking like a very tall order.
I think we have to make sure we are not still on last year’s dreams (to quote a song I wrote fifteen years ago). Here it is:
“Did I see you? Did I see me? Why am I losing my sympathy for anyone? Adjust again? I just adjusted. See your spirit, cold-busted. Full speed ahead. What could it mean? I’ll wait and see I’ll wait and see. Arms in the air. I’ve been there. And I’m still on last year’s dreams.”
I have always said that accepting where we are now in public education. is a lot like accepting your parent’s divorce. You adjust accordingly, and hope for better in the coming generations.
For regulars on this blog whose parents did not divorce, trust me on this one. New dreams. Not last year’s dreams, no matter how lovely they might have been.
I’m fighting for public schools. I post things on FB. Peripherally, people notice. But by and large most don’t. People will respond when their child is impacted. That is where I hang my hat, lest I be eaten up with worry and paralyzed by anxiety about the future of our Public schools.
I think we are right to begin looking ahead to new elected leadership and who might surface and how we will challenge them with questions about the “new civil rights” issue (that isn’t really about civil rights at all, in my opinion).
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Nope. He was a charter school puppet from way back. He was always a fake posing as a Democrat, justice Cory Booker.
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I meant just like Cory Booker. Hate typing from a tablet.
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I have given up on the Democratic Party and hope there will be a viable third party. I have been reading a lot about the 1820 and 1824 elections. The 1820 presidential election became a four way race because many felt that the Democratic-Republican Party and what was left of the Federalist Party represented the economic elite at that time. No presidential candidate won the majority of the electoral vote. Therefore, it was thrown into the House to choose. Of the four presidential candidates only one really ran against the plutocracy that was running the United States at that time–Andrew Jackson. He came in second while Quincy Adams came in first with the number of electoral votes.Through an unholy deal with Henry Clay who came in fourth for president, Adams became president even though he won a smaller plurality of the popular vote than Jackson. Jackson and his supporters felt the election was rigged by the wealthy class who Clay and Adams represented. That led to Jackson’s formation of the modern Democratic Party. He spent the next four years running again for president and forging a coalition of urban workers and small farmers to win in 1824. I believe that if a third party forms this time, we might get again a three way split in the Electoral College. Obviously, the GOP House will choose the Republican. However, that might be enough for again Americans to feel that an election was stolen–this time by the 1%. This will again lead someone to forge a new coalition by the 2020 election to take back this government from the Oligarchs that are calling the shots.
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I like it.
Bernie Sanders for President!
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There is an event coming up in December hosted by Steve Audobato, hosting Senators Booker and Menendez. All three are against public education. Steve owns the Robert Treat charter school. I believe it is by invitation only. Should be a real hoot. I doubt anyone from Newark public schools will be able to get in.
When you know who the enemy is, that is half the battle. When the other side is just as poisonous, how do you fight them?
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Donna,
What are they calling the event?
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There will be an invite only audience, but I believe this is it:
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/11/ask_sens_menendez_and_booker_your_questions_for_a_televised_interview_with_steve_adubato.html
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That is interesting Donna! Note education is not one of the topics.
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NJ Teacher,
Actually the teacher unions in NYS didn’t officially support anyone, most notably Cuomo.
I’ll grant you Randi’s apologistic fawning over him, but it remains to be seen if NYSUT will be in any way shape or form supporting New York’s Governor.
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rockhound2,
Randi made robocalls for Hochul.
She did not endorse Teachout.
She shut Ianuzzi up when he began to oppose Cuomo.
All of the above add up to support of Cuomo.
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Roger Williams, a columnist for Florida Weekly, wrote that politicians “serve as rainmakers for billionaires, hedge fund managers and corporations. National school reform is done on their behalf.”
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People below mentioned the need for an improved marketing campaign by the unions in support of public schools. I agree. Another idea is to work with school board members and school board state and national associations to educate the public about public schools.
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Obama has never supported public ed. His hatred stems from as far back as the 1990s, when he was on the board of the pro-charter school Joyce Foundation. I pegged him as a fraud a long time ago.
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