Yesterday, demonstrations and violent protests erupted in Baltimore. A young black man, Freddie Gray, died while in police custody. The protests began after his funeral. Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., the Jaded Educator says: “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
She connects the hopelessness of the young people who are rioting to her own role as a teacher:
Point blank, we have not given these students anything of value. We have not given them a reason to think twice about throwing that rock and landing them in a heap of trouble. We have robbed them of what is within their rights which is an equal opportunity for education.
The question can be asked, are schools supposed to fix everything? Of course not. As an educators, we are already inundated with a myriad of responsibilities to attend to. However, we are the staple community institution, that possesses the power to make a life altering influence on our children.
I must say, I don’t blame my students for their often unruly behavior in the classroom. If you felt that your education was totally inaccessible to you, and didn’t incorporate aspects of your life, you would place little to no value in it. During my year long student teaching I, as well as a colleague of mine, wondered, “So we do all this work on the inside, but how does it translate on the outside of these four walls?” And what I am coming to terms with, is that, for the masses, it doesn’t. What long lasting impact will teaching my students how to multiply 2×2 digit numbers, if I am not able to supply them with life skills, and equip them with constructive strategies to manage their conflicts, and promote socially appropriate emotional responses, educate them using a curriculum that is most salient and relevant to them? What it seems we’ve been told is that it’s not important because its not on the test.
They have not failed, she says. We have.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
See, “A Baltimore Orioles executive issued a defense of Freddie Gray protestors—and it is perfect” in Mother Jones: http://bit.ly/1JMKVa1 (An oligarch who gets it!)
LikeLike
This is as relevant today as it was then. From James Baldwin re Harlem riots:
The white policeman, standing on a Harlem street corner, finds himself at the very center of the revolution now occurring in the world. He is not prepared for it — naturally, nobody is — and, what is possibly much more to the point, he is exposed, as few white people are, to the anguish of the black people around him. Even if he is gifted with the merest mustard grain of imagination, something must seep in. He cannot avoid observing that some of the children, in spite of their color, remind him of children he has known and loved, perhaps even of his own children. He knows that he certainly does not want his children living this way. He can retreat from his uneasiness in only one direction: into a callousness which very shortly becomes second nature. He becomes more callous, the population becomes more hostile, the situation grows more tense, and the police force is increased. One day, to everyone’s astonishment, someone drops a match in the powder keg and everything blows up. Before the dust has settled or the blood congealed, editorials, speeches, and civil-rights commissions are loud in the land, demanding to know what happened. What happened is that Negroes want to be treated like men.
LikeLike
This is an amazing post from Mother Jones. Thank you for the referral. At the same time, the pontificating is easy. It is worth asking if the value added by Baltimore Orioles activities and infrastucture in the city had any real spillover into a community isolated by redlining property with low income housing so neglected that law suits on lead poisoning have been won, and so on.
LikeLike
Wow, John. Insightful and powerful excerpt. I must go back and read that. Most people paint either the police or the rioters as bad guys, but Baldwin understands that neither is true.
LikeLike
Schools, and by extension that includes teachers, cannot supplant what families should give their children. Hone is the single most important influence on kids, and their families are the single strongest determinate of character and success in school and as adults.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What if we changed this around to say that we have to change education to make up for the deficits at home because that is the only way forward? Universal pre-K for 2 years, longer school days, character education, more counseling and wraparound services. Yes, it will cost more money, but that’s what we need to do. This is the reason why most charter supporters volunteer. Unfortunately, this gets lost in the rhetoric of anti-reform.
It’s a vicious cycle for these families and it has to be broken. Schools could and should be the point of greatest leverage, especially in early years.
LikeLike
Why is that the only way forward? Why not use that money to offer more support to families instead of trying to replace them?
LikeLike
Beth,
IMO, this doesn’t work. We’ve been fighting the “war on poverty” for decades with nothing to show for it. The problems are too systemic. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be working on that too, but we have too many low income men who are unemployable, not just unemployed.
Changing the environment of young people isn’t easy, but is easier.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Solving the problem of poverty won’t happen in the classroom. It requires a massive public works program to fix our nation’s infrastructure and put people to work. The best antidote to poverty is JOBS. Read Bob Herbert’s “Losing Our Way.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Diane,
The problem has to be addressed in many ways. We are not doing everything we could be doing in schools.
LikeLike
Universal pre-K–NO! Let the children be children. Don’t start formal schooling until age 7.
Longer school days–NO! If the schools can’t teach in the current time frames then maybe we are attempting to teach too much.
Character Ed–Who’s version?
More counseling and wrap around services–Definitely!!
LikeLike
“This is the reason why most charter supporters volunteer.”
Volunteer for what??
To be the one who goes to the bank to make deposits?
LikeLike
Schools don’t fix the problem of family poverty. And Baltimore is not NYC or Tokyo. If you think SA style schools work in any place just because you see some parents make positive comments about it, sorry, your view on inequality is quite different from most of us.
LikeLike
Ah, yes, it’s all so simple. If only those horrible parents would teach those beastly children to mind their manners. Sigh.
LikeLike
The best way to “fix” public education for the long haul is to eliminate poverty. How we do this is a whole ‘nother discussion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we have to change urban education so that it does make a difference for these kids. For example, a longer school day means not having to choose between math and literacy or life skills.
LikeLike
“. . . a longer school day means. . . ”
. . . learning how to kow tow to authority, having one’s time/life/being taken over by those who seek to control and dominate others.
LikeLike
Duane,
That’s just a rationalization for not doing anything.
Lack of education is what leads to a life of no choices and having to do whatever you have to to get by.
Low income parents are choosing charter schools in ever growing numbers because they understand this. I think you speak for your own interests, and not theirs.
LikeLike
John, poverty breeds poverty. The best way to end poverty is to end poverty, not to open charter schools that are run by non-educators and turn children into compliant robots.
LikeLike
One step schools can take is to reduce class sizes. Elementary class of 12-15 Middle School 15-18 and High School 18-21. These must be hard caps not flex caps that stretch to 25, 30, 40 or more.
LikeLike
Diane, is there no middle ground between 50% drop out rates with illiteracy and “compliant robots”?
The failure of traditional public schools to adapt to new urban realities is a tragedy.
yes, we are also failing to adequately fund urban schools and need to fix that, but why would anyone do that when all they hear from you is that schools can’t have any affect?
LikeLike
No, John, It’s not “just a rationalization for doing nothing”. Doing the wrong thing righter leads to being more wrong and is a waste of time, energy and monies.
Correctly identifying the problem is the first step.
What is the “root” problem that you are attempting to address with your 8:08 comment?
LikeLike
While we can not blame them for their behavior, we can hold them responsible. We have made a habit of making excuses for them which only teaches them that it will be ok because someone else will take responsibility.
Yes, it would be nice if we could actually take the time to teach them valuable skills that can be used outside the walls of a school. Unfortunately, the only thing that matters to the state and national leadership is testing, testing, testing which leave very little time for teaching useful skills.
I don’t believe teachers have failed. The system created by non-educators has failed them.
I believe the trend of “opting out” will continue and we will see and end to this poor system.
LikeLike
“I don’t believe teachers have failed. The system created by non-educators has failed them.”
I agree that the system has failed them, but it is the system created by educators and non-educators working together (or not).
Our system is very dysfunctional, but to say that this is solely the work of outsiders is to ignore a big part of the issue.
LikeLike
You’re are correct in that we as educators should not be spineless and just accept orders from the powers that be without question.
Many make the decision to comply based on their desire to truly be teachers and keep their jobs.
LikeLike
Passive agressive teacher bashing is not a solution. Anybody who has worked with disadvantaged and troubled students knows the problems are complex, deeply rooted, and too often outside the control of the school. Saying “out of sight, out of mind” by isolating these students in educational leper colonies ignores reality. Solutions like longer school days, character education (whatever that means), rank and yank systems are part of the constant barrage of velcro solutions imposed on teachers by the latest, outside Reformer – throw any idea in the classroom and see if it sticks.
LikeLike
The biggest issue I see is micromanaging, but teachers are complicit in the history and continuance of that and pointing that out is not bashing.
We have a factory model of education created through an adversarial management/labor relationship. Most Union contracts require that teachers be treated like interchangeable widgets, and not professionals. That’s what needs to change.
LikeLike
“. . . teachers are complicit in the history. . . ”
Quite correct in that John. I call them GAGAers.
LikeLike
John:
You’re just quoting the ill-informed reformers here. Take some time and read a number of these entries on Diane’s blog. Better yet, read her latest book.
LikeLike
mathcs,
I’m not quoting anyone. This is my opinion. I’ve been reading this blog for years and have read each of Diane’s books.
My experience is that most teachers will privately acknowledge many of the issues, but collectively cannot. That’s a recipe for continued micromanaging, over-prescriptive legislation, and more testing. These are all misguided, blunt-force attempts to force change that should be coming from within.
LikeLike
John,
Change should be coming from within. I am micromanaged to death. On top of that I attend unending hours of meaningless professional development. I am being forced to work outside of my certification. It is easy to fling around platitudes. How about trying my reality?
LikeLike
NJTeacher,
I agree 100% with what you said. My point is that the change from outside is happening because there was no change from inside to adapt to new realities. I am a firm believer that the way out of this mess is for unions or alternate professional groups to propose meaningful changes for teacher education, professional development, and evaluation instead of just fighting every option.
What we have now is untenable, but I think it will get worse, not better if teachers aren’t driving the process. And IMO, nobody will let teachers drive the process until they get serious about needed changes.
I’m open to the idea that I’m missing some great movement out there by someone to get these things done, but I haven’t seen it.
Curious about your thoughts on the subject.
LikeLike
drext727 there’s a whole lot of “them” in that post!!!
LikeLike
I noticed that too, Shannon. Oppressed human beings, Americans, are not them… That being said, my hope is that ALL – the impoverished, working poor, and middle class rise up and kick the oppressor class right in the rearend
LikeLike
I do not buy into the sef-flagellation. While no-excuses schools go too far, there has to be more recognition the problems are rooted outside the classroom. When parents do not instill basic values of respect and compassion, when politicians deflect their incompetence by blaming teachers, when business wants world class workers from teachers paid Walmart wages, when voters give lip service to education, then you finally have the issues. I work hard and try to reach students. But by the time they reach me, the obstacles are often insurmountable. It becomes an emperor’s new clothes environment were you just keep at it, though few in America give a darn. Let’s stop blaming teachers for everything from teen pregnancy to national security.
LikeLiked by 1 person
great points, math vale… and so we teachers just keep plugging away because we realistically know we can’t reach all of the kids… but we do reach some & most know we give a damn! (and it’s always amazing when you find out later that there are ones you had no idea you were reaching!)
LikeLike
“Let’s stop blaming teachers for everything from teen pregnancy to national security.”
You mean that I’m (a teacher) not the most important thing since sliced bread??? Damn, that bubble’s now burst!!!
LikeLike
People who do not live in poverty where neighborhoods are war zones, health care is not available, fresh vegetable and fruits are non existent, and have no libraries, parks, and safe zones for children to play, not to mention a whole lot of other vermin the poor have to deal with…AFFECTS learning. How can one look around the absolute horror that surrounds their lives and find hope? Think of this…day after after of abject poverty, then going to school and being told, “Well, here is a test that will help you on your RACE to the TOP” … meaning NOWHERE. And how can one learn when basic needs are met. Does anyone remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? Tell me how these needs are met in this American GREED society of No Tolerance and “Three strikes and you’re out.”
1. Biological and Physiological needs
2. Safety needs
3. Love and belongingness needs
4. Esteem needs
5. Self-Actualization needs
What we are seeing is the outcome of an out of control “Business As Usual: Profits at any cost society at work.” Oh, and corrupt to the core politicians (DEMs and REPs) who depend on BIG MONEY (Wall Street and religious orgs who don’t pay taxes) to fund political campaigns using smear tactics rather than facts to purchase laws that benefit the RICH.
LikeLike
When my child was in kindergarten there was a lot of discussion about not hurting people on the outside or inside. In his first grade class there was discussion on it but less so. Beginning in the second grade there was no discussion on how to treat people. In the third grade the discussion only came up when someone said something to hurtful. You can see where this story goes. As a very observant parent I’m surprised and disappointed that discussion about peer relations and getting along is not covered in each grade level. The teachers are visibly stressed out by the new unrealistic expectations being placed on them that they are omitting from their lesson plans the most important lesson i. e. how to get along. Revise education reform now! It is creating a less humane and unruly world.
LikeLike
Ignore the trolls who scapegoat education and just assume those rioting in the streets come from traditional public schools, not the prized “character” building, military style, boot camp charters.
When we are living in a world where there are many people with college degrees who can’t find jobs with decent salaries, no amount of schooling is going to change those circumstances. Poverty and the plutocracy running this nation are the primary issues and what’s needed are jobs with livable wages. Reformers do everything they can to put the focus on reforming education, which is a diversion that is very profitable for them, when it is campaign financing and taxation on the rich that really need to be reformed for this country to become equitable for all. (And the hate-filled, racist losers need to stop fighting the Civil War already.)
LikeLike
This says it all: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDn_-SFWgAApVFy.jpg
LikeLike
Reteach,
I’m not scapegoating public education, but I get fed up with those that absolve it of all responsibility.
How many think you could guide one at-risk first grader to better than predicted success? A few? Ten? It is one of the greatest ironies of the anti-reform movement that teachers insist that they can’t make a difference.
As for those that took exception to my comment about longer school days, one of the best reasons for them is to increase the amount of time in a school environment rather than going home to an empty house or the street.
LikeLike
No one is saying that teachers can’t make *a* difference. What people are saying is that teachers can’t make *all* the difference.
LikeLike
BTW, charters can’t make all the difference either. Maybe they can make a difference for some, but the rest they keep booting back to the public system. As for those they do make a difference for, why couldn’t we make that difference for those students in the public system? What if we funded and resourced and supported public schools the way we do charters?
LikeLike
Dienne,
Your comment makes sense, except that on average, charters are funded substantially *less* than traditional public schools, not more.
I agree that any real fix has to happen in traditional public schools, but more money is only part of the solution. We have to change what we are doing as well.
LikeLike
Right, John, let’s just ignore the fact that charters (the corporate approved ones, anyway) invariably get bright shiny new buildings (or the best spaces in existing buildings) with all the latest technology and fully-stocked libraries. Let’s ignore that charters get boatloads of corporate cash. And let’s ignore that charters – after themselves saying they could do more with less – are now demanding *greater* funding than public schools, despite lack of transportation, legacy and other costs.
LikeLike
Dienne,
Most charters have to pay for their buildings out of their operating budgets instead of getting them at 25% of cost because of state aid. And despite what you read on this blog, the vast majority of charters get *no* corporate cash. I also haven’t seen any asking for greater funding, but we are asking for equitable funding. In my city, the district spends 1.5x as much as the charters per student.
But my point wasn’t to be pro charter, it was just to point out why I think more and more parents are choosing them.
LikeLike
And as far as changing what we are doing, it’s the charters that led the way on that. It’s the charters that made it all about the test and the resultant test prep and “no excuses” “discipline” that goes with it.
LikeLike
More parents are “choosing” charters because they don’t have a choice. New Orleans, for instance. And here in Chicago, as well as Philly and other places, they keep closing public schools and starving the ones that are left so that charters are increasingly the only viable options left. Talk about something affluent suburban parents wouldn’t put up with….
LikeLike
A recurring and spot-on theme in this thread is the acknowledgement that communities have as much (if not more) influence on schools as schools have on communities. This notion makes educators and school reformers uncomfortable, because it affirms just how much of what happens in schools can’t be controlled.
Regarding the rioting in Baltimore, the people causing property damage have their reasons, whether or not these reasons are rational. The type of school they attend or attended isn’t necessarily instrumental in their decision to partake. I attended a functional suburban high school and did well enough to get a scholarship. This didn’t stop me from vandalizing recreationally as a teen. It was fun. I had no reason to be angry, but I shoplifted and vandalized for sport. My actions were indisputably wrong, but they certainly weren’t my school’s fault, my parent’s fault, or society’s fault. Oh, and guess what I grew up to be? A teacher.
LikeLike
Amen, encore, YES.
What good is an education that is not directly connected to the immediate improvement of one’s own environment (family, social, economic, agriculture, medical, etc….). Teaching these young people organizational skills that will get their voices heard, teaching them how to convert an empty plot of city land into a productive garden to help feed the poor and disenfranchised in their neighborhoods, as WAY more important than teaching them some Common-Core standard that has no relevance and impact on their lives and context (and was probably created by some rich, high-tech, white guy, ex Bill G, based on the false premise that everyone needs Alg 2 in their lives, or some other nonsense). Youth in these contexts need to be empowered to work on the problems within their local communities, not just get “college ready”, as if that is going to help them immediately or in the long-term.
Our problems are moral (the failure to make correct/right/wise choices based on the information we have). Therefore, the solutions are moral, and not technical (inventing a new “app” of product, in order to supposedly “fix” a moral problem, which is nonsense).
LikeLike
When I see or hear the words “common core” it makes me think “Stepford Wive” or indoctrination into a specific behavior or action.
LikeLike
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy
LikeLike
Longer school days? School uniforms? Zero-tolerance policies? SLANT?
Gimmicks.
Look at what works in schools from another POV.
Let’s take the “in-school factors” and the “out-of-school factors.” Even by the testocratic metrics of the self-proclaimed “education reformers” the out-of-school factors have greater weight—and teachers make up only one component (even if possibly the greatest) of the in-school factors. To put it more succinctly: only 1-14% of standardized test scores can be attributed to the influence of teachers.
Look at the institutions associated with rheephormista heavyweights: Lakeside School (Bill Gates), Sidwell Friends (Barack Obama), Delbarton School (Chris Christie), Harpeth Hall (Michelle Rhee), U of Chicago Lab Schools (Rahm Emanuel), and so on.
Just go to the website of Lakeside Schools. Among the decisive factors working in its favor:
1), Students come to Lakeside with all the out-of-school support they need, from adequate nutrition and health care to exposure to a wide variety of life-changing and life-enhancing experiences (e.g., foreign travel).
2), Because of what the students bring to Lakeside, the school can devote itself to best pedagogical (as they see it) practices and not worry about the wrap-around services so vital (if increasingly missing) in the schools attended by less-fortunate students. So it’s not just having MORE of what makes school BETTER, it’s having LESS of what makes school WORSE.
¿? For example, as is true in many public schools,having to spend from a less generous budget [hint: understatement!] on dealing with in-school bullying and violence and vandalism and paying for the attendant metal detectors and extra security people and grief counselors and so on.
The rheephorm idea that you can leverage a fraction of the in-school factors (i.e., teachers) to decisively and radically change out-of-school factors like poverty, national security and economic competitiveness doesn’t just put the cart before the horse—
It is a diversion from having a discussion about what really matters. In school and out.
Remember that old saw (paraphrased): If money wasn’t so important, why are rich people always trying to get more of it?
Lakeside Schools’ clientele (students and parents) use a second old saw to answer that question: Money isn’t everything, but it’s what you buy everything with.
I hear the groans and moans of the sneer, jeer and sneer crowd (the sound of Rheephorm) but I’ll go with Sophie Tucker on this:
“I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.”
Just my dos centavitos worth…
😎
P.S. dianeravitch at 8:32 AM—thank you for your comments.
P.P.S. Again with the “throwing money” objection? “Money can’t buy you happiness”? Yeah, well, it’s a lot easier to be rich and unhappy than poor and unhappy…
Don’t believe me? Then join the rest of us and give it a try.
😏
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know some on this blog teach or used to teach in urban schools, but I wonder what fantasy land many others are living in. To think that the schools that these kids go to can’t be improved, or that teachers are *part* of the issue is the ultimate hubris.
Please read a couple of the “findings” sections of the Joint Intervention Team reports at: http://tinyurl.com/mu69pc6 and then tell me if suburban parents would put up with schools described this way in their neighborhoods.
Then, tell me that we’re doing everything that we can for these kids and that poverty is the problem. We have a teaching and learning problem in many urban schools. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away, nor does branding anyone who talks about it a teacher-basher.
To say that we can’t improve education for these kids while there are schools that set such low expectations for them, classrooms that show movies instead of teaching, overemphasis of direct instruction, 10+% teacher absenteeism, etc. is flat out wrong. We need to be working on both.
We need to acknowledge the role that urban schools have played in the problem and the role they can play in the solution. Many of you wring your hands about why charter enrollment is increasing every year. This is why.
LikeLike
I don’t think any rational person can deny the problems with urban schools, but it’s far too simplistic just to point to those problems. Those problems are themselves symptoms of greater illnesses – racism and classism. We underfund urban schools, fail to fix major structural building issues, fail to purchase up to date books and technology, mandate direct instruction (with the justification that “those kids” need it because they’re so “far behind” and, anyway, we need to get those test scores up), utilize what limited technology there is for testing and test-prep, treat misbehaving urban kids as thugs and criminals, etc., etc. It’s the system and the teachers are as much victims of the system as anyone else. Instead of fixing all these problems we pretend that we can “rescue” the “worthy” few with charters and vouchers and then we’ll just blame the remaining ones for causing their own problems and/or blame their teachers.
LikeLike
If we are to blame, then why aren’t “they” all like that? Why are they any who are not throwing rocks and bricks at police officers, setting cars afire, looting stores, burning churches?
they didn’t go to school?
LikeLike
My son lives less than a mile from the rioting. He said shutting down the buses, light rail, etc. at the time they shut them down (around 3 PM, I think) was a mistake. The teens had no way home from school; therefore, they milled around rioting began. There is also a problem between gangs there. This conversation has been on here before. The schools force these kids into other kids territories, so stuff happens. I was visiting my son last June, when a fight broke out on the light rail between two girls. One pepper sprayed the other and the car we were on was affected. I had a reaction and had to get my inhaler out immediately. We moved to another car and the girls got off. I agree–poverty is the bigger picture and how they are forcing these kids to cross lines have to be looked at. Will they? I doubt it!
LikeLike
Dottie: from my POV, you are simply telling it like it is.
No understatements. No over-the-top hysteria.
Thank you for your comments.
😎
LikeLike
Re Jaded teacher post. Looting, burning buildings, destroying property does not equate to broken lives brought about by poverty. Sorry, you don’t get a pass. I speak from experience coming from a laboring/working class family in London. There are no excuses.. My Mother used to say ‘you can’t help being poor, but you don’t have to be dirty. Soap and water are cheap.’ So maybe you are poor and discriminated against, that is no ticket to criminal behavior. Where are your values? Do you understand the ten Commandments? I taught American history in an inner city school. Social problems walked in the door everyday which I could not solve. My job was to make my class relevant, interesting and meaningful to all students. Our society has failed these students. The culture of the streets has failed these students. I don’t see the African American leaders of these community doing much. Solutions must come within their communities first such as intact families, strong leaders, cottage industries, honest work, and churches which offer real solutions rather than unrealized hope.
LikeLike
“…honest work….”
Easy enough to say, but where are the jobs? Unemployment among black males goes as high as 50% in some cities. Are you seriously saying that 50% of black males simply have no “values”?
BTW, being “working class” is a far cry from the generational poverty that many of these young people were born into and continue to be confined to.
LikeLike
Why work when the 8 dollar an hour job you qualify for will pay less than what you are receiving for sitting at home? There is no excuse for the behavior being exhibited in Baltimore at this very moment. Yes poverty plays a role but there are many other factors at play here and while poverty is significant it does not justify the inexcusable behavior of these “protesters” which ultimately hurts the same members of the community these people are claiming to take a stand for.
LikeLike
The Real One,
The vast majority of public assistance recipients *are* working, they just can’t make enough at one job anymore. It used to be “welfare to work”; now it’s “welfare and work”.
It is also *very* expensive to be poor. Everything costs more, from food (because there is no supermarket nearby), to banking (because you can’t open a bank account and have to use check cashing services), etc. It is not an existence to wish on anyone, and your version of what you think it looks like is a strawman, used to rationalize cutting the programs that are in place in order to fund tax cuts.
Believe me, the people making decisions about how to spend money in this country love it when we argue against ourselves. It’s not them and you against people taking advantage of the system, it’s them against everyone else. They are the ones taking advantage. Money drives decisions in DC and the poor don’t have lobbyists.
LikeLike
Men receive fairly little government assistance. Most of what’s left is geared toward mothers with children (and even they have a hell of a time getting anything). Very few men are sitting at home collecting more than they could get with an $8/hour job. The problem is that there are no jobs – $8/hour or otherwise. Why do you think there are thousands of applications for every part time, low wage position?
LikeLike
The divide and conquer strategy has worked to perfection. While the serfs argue among each other and the Country spirals into a third world dump, the elite take their bags stuffed with loot to Portugal and New Zealand where they will live happily ever after and watch the destruction from afar.
LikeLike
So the people burning buildings looting and robbing people are honest hardworking people who have been applying to jobs that are not simply no there? Give me a break! These are people who game the system hustle on the side (usually something illegal) pay zero taxes in the process and then turn around and act like animals. Then apologists such as yourself make excuses for them. Hell if they are such great upstanding individuals why don’t you move to Baltimore and open your doors to a few? I didn’t think so.
LikeLike
Talk about divide and conquer. I see you’ve turned your vitriol on the least of the least, the ones least able to defend themselves.
Seriously, look into welfare “reform” and how easy it is to collect any form of government assistance these days. Even legitimately disabled people have to fight tooth and nail to get their pittance in disability funds.
Anyway, you’ve revealed all that needs to be said about yourself when you refer to people as “animals”, so what good does it do to bother with you?
LikeLike
Divide and conquer, indeed.
Your attack on the underprivileged (many of whom have little or nothing) plays right into the hand of the oligarchs.
LikeLike
Not that this will open your mind (I doubt that’s possible), but nonetheless, I’d suggest you read at least one piece written by a black person attempting to explain to affluent whites what’s going on. Here’s one to start with: http://www.salon.com/2015/04/28/baltimores_violent_protesters_are_right_smashing_police_cars_is_a_legitimate_political_strategy/
LikeLike
Some of them have already moved to small tropical islands.
With some luck (poor choice of island) sea level rise will get them.
One of the few positive outcomes of global warming.
LikeLike
I hope you are right. They sure do deserve it.
LikeLike
Just to be clear, by “them’ I refer to the oligarchs
LikeLike
I am not attacking anyone I am simply not defending the indefensible. Speaking of attacking, the ones attacking are the people you are defending. They are attacking innocent people and they are robbing the businesses that are owned by the very people who live in their communities.Robbing camera men who are there “working” reporting on what is taking place is OK? There is no excuse for burning looting and injuring others. I am amazed how you can just sweep those actions under the rug in the name of poverty. I have had less than five dollars in my account for over a month and I have not resorted to the easy way out of robbing and stealing. I quit teaching knowing that the financial obstacles I would encounter were going to be tough during my time in school due to the fact that employment during the my program of study is prohibited. But in the end its all about sacrifice. I just don’t see these people as victims as “most” are taking advantage for their own self serving interests. Stealing large amounts of booze hardly makes me want to feel sorry for anyone much less come to their defense. Forget about my mind and concentrate on yours as it is severely lacking in any reminiscence of common sense whatsoever. Like I said before, if you want to open up something, open up your doors to these poor victims who’s grotesque behaviors you are attempting to rationalize instead of concentrating on opening up my mind.
LikeLike
real one,
You are right. I was wrong.
Your comment was specifically directed at “the people burning buildings looting and robbing people” and for the record, I don’t condone or defend that.
LikeLike
Not there*
LikeLike
By the way I said “acting like animals” not “they are animals” so stop trying to take things and twist them out of context to try and paint me in a negative light. Stop being dishonest by resorting to the very methods of those who you condemn on this blog everyday. Are they not acting like animals? Or are these behaviors those of civilized human beings?
LikeLike
They are acting like human beings who are in untenable situations and have been for generations. They are human beings filled with rage and frustration because they have been denied basic rights and decency. All animals – including human animals – will react when cornered and the best way to prevent that is simply not to corner them.
BTW, you’re full of blame for the little guys flouting the law, but what about the big guys? What about, as just one example, the people in the story a few posts above who walked away with millions in profits while Corinthian College slinked off the stage, leaving 16,000 students with no degree and large bills to pay? Are those people “acting like animals” too? Or are they “civilized human beings?
LikeLike
As Don Henley said, “a man with a briefcase can steal more than a man with a gun”.
LikeLike
Dienne,
I agree with most of what you said in your thoughtful response, but there is a lot that can improve with teaching and learning in urban schools.
LikeLike
No one has ever denied that. We just disagree with what you think needs to be changed (putting education into private hands).
LikeLike
Dienne,
I don’t think the solution is “putting education into private hands”, and wish that publicly elected school boards, superintendents, etc. could get the job done. Unfortunately, they have not.
I don’t blame teachers for poverty. I just think there is an opportunity to do much more in schools than we are doing, especially in high poverty schools. That’s why I don’t have a lot of tolerance for people saying that poverty has to be fixed before we can improve schools, or that teachers are just living in an ecosystem created by others and have no responsibility for the current state of education.
LikeLike
When have I not blamed the big guys?They are the main culprits in much of what is going on. However, that does not give a free pass to the actions taking place in Baltimore and regardless of what excuses you make it cannot be quantified. We have seen this before in Miami and in LA and in both cases it was disgusting and inhumane behavior that is simply non justifiable under any circumstances whatsoever.
LikeLike
I would like to hear you tell Reginald Denny that what happened to him is justifiable because the people that nearly beat the life out of him were never granted a fair shake. Guess what I wasn’t granted a fair shake either growing up in a poor neighborhood and being the product of a single parent household and I did not resort to the actions you so eloquently defend. At what point are you going to hold individuals accountable for their own actions? I understand that life is not fair but you cannot rectify an obviously incorrect act just because the odds are not in one’s favor.
LikeLike
You’re bringing up an incident from 1992? Have there been any such incidents in Baltimore? Then what’s the relevance?
What would you have black people do when their young men (and too many women for that matter) are getting legally gunned down in the streets? Should they wait for the legal system to work? Sorry, tried that. Should they vote out the bad politicians? Good luck with that – been trying that since Reconstruction.
Now, sure, I’m all for non-violence myself, but when your own country has declared war on you, it’s a little late to call for non-violence. Where were the calls for non-violence when Zimmerman was shooting Martin? When Slager was shooting Scott? When 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot in cold blood? The time for non-violence is past for the moment. If people wanted non-violence they should have been listening months ago. Now people are crying about property damage and white sports fans and teams losing money. Waah. Glad they got your attention now. Now maybe something will change.
LikeLike
I didn’t know there was a time limit on bringing up despicable acts of violence . Like I said before, if you feel these people are truly victims and not lawless thugs then go to Baltimore and join them or open up your household to them. Until then, stop trying to reconcile wrongs with ass backwards thinking.
LikeLike
BTW, curious story this: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/how-baltimore-riots-began-mondawmin-purge Looks like the cops intentionally started the whole thing. Gee, color me shocked.
LikeLike
Brazen violence, and even murder, committed with impunity by agents of the state who are ostensibly there to protect the public is a very different matter from the criminal beating of Reginald Denny over twenty years ago.
If you don’t know that, you should.
LikeLike
I am not condoning police violence in any way shape or form. However, I am not making excuses in order to justify behaviors that are undoubtedly incorrect. I brought up Reginald Denny because it occurred in a similar fashion as to what is currently unfolding in Baltimore. If you didn’t know that you should!
LikeLike
I have used the term “tinderbox” in many posts before, and Baltimore is a prime example. It also exemplifies perfectly a plutocracy that is turning into a police state. My heart goes out to those who protested in Baltimore and to Mr. Gray and his poor family.
If the overclass does not back down, leaving the middle and working class alone, then there will be many more incidents like the one we saw in Baltimore. This is about color and race, but ultimately, it’s about class, wealth, and power.
It’s terrifying.
LikeLike
“To affirm that men and women are persons and as persons should be free, and yet to do nothing tangible to make this affirmation a reality, is a farce.” ~ Paulo Freire
People who make claims suggesting that the protesters in Baltimore are on welfare or that it’s easy to get welfare and disability today are living in another century and know nothing about what resulted from Welfare Reform in the 90s. I happen to be one of the people Dienne referred to above. I am disabled and do not qualify for disability or other government assistance because “welfare” is only for families and disability is just for people who have not figured out how to work despite their disability, such as at the work-from-home jobs I have. Even though I have three degrees, I get paid like the cognitively disabled for piece work, and my two jobs are so unstable that I have not taken home minimum wage this year. Now, my utilities will be shut off by next week and I can’t pay my rent, so I am going to become homeless very soon. I literally have less than $1 to my name, because I spent my last $12 yesterday on what I am calling my “last supper.” Although I am a woman, I am supposed to be advantaged because I’m white and educated, but that is not how things really work if you don’t happen to be one of the elites in our neoliberal plutocracy today, so try to imagine what it’s like for less educated people of color.
As stated above, “And the hate-filled, racist losers need to stop fighting the Civil War already.” Those battles are being led by people on both sides of the aisle with briefcases, not with guns, as is the charter school movement that promotes segregation in our already highly stratified society. Many of those charters are boot camps for children of color, because oligarchs want an army of compliant drones who will accept being low-wage workers at Wal-Mart etc. It’s very presumptuous to assume that no protesters in Baltimore came from charter schools, especially when they are oppressed as much, if not more so, than others coming from poverty.
“The greatest humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves…” ~ Paulo Freire
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing your story (and the Freire quotes). I’m so sorry.
LikeLike
Does anyone really think there are easy answers to what is happening in Baltimore? People of all races and status are shaking their heads. It makes no sense to destroy the very community that suffers so much from injustice. It makes no sense to destroy the little that people have managed to call their own. Have we ever really understood why people go on a rampage and destroy their own communities? Just look at the faces of those trying to lead decent lives in the midst of the destruction. They just want it to stop. We can all sit around pointing fingers; there is more than enough blame to pass around and no one is innocent. Because we are teachers and people concerned about the education of children, our focus is on what we can do. There are teachers that suck, there are schools that don’t deserve to be called schools. There are a lot more that are managing to function despite all the obstacles put in their paths. If our teaching force was 100% capable and our schools were all model institutions, the problems would not go away. That obviously does not mean we stop trying; plenty of teachers are still out there doing the best they can. We are facing problems that we have to face as a society. If I hear once more how money didn’t help, I will scream. When we were actively attacking poverty and racism and inequity in opportunity, things were changing. The gains we made are dissolving as we back off of all previous reforms. We have been living on trickle down for long enough. The trickle dries up well before it reaches those most in need and is barely sustaining most of the rest of us.
LikeLike
Spot on! But when people are alienated and angry, it is the perfect time for things not to make sense.
My fear is that Baltimore and other riots in the country are the stem cells of a physical revolution that will erupt in far less than 20 years from now. I’m really scared.
LikeLike
Values/ethics must be taught to all students.
LikeLike
“Values/ethics” follow from living in a society in which one has something to gain by following such values/ethics. When blacks can be beaten, jailed killed for no reason and with impunity, they don’t live in such a society.
LikeLike
No your worthless teacher Union has failed them…..
LikeLike
Poor inner cities are the breeding grounds for ISIS type violence. Through the internet many gangs are learning the ways of revolutionists. The army trained many in the art of urban warfare and then sent them back to the cities where they can train others.
Unless this country finds a way to let ALL people participate in this country in living, politics, decision making, education, and jobs, we are in trouble.
LikeLike
The issue of gangs was irrelevant in Baltimore as it was the police that floated the rumors that there was going to be a big gang crime spree that night. Then when kids – wanting to get away from whatever might be going on – tried to get on the buses and subways, they found the subways closed and were forced off the buses and forced to mill around by the mall with no way to get out of the situation and with cops in full riot gear breaking up conversations among even a few students. This was a reaction of people intentionally caged and provoked – not so much an organized gang rebellion.
LikeLike
The discussion needs to stop being about every one of society’s ills being the fault of the schools and its teachers, or municipal governments and its police officers. If material or safety needs aren’t met in the course of a lifetime, stress is the only thing that ensues.
Each family, be it 2 parents or one, has the same responsibility to raise responsible citizens. I hear rhetoric all too often that places “blame” on parties or entities outside of the family, outside of the self.
Mindfulness, or knowing one’s own mind and what motivates one to behave, might be something really valuable to start teaching in school. Maybe if we teach kids to value a calm, rational, kind and integrated self, they will stop throwing bricks.
LikeLike
Actually, we’ve been down this road already and moral education lost out to character education, when authoritarians decided it was more important to teach kids what to think than how to think and resolve ethical dilemmas. That dogma caused cognitive dissonance for many of the have nots and, when push comes to shove, we get to see the results.
LikeLike