As I reported earlier, Stephen Colbrrt generously funded the request of every teacher in South Carolina through an organization called Donors Choose.
That was indeed laudable.
But it is not so good when schools, teachers, and children must rely on the charity of rich patrons.
Public education is a public responsibilty. When states fail to fund their schools and send their teachers out to beg for help, the state deserves a badge of shame.
Shame on South Carolina.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes! And Stephen himself should state that publicly. (Maybe he did?)
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A good follow on to your initial post.
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He gave a commencement speech a couple of years ago. Several people emailed it to me, and because the people who sent it to me were very different-varied- I was surprised they all liked it enough to send it to me.
Anyway, reading the speech I think he probably gets what you’re saying:
SO WHATEVER YOUR DREAM IS RIGHT NOW, IF YOU DON’T ACHIEVE IT, YOU HAVEN’T FAILED, AND YOU’RE NOT SOME LOSER. BUT JUST AS IMPORTANTLY -AND THIS IS THE PART I MAY NOT GET RIGHT AND YOU MAY NOT LISTEN TO – IF YOU DO GET YOUR DREAM, YOU ARE NOT A WINNER.
AFTER I GRADUATED FROM HERE, I MOVED DOWN TO CHICAGO AND DID IMPROV. NOW THERE ARE VERY FEW RULES TO IMPROVISATION, BUT ONE OF THE THINGS I WAS TAUGHT EARLY ON IS THAT YOU ARE NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE SCENE. EVERYBODY ELSE IS. AND IF THEY ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE SCENE, YOU WILL NATURALLY PAY ATTENTION TO THEM AND SERVE THEM. BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS YOU’RE IN THE SCENE TOO. SO HOPEFULLY TO THEM YOU’RE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON, AND THEY WILL SERVE YOU. NO ONE IS LEADING, YOU’RE ALL FOLLOWING THE FOLLOWER, SERVING THE SERVANT. YOU CANNOT WIN IMPROV.
AND LIFE IS AN IMPROVISATION. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT AND YOU ARE MOSTLY JUST MAKING THINGS UP AS YOU GO ALONG.
AND LIKE IMPROV, YOU CANNOT WIN YOUR LIFE.
– See more at: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2011/06/colbert-speech-text.html#sthash.KXFUEW5N.dpuf
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Chiara: you outdid yourself!
😃
Could you please have at least an occasional dud of a comment? You know, just to make the rest of us not feel so inadequate…
Most krazy props.
😎
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This is a great story:
“BUT WHEN I GOT BACK TO MY SEAT AND OPENED THE HANDSOME PLEATHER FOLDER, INSTEAD OF CONTAINING AN EMBOSSED DIPLOMA, THERE WAS INSTEAD A PIECE OF PAPER TORN FROM A LEGAL PAD THAT SAID, “SEE ME, DEAN CATHY MARTIN.” EVIDENTLY I HAD AN INCOMPLETE OF WHICH I WAS NOT AWARE. SO, IN MY GRADUATION PHOTOS WITH MY FAMILY, I AM SHEEPISHLY HOLDING A SCRAP OF YELLOW PAPER. THE FIRST MEMBER OF MY FAMILY TO EARN A SCRAP OF YELLOW PAPER- THE REST OF THEM GOT DIPLOMAS. SO, REMEMBER- JUST BY GRADUATING ON YOUR GRADUATION DAY, YOU ARE STARTING YOUR CAREER WAY AHEAD OF ME. BE PROUD.”
Ugh. “See me”. I used to hate those.
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I was thinking the same thing–about good news that doesn’t make me feel so good. Maybe Colbert will have Diane on his new show!
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Me too. The fact that we have to write grants and jump through hoops to get funding for public school children makes me sick in this rich country. It is not a solution.
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Thank you, Diane. I’m from SC, and I appreciate that someone said “Wouldn’t it be great if schools were funded adequately with our tax dollars and the armed forces had to hold bake sales?”
I hear all the cute things being done for teachers this “appreciation”week. Adequate funding is not on the list.
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We are having fundraisers for war, but just for the wounded after they come back from the war. Once they have made the world safe for oilmen, the soldiers are no longer worth tax money.
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Same thing happens in NC. Yea vets are praised when they get a Donors Choose grant funded and I wonder if that’s they type “leadership” the differentiated pay scales are striving for.
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Teachers are praised (typo)
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At no point does shame kick in these days.
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And why are wounded warriors having to be supported by charities. Didn’t’t a group of politicians send them into danger? And don’t these politicians represent the country? So it seems the country owes them big time. No shame for sure.
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Someone said something to the effect
It will be a GREAT day when
to fund a war they will have to have a [car wash, a sale event of some kind, – whatever
and
For schools they will raise enough money to truly educate the public.
[Wish my memory were better to give the exact quot e but you will get the idea.]
Some one of you can quote it exactly I am sure.
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Yesterday, a student from Animo Inglewood (mostly working class) charter approached me in the Marina Del Rey Ralphs market (middle/upper class) to ask for help for the charter’s baseball team. The team may have to be dropped for lack of funding. Between the Libertarians, Republicans, and Silicon Democrats, we will soon be a country of Serfs fighting their wars. At some point, the newscasters will no longer have to act surprised that rioters destroy their own neighborhood. (No surprise–it isn’t’t really theirs.) The reporters will have to be surprised the rioters aren’t destroying their own neighborhood but the newscasters. In ’92 in L. A. a few tried. Next time there will be a subway connection. Like it or not, we really are in it together.
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I’m very glad that you have written this reply and I applaud his efforts to help students and teachers.
Here in Nevada we just signed into law an “opportunity scholarship” program where businesses can contribute to education; after the ballot initiative failed last year to fund education through taxation. These businesses will get a dollar for dollar tax incentive for donating to “education institutions”, leaving them to look like heroes while we still have to figure out how to fund education after they get to take their tax break. It is a funneling of money to privatize and a promotion of charters.
The new opportunity scholarship program allows businesses to supposedly fill the gap where taxes do not, and allows them to fund where they want to, leading to privatization.
Though not the goal of Colbert and he should be highly regarded for his efforts, funding outside of the public education mechanism allows the state to then divert funding to other budgets and invites the idea that outside independent funding is a viable solution, irrelevant to the strings attached that most likely will end up hurting public education in the long run.
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Donor’s Choose – teachers begging strangers on the internet for the basic supplies they need to do their jobs.
Here in Boston, the school department just relocated from the building it has occupied for about 40 years. They sent out an announcement that teachers could come and pick up free supplies – paper, staplers, tape, folders – left over at the old site – so long as they brought their own bags or boxes. Can things get much more ridiculous?
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An example of “truth is stranger than fiction”????
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Would be interesting to see/hear what exactly the grants all were so the shaming process can include illustrations of what is really missing–probably classroom supplies, not testing consultants.
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Eva, you may be able to find it here:
http://www.donorschoose.org
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I have grown to loathe Donors Choose…why should I be begging and dunning acquaintances for pretty basic stuff for my classroom? I already kick in a few hundred a year for basics. I applaud Colbert for supporting public education, but wish we weren’t relying on the generosity of a few good fellows.
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Keep your charity . . . .
Pay your taxes!
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Rendo… YES…YES and YES. If corporations pay their share of taxes teachers would not be begging for things like copy paper and pencils on Donors Choose (which is not a “benevolent” organization). Everyone ignores or is not aware of the fact that this organization requires teachers to beg for money from family and friends in order to receive corporate “donations” from them. They are able to amass large contact lists from these teachers begging for the corporate money as they hand over their personal contacts who are willing to give money.
One MAJOR way “corporate ed reform” organizations fuel the “reform” fires is by getting wealthy people to support what they think is a good cause to support education when in fact it propels “corporate ed reform” ideals.
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Imagine that this money could do for our country’s infrastructure, schools, health care and the c COMMON good fro which this country’s CONSTITUTION was established.
27 trillion dollars of assets are parked off shore by billionaires.
Then, there is the billion dollars that the koch brothers are putting into these lecterns, and it is expected that Hillary will raise 2.5 BILLION to run.
The history re-interpretors have taken the words ‘pursuit of happiness’ and the founding fathers ideas about ‘individualism’ and twisted it to mean the American way is to get rich ,rich and richer an share nothing…but the PILGRIMS, believed that 1/3 of earned profits go to charity .
Can you spell selfish? Then , you can spell our 1%ers.
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I guess this is a good place to post this. I have been upset that our schools stopped allowing our teachers to take our kids on field trips, so as a Children’s Minister for my church now, I have been taking our kids from 2nd grade to 12th grade on educational field trips at least once a year. I have a dear friend who has been helping the Sudanese since the “Lost Boys” came in 2000. Most of my Sunday School are Sudanese children. They are the children of “Lost Boys” or relatives from Sudan they brought over. A week ago I took them on a trip to the Grand Canyon with the help of the Sudanese Education Foundation that my friend helps run. The Rangers teach the geology of the Canyon out on the South Rim. It is a beautiful experience. I never grow tired of going. Here’s my problem. Most of our teens have an attitude. The charter bus we rented broke down at a rest area about one hour from Phoenix on the way home. It took about two hours to get help to get home. Most of the teens complained about breaking down, not being allowed to hang out in the bathroom of this busy rest stop, too many bugs by the lights, one thing after another. I finally said, “We just had a beautiful day at the Grand Canyon, which many people never see. The stars and moon are out, it is beautiful with perfect weather. Could all stop complaining and show some gratitude?” I didn’t care if they were grateful to me or the others who helped, although I would want my kids to be. But, at least be grateful for what they were able to see and do. So, we have decided that they will now have to help plan the next trip and raise some funds to go. Those that do so, will go. Those that don’t, won’t. I am open to any ideas you have. I enjoy taking them and providing experiences for them, but not if they act like this. Thanks for your ideas.
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States have doubled funding for public schools over the last 30 years with no increase in test scores. Money isn’t the answer! Kids need personalized learning to stay engaged and learn at the rate best suited to their individual learning strengths and weaknesses. Traditional classrooms can’t do this, no matter how small the class or how efficient the teacher. N
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#swarm
Peter Cunningham got $12 million to create swarms to respond to truth-telling about edu-deform. With that kind of dough, he could do better than to hire trolls off Craigslist.
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and you know this HOW??? No matter how small the class is… YOU KNOW THIS AS A FACT?
HMMMMM… SEE MY ANSWER TO YOU MR HARRIS, AT THE LARGER COMMENTARY, AS I DO NOT LIKE TO RU ALONG THE SIDE….
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TO Hent Harris, who says class size does not matter, with a nod and a wave to Christine Langhoff who knows a thing or two!
Leonie HAIMISON knows what I have learned over 40 years in many different learning settings across states districts and schools, CLASS SIZE IS THE MOST CRUCIAL ASPECT FOR LEARNING.
Traditional Learning? YOUR definition of THAT, would be interesting to all of the researchers for the Harvard study on WHAT PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING are the ones that are most successful.
In the 2 years of seminars with the LRDC, on the subject of WHAT GENUINE LEARNING LOOKS LIKE, and those underlying principles that ALL successful teachers use. there were no labels like ‘traditional’… just things that must be PRESENT if a young human mind is going to acquire SKILLS or KNOWLEDGE.
This was 3rd level (it-has-to-worK- EVERYWHERE) research out of Harvard paid for with zillions from PEW done in with thousands of teachers in districts across the nation.
What things must be present???
Well, here are the principles RUBRIC for teachers.
Things like:
1-CLEAR EXPECTATIONS…. so each child (and their parents) know (from the getgo) what BEST WORK looks like!
2- REWARDS for authentic performance… which aint grades on a test by the way.
3-TEACHERS WHO ARE EXPERTS IN THEIR CONTENT KNOWLEDGE and in the proven methods that work with a variety of learning styles.
and here is where assessment comes in:
4- Authentic assessments and GENUINE EVALUATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE.
NOTICE THE ABSENCE OF THE WORD TESTS. This principle FYI did include the use of tests BY AND FOR THE TEACHER so as to plan for improvement by knowing what each child could or could not do.
AND THERE WERE FOUR PRINCIPLES FOR ADMINISTRATORS;
YUP!
Four things that must be present FOR KIDS TO LEARN:
1- a safe. clean, quiet plant (site, classroom) with class size a crucial factor in eliminating chaos.
2- Organization that supported the CLASSROOM TEACHER. School safety and discipline, Hallways, lunch programs, health programs… what the children need beyond the classroom must be supplied by the ADMINISTRATION.
YEAH! RIGHT!
3- THE HIRING OF STAFF: teachers and other staff, who are licensed professionals with the content knowledge and expertise to plan and implement learning in their practice!
Yeah… right…like TFA…LOL/
4- You gonna love this one: supplies, materials, books, technologies that support the CLASSROOM TEACHER!
So, someone like me, a ‘traditional’ teacher since 1963, who constantly learns and upgrades knowledge and best practice, is in control of what lessons are used to meet the CLEAR STATE OBJECTIVES for that age group, in that content…i
.e. LEARNER WILL BE ABLE TO:… verb….
LWBA to add and subtract whole numbers.
LWBA to write a clear topic sentence
LWBA to recite the names of the oceans, countries, rivers…etc.
LWBA ti analyze and compare… this to that…
LWBA to use prior knowledge, giving examples and details to argue a point…
TRADITIONAL Stuff, but if presented in ways that motivate a young mind, and with lots of rewards for doing the HARD WORK (putgin in real effort)…
Want to read about EFFORT -BASED LEARNING…
LAUREN RESNICK wrote the thesis, that became the * principles of learning, which Pew proved.
Principles of Learning for Effort-based Education
http://ramsey.spps.org/uploads/polv3_3.pd
and if this is new to you — I am not surprised because it FREAKING DISAPPEARED when the LCLB became the mandate.
Go here and read my experience:
http://www.opednews.com/author/author40790.html
If I had not been the NYC cohort for 2 years, I would not have known this had ocurred.
Read my essay Bamboozle them, and Magic Elixir.
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