Anthony Cody is looking for a candidate who will support public education. He discounts Hillary Clinton, believing she is too close to Bill Gates.
The only other Democratic candidate as of this moment is Bernie Sanders. Cody wonders what his K-12 agenda will be. He offers some ideas and hopes that Sanders will become the spokesperson for the resistance to corporate reform.
Read his seven big ideas. Do you agree?
I am not ready to write off Clinton. Since she is the likely candidate, I want to get a chance to talk to her and try to educate her about the education issues. I have met her several times over the past 30 years, I supported her in 2008, and I will do my best to persuade her to oppose the ongoing demolition and privatization of public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hillary will be torn between teachers and civil rights organizations.
Please tell Hillary that standardizing education is not the only way or the best way to achieve equity in education. If we believe that standardization, test-and-punish, and teaching to the test are the only or best way to achieve educational equity, this is a failure of nerve, a loss of imagination, and a disservice to parents and teachers.
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Hillary will torn between Wall Street and, and, …. Nevermind, Hillary’s in the tank for Wall Street. Neither teachers nor civil rights have anything to do with it.
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Yes, I agree. The US is an oligarchy.
But even oligarchies have rituals of legitimacy. So Hillary still needs votes and the support of traditional Democratic interest groups.
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As always, Dienne is right on!!! So we should not write off Hillary? Let’s look at history and begin with Bill and the Palisades Conference. Of course, we could go back to when he was governor and got on board the corporate education reform bandwagon during the Bush I years – but Palisades is a good enough place to start to begin understanding the Clintons and corporate education reform. I think Diane was there in attendance at Palisades. Take a look at what Bill said in his speech. He paid homage to business and the corporate world. The conservative Chester Finn (yes – we know his friends call him Checker) who attended the conference said that Clinton’s speech was “a speech that Ronald Reagan could have given.” The conservative Denis Doyle, who also attended the conference and wrote a book with Louis Gerstner, IBM CEO and the main organizer of the Palisades Conference, when commenting about President Clinton’s speech proclaimed – “Not surprisingly … it was a speech 95 percent of which any Republican could have delivered with complete conviction.” Out of this conference we get Achieve. So let’s start the conversation about the Clinton’s – the corporate world – and education reform, and then decide if we really think that Hillary is going to jettison her allegiance to Wall Street when it comes to education reform!
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She is also too close to the tech industry. I am not sure why civil rights organizations support testing and deprofessionalizing teachers. If it is to highlight the achievement gap, we already know that. If it is to correlate test performance to poverty, we have plenty of data already to do that. If it is to gain funding, Ohio’s funding has been ruled unconstitutional several times and legislators just ignore the ruling. Instead, teachers will avoid the disadvantaged schools.
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Civil rights organizations hope that standardized testing will make educational institutions more equitable for students. They say testing helps obtain “greater resource equity in schools and more fair treatment for students of color, low-income students, students with disabilities, and English learners.”
Jesse Hagopian puts these claims in context, with links to the document I just quoted, among others: http://iamaneducator.com/2015/05/05/resistance-to-high-stakes-tests-serves-the-cause-of-equity-in-education-a-reply-to-we-oppose-anti-testing-efforts/
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I should say that I think the civil rights organizations are not correct as a matter of fact, because test-and-punish does not achieve equity in schools.
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Read Jesse Rhodes, “An Education in Politics: The Origins and Evolution of No Child Left Behind,” Cornell University Press, 2012. Read Deb Owens “The origins of the Common Core: How the Free Market Became Public Education Policy”, Palgrave MacMillan, 2015. These readings should help you begin to understand these “civil rights” groups. Otherwise, you can continue to be stumped. Actually, you will probably like the experience – troubling as it may well be. You will also get insights into the Clintons!
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When’s ESEA go to the senate floor? Does the federal government mandate that grade 3-8 tests have to be 10 hours per year, or can states go to a 3 hours of test, or something more reasonable?
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Any hours of testing is unreasonable, as a matter of fact any STANDARDIZED TESTING is COMPLETELY INVALID and the uses of results COMPLETELY UNETHICAL.
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No standardized testing is reasonable. It takes time away from meaningful instruction.
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I find it hard to believe her stances on education are because of a lack of imagination or education on the issues.
Question is how strong is her ideology and how much of that can cynically be attributed to $$$$.
She may be the most likely candidate but as the WFP’s appeasement of cuomo taught us, we were going to lose by endorsing him and lost more by not endorsing him but failed to send him a strong message or perhaps give a dark horse a chance.
I don’t think appeasement works for people who believe in corporate reform and believe what the money and power tells them to.
I campaigned for Hilary once, and will never again. After obama’s great rhetoric about schools which is so different from his actions I want a candidate who has been consistent in their stance – not who wavers long enough to get elected.
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“Question is how strong is her ideology. . .”
As strong as the money coming into her coffers.
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I agree that Bernie Sanders is our best choice – by far. No politician will give everyone what everyone wishes.
Hillary? Agreed, I will not write her off for many of the reasons stated above
BUT
consider the alternatives. Sometimes one has no good alternatives but must go with the least undesirable existing.
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Perhaps anarchy will create awareness. I will support a third party candidate who agrees with me on issues if necessary.
Oh, I live in the U. S.
Everyone will just watch a Netflix movie and talk about how they hate politics.
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Voting and winning the lesser of two evils is still evil.
Vote third party, or yourself.
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I support Bernie Sanders but I defintely want to hear more about his ideas for k-12. I did read that he agrees there is too much testing and was pushing for a pilot program to explore alternate assessment methods.
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I am tired of supporting the least repugnant elitist. Hillary was very involved in promoting the standards movement in the 90’s. It seemed she bought into the Hillary letter. She is a known supporter of war. See her Iraq vote and close relationship with super-hawks like John McCain. She served on the Wallmart board of directors. So, even if she is the only progressive with a chance to win, I cannot support her. I am not even convinced she is a progressive.
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I agree with everything you mentioned. If Hillary does win, I hope she avails herself with sage advisers like Dr. Ravitch. I hope she has the wisdom to look at the realities of today’s “reforms,” although the Clintons still cling to TFA. While Hillary was a supporter of standards as a state senator, she never overtly tried to dismantle public education. We can wish, but it is doubtful Sanders will get the nomination.
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Instead of just wishing, why not WORK for it to happen?!
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It would be great for Saunders to win – but is that realistic? Remember Nader and 2000 – what a difference if Gore won -he was for education,
technology and the environment and would have brought our country forward in those areas – W took us backwards – we cannot afford to have a Republican in the WH at this present time – so love Bernie but will probably vote Hillarý. Having said that, I think all of Bernie’s ideas will eventually come true with the coming generations but the US is at this time is filled with too many unthinking people – sorry I am saying that but we as Americans are kind of stupid.
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Hilary has money on her side. ‘This Town,’ by Mark Leibovich. I am hesitant to support Sanders too. Wish he has run as an independent. I can never support Hilary.
I’ll continue to fight for the people’s movement like Jim Wallis suggests.
“It takes the power of movements to change politics. Change never starts in Washington or in our legislatures or houses of government; it almost always begins outside of politics. If public momentum can be built among millions of people, change eventually arrives in the nation’s capital.” Jim Wallis
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What’s wrong with supporting Bernie Sanders as primary candidate? If we can get him to promote good progressive goals for public education, along with his support for other public goods– & give him loads of support at the primary– Hillary will be forced to include his ideas as part of her mandate.
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What scares me is that Bill Gates acts like he’s running for something lately.
THE HORROR, etc.
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Anthony Cody is on the right track in my opinion. Clinton puts her “want to get elected self” before the ideals she stands for so the public does not actually know what she truly stands for (like many of today’s political candidates). Bernie Sanders differs. He puts his ideals out front first and foremost and has decided to run to pursue these ideals. So the public knows where he stands and if they do not on a particular issue, they will soon enough.
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In our society the sell-outs usually win elections. They get so much money to influence the non-critical thinking voters, and they are the majority. That is why we get stuck with their rotten agenda; just ask Obama.
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It should be noted that Hillary’s first stated positions out of the gate are populist positions. She is sensing the need to find a position left of mainstream– perhaps sensing the public’s realization that mainstream Democrats (like Obama) are no different from Republicans. What’s needed now is sttong support of Bernie Sanders, & a vote; for him in the primary. That is the best we can do as progressive voters.
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Hillary stands for no ideals other than opportunism and self-promotion.
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George Lakoff, who call her a “friend,” told some of us in line to get our books signed he feels Hillary will be better than expected by many progressives.
I don’t see that Hillary needs the support of regular people. She’s got Citigroup, Monsanto and all of Wall St. paying her way. Support for Bernie has already pulled her rhetoric left, and that’s what the country needs.
Whomever we support we must all stop repeating GOP talking points, even when debunking them. Talk about reinvesting revenues, retrieving the pension money we’ve set aside through our workplace contributions over the years, and public policy based on empathy, compassion and the premise we’re all of one nation. Talk about corporations that serve the interests of the People.
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I totally agree about Hillary. I have sent stamped mail and emails which say I will probably vote for her, but I am sending no money until I hear her positions on public education, especially charter schools. I know from reading she is against vouchers, but this charter school situation is getting out of control. I here reference Newark. (At election time I chased Cory Booker’s reps on phone and email and did get a conversation with Chris Slevin, an aide in D.C., and Booker did shock me and tell the NJEA Review he was against vouchers and for strong public schools, but his actions haven’t really convinced me. From Clinton, for whom I want to vote and contribute, I have heard nothing.
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That is encouraging about Booker. I had written him off. Perhaps it’s worth pressuring him via email about ESEA & related issues.
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Booker brought Anderson to Newark. He was instrumental in the destruction of public schools in the city. I would not believe any mealy mouth statements favoring the benefits of public education.
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I’m voting & campaigning for Bernie Sanders. Hillary is too close to Jeb Bush (see the link below). Every phone call I get from the Dem’s asking for money I tell them no money, no vote for Hillary. I’m tired of voting for the least worse choice & suffering nearly the same consequences as if I’d voted for a republican. Obama, Rahm, Cuomo, Malloy, Clinton are all part of the status quo of Democratic insiders who do the bidding of their donors and take the teacher’s unions for granted. I certainly hope AFT & NEA do not endorse her & pick Sanders instead. They should use their leverage to threaten a primary challenge to any corporate Dems running on the down ballots in the 2016 election.
Lee Fang published this article about the cozy relationship between Hillary & Jeb.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/18/hillary-clinton-paid-jeb-bushs-education-company/
“Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received nearly a quarter of a million dollars last year for a speaking engagement on behalf of Academic Partnerships, a for-profit education company in which Jeb Bush held an ownership stake and on whose board he served.
Clinton’s newly filed personal financial disclosure shows that she was paid $225,500 on March 24, 2014 by Academic Partnerships. At the invitation-only event in Dallas, Texas, Clinton reportedly said, “today a student doesn’t need to travel to Cambridge, Mass., or Cambridge, England, to get a world-class education.”
Academic Partnerships assists universities in converting their academic degree programs into online versions that can be taken by students around the world.”
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Weingarten will endorse Clinton. They both thrive off corporate education reform.
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At a screening of the documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America (http://www.mostdangerousman.org) Daniel Ellsberg said that it matters little who is president with respect to the military-industrial complex. Once sworn in, they are debriefed and the Pentagon is in charge. However, on education we have seen that the president’s choices do have an impact on policy and its implementation. I would hope that with the common experience of a meaningful undergraduate education at Wellesley, you might find some ways to persuade Hillary that the pendulum has swung too far and that our fixation on data and testing is out of control. As a new grandmother, I am sure that she can understand how our must vulnerable citizens must be protected from the national obsession to win, and simply be allowed to discover, play, and be loved.
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You need not worry . Hillary’s grandchild will not be educated in a public school.
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I don’t think anyone will know until after she’s elected. We’ll know it’s status quo ed reform if she hires the same 150 “movement” people who cycled thru the Bush and Obama Administrations and the foundations.
We don’t know what they promise the big donors until after they’re in, sadly.
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Diane… if anyone can talk to a president or future president it is you. It would have to be one hell of a pitch, to convince her that she holds the future of democracy in her hands if she gets up there…because this is not about schools, or even income equality, which is enabled and promoted by what they are doing… it is about the very roots of democracy in an educated population which reads, thinks and studies the TRUTH the real history to gain the prior knowledge upon which all things can be compared–and judged.
I am presently writing a piece about the lies and propaganda which is drowning our people, our stressed citizenry in noise, to the point that they cannot figure out what is happening to their lives, their jobs, their schools, their health or their planet.
It will take a real leader to change things, to rescue the INSTITUTION that IS public education, and by doing this, repair the road to opportunity which only education can bring to all our people.
It won’t be easy, but with you advising her, and the NPE offering support, it could happen.
It only takes one, and Hillary could be that one… although her connection to the Bilderbergs makes it unlikely.
It is entirely possible that She may be one of THEM, or, it is possible that she could be, like her husband — a loose canon, a woman who is fed up with the leadership that men have provided. It could be that she aspires to a place in history, the first woman president at the crucial moment in our history where nothing will be the way it was… things are changing that fast.
She could be the game-changer, the one who gives us back our schools, If she puts the funding, the money into the INSTITUTION THAT IS WASTED in loopholes and corporate welfare and into the swamp that is the military budget.History will remember her.
BUT… The LAST thing the cabal wants is an educated population which knows the extent to which they are taking over everything!
As Carlin said in that video that I have posted twice this week:: “I’m talking about the real owners, now. The real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. …. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else.!”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/26/1294819/-George-Carlin-Quote-Bastardized-on-Facebook-by-Heartland-Institute?detail=emailclassic
And those owners CLEARLY do not want “well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking.”
” Because such people just might be able to figure out the lies, and the plutocratic truth that you and your billionaire-backers just want more yourselves”
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Sadly, I must totally agree w/Dienne way up there at 2:21 PM. How many times are we going to put ourselves through this, in a position of voting for “the lesser of two evils?”
In what instance, recently (when she turned Dem after having been a Goldwater Gal, she was–at THAT time {& it was long, long ago} she identified w/us, because she was closer to us, having grown up solidly middle class) has Hillary proven herself to be a champion of middle class (who will soon be part of this latter group) & poor people in this country? Oh, wait–that’s right–she IS one of us, because she & Bill were “dead broke” when he left the presidency. Such hogwash!
Also–& this bears repeating–before you make the decision that she’s the one–PLEASE read Carl Bernstein’s 2007 book, A Woman in Charge, & what she did to the Arkansas teachers because they were in need of a “villain.”
I am & will work for Bernie. It is/would be a huge mistake to discount his candidacy, moaning & groaning “But he can’t win…too much big money out there.” Some of us have been wanting either he or Elizabeth Warren to run. The reality is, Bernie’s running. So let’s stop whining & start winning. It’s been done locally (Helen Gym, Ras Baraka, LAUSD board, Chicago aldermanic run-offs, etc.) Again, 99% > 1%–FL Congressman Al Grayson explains how it can be done (check him out–the $$ CAN add up).
We can’t afford to have another 2012. What next–Rocketship* to the Stars? (Race to the Top on steroids!) *Yes, reference to the charter school chain, as well–which there will very definitely be more of while the Clinton grandchild goes to…Sidwell Friends.
Yes, WE did, yes WE can & yes WE WILL!!
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To MathVale:
Are you the one to expose all civil rights organizations which receive BIG donation from Gates foundation, Eli Broad, Koch bothers, Walmart family…?
Therefore, you should know for sure the answer for your own doubting question, like:
“I am not sure why civil rights organizations support testing and deprofessionalizing teachers”
Back2basic
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Bernie may or may not win, but in either case, his major function will be to EDUCATE the public about what is really going on, what they are missing out on compared to northern and western Europe, and how overworked, underpaid, and oppressed they really are by the military industrial war complex, the adulterated food and cancer empire, the tax-light overclass, the deregulation of rent caps, the for-profit healthcare system that makes excellent healthcare possible for the very few, the privatization of public schools and post offices, the destruction of collective bargaining, the lack of a national rail transportation system and nationalized child care . . . . . The list goes on and on, but I will not bore anyone.
The American dream is a sugary, cartoon like fantasy where Kim and her vapid sisters rule the ratings and rack in the bucks with no talent, no merit, no soul, and no socially redeeming value. America is sit-com land, sports fetishes, and DWTS fixations. America is fast food, Chinese merchandise, and fossil fuel with fracking fury. Drill baby, drill. Distract, baby, distract. Addict, baby, addict. Dumb down, baby, dumb down. Media monopolize, baby, media monopolize!
At the end of the day, what’s in your wallet, and how egalitarian is your society?
Fortunately, many more of the natives are waking up and smelling the coffee pot brewing their extinction. The passive kiddies are starting to realize that they can carve their path to adulthood; they can stop acting as if nothing bad is happening or that they are powerless against big bad plutocratic mommy and daddy. You can tailor this metaphor in any which way you want.
It’s not too late. But we must own up to the fact that if we want a better life, we have lots of heavy lifting to do. All these years of guzzling gas, watching Family Feud and Match Game, and eating refined sugars with bromate in the wheat flour have made us wusses.
But there is finally a shift in awareness across the fruited plains . . . . .
Our candidates are a reflection of who we are.
I’ll take what I can get and work to cultivate it big time . . . .
Bernie can at least educate the roused masses.
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I’ll simplify it because George Carlin said it so well…it’s called the American Dream because you’d have to be asleep to believe it. The path of social mobility created by hard work and “grit” doesn’t exist anymore – it is faded off the map, found by only a select few.
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To all people who truly appreciate civility and humanity:
It is very simple and realistic solution that voters need to focus in elimination or creation of third choice in ELECTORAL SYSTEM
1) Two things that are destroying hopes for an American democracy;
a) unlimited campaign spending and
b) involvement of politically motivated individuals in the electoral process.
2) We have a choice of two types of elitism:
a) Financial Elitism (rich people get to decide) or
b) Intellectual Elitism (smart people get to decide).
Sadly, since the 1980’s, we’ve allowed rich people to decide instead of smart people. (by DatelessNerd in Oped news)
3) Abolishing the Electoral College is the first step in breaking the backs of the two dinosaurs that have run America into the ground. (by Gene_Starwind)
[because]
We’ve never been a democracy!
We are the ONLY NATION without an hereditary monarchy that does not allow for the direct election of its head of state.
We have only directly voted for Senators for 100 years.
Our system was DESIGNED TO BE CORRUPTED.
The Electoral College system guarantees that there can only be two dominant parties and after 160 years, they’re the same two parties!
IN CONCLUSION, being educators/gurus, would all educators who are retired, semi-retired, and soon-to-be-retired volunteer to cultivate, to bring a positive hope into all presidential candidates? By campaign and reinforce PLATFORM that the president-to-be-elected who endorses with HIS/HER solid pledge to carry out within a certain period of time. For example:
1) To abruptly abandon policy NCLB, RttT, and CCSS effectively before school year beginning in 2016
2) To honor and restore LOCAL CONTROL regarding Public Education Autonomy effectively after sworn in ceremony
3) To eliminate unlimited campaign spending
4) To restrict on regulation of tax on the wealthy, and free trade that harms/destabilizes American economy.
5) To restrict on regulation of education equivalence REGARDING foreign degree (paper mills) versus American Public Education System.
6) Last but not least, to promote JOY of learning in K-12 follow through “transparent, valid, and acceptable/appropriate protocol in pedagogy/curriculum.
Welcome to add as many as possible SUGGESTIONS on the platform to be endorsed by any Presidential Candidates. Back2basic
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Where oh where are all the good democrat candidates??? I cannot vote for someone who has taken millions from those who want to privatize our educational system. And profit from it.
That is defeating everything public education stands for and everything that I believe in.
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While Hillery is a polarizing figure, I find comfort in the fact that Diane is willing to open lines of communication with this possible Presidential candidate. Hopefully, whoever is elected President in 2016 will do all in their power to undo and fix some of the recent atrocities committed against our public education system, perpetrated by the last two Presidential administrations.
Ellen #RememberGoreLoss
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It’s also worth remembering Hillary’s story about her and Chelsea being under fire getting off the chopper in Bosnia (which never happened). I suppose we could shrug it off, but it is just one more example of how Hillary will say anything to look good to whoever she’s talking about, and truth is just so much collateral damage.
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If Hillary and Bernie are the only options, the question is, who are the wise people in education advising them and can the candidates be trusted to hear and act on the wisdom?
Unless I am mistaken, Linda Darling-Hammond was in a circle advising Obama, but Arne became the guy in charge, with money and good buddy status determining that choice.
Who have Bill and Hillary listened to? The record is clear will Bill…the CEOs who have relentlessly pursued standardization and helped to aggrandize test scores as the measure of greatest importance in American education.
Nothing in the Hillary campaign literature I have received has substance. I will fight for the middle class, I will fight for working families, blah blah blah. She is the ultimate Washington insider. Who she relies on for talking points bearing on education during the campaign may or may not be who she will rely on for policy decisions if she is elected.
In any case Diane is well poised to offer wisdom. I hope she can cut through the scheduling frenzy and have more than one conversation with Hillary….and with Bernie. One of the biggest hurdles is mKing the case for legitimate public education, free of corporate management and profit-seeking, as the best hope and best CHOICE for our great nation.
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Forget about Hillary. She is mislabeled as a progressive. She supports big money interests. She voted for the Iraq War. Her role in Benghazi is less than honorable. She scrubbed her server. She will most likely continue the disastrous Obama administration education policies. There is nothing to talk about with Hillary.
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If he loses as expected, why can’t she go back to her old ways. Why would she have to support his thinking? And in the meantime those progressives will not have a candidate to support and will feel like they have to vote for Hilary.
I wish Bernie had run as an independent.
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I am checking out the Republicans. I will vote Tea Party over Hillary Clinton.
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