Peter Greene has discovered that Campbell Brown, scourge of public schools, teachers, unions, and due process, has just created a new vehicle to advance her cause.
With funding from various billionaires who share her passion to destroy public education, she has started a new organization.
Greene writes:
“Today the Wall Street Journal is announcing that Campbell Brown is launching a new education site that “won’t shy away from advocacy.” Which is kind of like announcing that Wal-Mart is opening a new store and will not shy away from marketing or that Burger King is opening up at a new location that might sell hamburgers.
“Sadly, there are no surprises in this story. The site, called The Seventy Four in reference to the seventy-four million students in the US (and not say, the seventy-four gazillion dollars Campbell and her friends hope to make from privatizing education)….
“The new site will launch with thirteen employees and a $4 million dollar budget, courtesy of backers that include Bloomberg Philanthropies (as in former anti-public ed NY mayor Michael Bloomberg), Walton Family Foundation, Johnathan Sackler, and the Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation– in other words, the usual group of charter school backers….
“As usual, I am struck by just how much money reformsters are willing to pump into the cause. I’m here with my staff of one (me) and a budget of– well, I guess you could claim that my budget today is about 75 cents because while I was sitting here working on this, I had a bagel and a cup of orange juice.
“At any rate, brace yourselves boys and girls– here comes the next wave of faux progressive teacher bashing and charter pushing by privatizers who will not rest until they’ve cracked that golden egg full of tax dollars. Because that’s the other reason they’re willing to sink $4 million into something like this– because while that may seem like a lot of money to you or me, to them it’s peanuts, an investment that they hope will pay off eventually in billions of tax dollars directed away from public education and to the private corporations that are drooling at the prospect of cashing in on education.”
Will the reformers ever learn that everything they promote has already failed? Hey, Campbell, the highest performing states on NAEP (Massachusetts, Néw Jersey, and Connecticut) have strong teachers’ unions. The highest performing districts have teacher tenure. The highest performing nations have strong PUBLIC schools, not vouchers or charters. Your children at the Heschel School will not be affected by the Common Core or high-stakes testing (I know, two of my grandchildren went there).
Campbell, please read “Reign of Error.” You are misreading the data. Test scores and graduation rates are at their highest point in history. Dropout rates are at their lowest point ever. Where scores are low, children live in poverty. Please make the war on poverty your focus and drop the war on teachers and public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Just what is it, I must ask, that makes Campbell Brown and expert on education policy? What are her credentials? Why, exactly (or even approximately, for that matter), am I supposed to take her pronouncements seriously?
Mark, she was a TV talking head, which means that she is an expert on everything. The Walton Family Foundation, that far-right group of billionaires, says she is an expert.
From the WSJ story:
Ms. Brown’s husband, Dan Senor, sits on the board of StudentsFirstNY, which advocates for charter schools among other issues. Joel Klein, head of the Amplify digital education unit at The Wall Street Journal’s parent company News Corp, is also on the board.
The site – which will launch July 13 with 13 employees — is well-funded, with an annual budget of $4 million. Its finances will rely solely on philanthropic donations, and it won’t sell any advertising – a departure from one of the mainstays of typical news organizations. Its founding backers — Bloomberg Philanthropies (former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic organization), the Walton Family Foundation (the philanthropic group for the family that owns Wal-Mart), Jonathan Sackler, and the Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation — are all proponents of charter schools, an approach the teachers union has resisted.
“Education is one of the most important issues facing this country — and it should be on the ‘front page’ every day,” said Marc Sternberg, director of the Walton Family Foundation’s K-12 program. “Campbell Brown is a seasoned journalist who understands what’s at stake and is well positioned to raise the important questions that need asking.”
Messages left with the other backers were not returned.
The website, http://www.the74million.org, says its mission is to “lead an honest, fact-based conversation” about education.
“Our public education system is in crisis,” the site reads. “In the United States, less than half of our students can read or do math at grade-level, yet the education debate is dominated by misinformation and political spin.”
Thank you, Diane, and thanks for all you do with your blog to support public school students and those of us who strive to educate them.
Campbell Brown, as I suspected, is a member of what writer Ron Rosenbaum as perceptively characterized as “the publicity-industrial complex.” I invite her to come to my special education classroom and edify me on good pedagogy. While it surprises me to learn it (I spend many hours on my own professional development), apparently I need her assistance.
Why, haven’t you heard? The best experts on education are those who have never set foot in a classroom or done any serious education research. Those kinds of experiences just mess up your perspective and you start to think foolish things like that maybe children are more important than money.
TAGO
The video reminds me of the ones that the L.A.-based Parent Revolution grop (secretly funded by billionaire privatizers… Gates, Broad, Walton, et al) put out:
Just throw up a bunch of poor black and brown people stating platitudes and corporate reform coded language in support of privatization and union-busting—with a token smattering of tragically hip white and Asian folks joining in (to the one teacher… Dude, what’s with the T-shirt and the cargo shorts? Do you dress like that in class?).
For laughs, here are some Parent Revolution videos:
Again, here’s the new Campbell Brown group’s video: (see the similarity?)
She is a Brown-noser. Or you can refer CB to Carpet Bagger.
The DEFORMERS keep coming out of the woodwork. OY. This is bad.
Don’t worry about it, Yvonne. I doubt that site will get much traffic, unless the Walton family pays someone to click on it automatically 24/7.
We can make it so that the majority of the traffic are those responding, exposing and correcting the lies, falsehoods and obfuscations that are guaranteed to be a daily staple.
Wonder what their “editorial” policy concerning comments, if they allow them, will be.
Astroturfing at its finest.
Maybe we could all agree to quit calling “them” Reformers and label them Privatizers, or Corporate Privatizers.
Privatizers fits. I will use it interchangeably with “corporate reformers.”
or thieves?
Not “corporate” privatizers.
The term “corporate” includes a lot of different entities the vast majority, whether a company, the individuals in that company or just individuals on their own support public schools. I have spoken with many who chafe at being thrown in with the edudeformer crowd. We do ourselves a disservice to continue using the word “corporate”-hell many public school districts are organized/brought into being as corporations,
Privatizers, privateers, hucksters, ignoramuses whose opinions are just that-opinions not grounded in reality, mis-educationists, education malpracticers and many other names could be used.
I like “pornucation”. Like education, but more exploitative and demeaning.
I think “Deformers” or “Wreckers” fits much better for them.
Ken, how about Disrupters?
Love it!
Can’t wait for T74 to start up. I wonder how long it will take before I’m banned from the site even IF I conform to their rules of posting. We can destroy their arguments, truth will overcome their lies, falsehoods and anti-public education memes. Folks, we can overwhelm them! All the while reading and listening to them complain and moan about “union thug” teachers outnumbering them.
We Shall Overcome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnzmPrsLXn8
It would be helpful and humane if these corporations would direct some of their billions toward addressing poverty in our country. We all know that this will never happen because the true motive of most of their actions is to make more money by robbing public school children of their right to a free public education. The government needs a reality check. They need to look at what is happening as well as research and make an informed decision instead of being an agent of graft and corruption. Groups that care about public education should contact senators and representatives to eliminate the laws such as the New Market Tax Credits that propel these invaders on their campaign. In fact, why doesn’t the government offer tax credits and write-offs for measures that will address poverty and any of its dysfunction such as addiction and low wages?
You nailed it. If you are truly retired, then you have been around long enough to have seen how “trickle down” changed to “de-regulation” turned to “free-trade” turned to “investors and job creators” turned to “too big to fail”… Each time the lie becomes apparent, the language shifts.
Regardless of the words used: there has been no effort to impose “accountability” on those who have grown wealthiest capturing and gaming the market, suppressing wages/mobility/security for the majority of citizens…Instead, policy leans towards further empowering the powerful, and enriching the already rich.
“Next month, Ms. Brown will be launching a non-profit, education-focused news site called The Seventy Four, which she says refers to the 74 million school-age children in classrooms across the U.S”
I’d just like to exclude my child from the 74 million children, if I may.
I don’t agree with the attacks on public schools and labor unions and I don’t believe her advocacy benefits my son or his public school, nor did I consent to any of these people to speaking for him.
I wasn’t aware one could appoint oneself as a representative voice for 74 million people.
Really, what nerve. Her chosen policies are “what’s best” for 74 million students, not to mention their parents and the entire communities that own and run public schools?
Take me off the promotional materials for this political campaign.
“I wasn’t aware one could appoint oneself as a representative voice for 74 million people.”
Excellent point Chiara!
But that is the MO (no, not the Show Me State) of these hubristic edudeformers who obviously know more than everyone else. Why? Because they hang out with the monied types and that magical ability to steal, oops I mean rake in lots of money rubs off on these edudeformers making them all the smarter than the rest of us peons.
I’ve always thought it was weird how ed reformers present themselves as the single true advocates for children not their own.
I fundamentally don’t buy it, and I’ve had 4 children in public schools. The idea that public school teachers are my opponents is not just ridiculous, it’s weird, because it’s setting themselves up as the only people I can “trust”. People should RUN, not walk, from anyone who does that. That should set off the warning light.
Do I trust my local school board and schools over these national spokespeople despite the fact that public schools have problems? Yes, I do. It’s not even close.
Since so much of the ed reform “movement” depends on finding “self interested” adults and determining motive, why don’t they ever apply that same cynical analysis to their own movement and themselves?
Are they just better people? If your whole analytical frame is grounded on “self interest” wouldn’t you also apply that to yourself?
The thing is incoherent. It doesn’t hang together.
Incoherence is not abounds in the edudeformers’ messaging but also in the educational malpractices they promote.
incoherence not only. . . not not, ay ay ay where’d my editor go?
On what’s up of the website so far, there’s something about the tragedy that 50% of the nation’s kids read and do math below grade level. It would be funny if it weren’t so hostile. To the extent that “grade level” means anything at all, it means, roughly, what an average kid of that grade level can do. So 50% of our nation’s kids are below average. And here I thought we’d been living in Lake Wobegone.
Haven;t you heard? Income inequality and wage stagnation is not due to the decisions of powerful people in government and the private sector.
It’s due to a defective workforce. It’s us, not them.
Why this doesn’t apply to the adults currently in the upper spheres of the workforce who are issuing these proclamations is a mystery of course, but that’s just the crazy incoherent world of ed reform.
Dienne and Chiara: thank you for your comments.
As I see it, what y’all refer to is a variant of the “defective/deficient moral character” argument used to put the vast majority of us in our place.
The advantaged few aren’t enjoying livin’ la vida loca because they’ve rigged things in their favor—it’s because everyone else is just so darn unworthy and undeserving, lacking in the basic virtues that are just so obviously in abundance up top.
Proof? The most sacred and holy rheephorm metric of all. Average test scores go up or down depending on whether income goes up or down.
Case closed. And if there are any objections [in rheephormish “excuses”] there is a resounding answer to any and all:
“I reject that mind-set.” [Michelle Rhee]
And she should know. She took “her” students from the 13th to the 90th percentile in one year!
😏
“yet the education debate is dominated by misinformation and political spin. Our mission is to lead an honest, fact-based conversation about how to give America’s 74 million children under the age of 18 the education they deserve.”
Only the ed reform movement may claim the mantle of “honest” and :fact-based” – they preemptively shut down any debate by declaring everyone else “self interested”.
I literally cannot imagine claiming to speak for 74 million people. As an individual I would call a halt to putting my name on that. I would be horrified.
How many of these promotional groups are billionaires planning on funding?
It’s not enough they bought the government, that’s there’s virtually no real debate on this narrow ed reform approach at the federal and state level, they now have to dominate every discussion everywhere?
Here’s a long (very long) post I did about Campbell Brown’s hypocrisy regarding Common Core curriculum and testing. Like so many other corporate reformers, she’s being paid huge money to advocate that Common Core curriculum and testing be shoved down the throats of students and parents, yet when it comes to her own children, she “opts out” by sending them to a rich kids’ private schoo;. Since this is an option that most parents can’t afford, they and their kids are stuck with Common Core, like it or not.
Okay, so the unqualified, non-teacher David Coleman and his equally unqualified, non-teacher fellow co-creators of Common Core think that novels, plays, poems, short stories, etc. are all a waste of time, and will not prepare future workers with the dry, boring skills they will need to take their place as drones or cogs in the nation’s economy?
Well, the litmus test for all this nonsense is…. are the children of the 1% going to get Coleman’s Common Core shoved down their throats as well?
Let’s answer that question:
Chicago Lab School—where Obama’s, Duncan’s, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s kids attend (and btw, where my nephew and niece attended… my niece was a classmate of Malia’s prior to Malia’s dad’s change in job & residencey 😉 )
ANSWER: NO
Lakeside School—where Bill Gates’ kids attend
ANSWER: NO
Sidwell Friends School—where Obama’s kids attend after moving to D.C.
ANSWER: NO
Harpeth Hall—where Michelle Rhee and ex-husband Kevin Huffman’s daughters attend
ANSWER: NO
The private Montessori School that former N.Y. State Ed. Commisioner John King sends his kids
ANSWER: NO (King claimed otherwise, but that claim has since been debunked)
Heschel School—where Campbell Brown’s kids attend
ANSWER: NO
—————————
The last example is particularly galling, as Mrs. Brown-Senor writes vicious attacks on Common Core opponents like the following:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/political-attacks-on-common-core-are-driven-by-pandering/2015/02/27/bfbf9f80-bad8-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html?postshare=4201425094031685
———————
CAMPBELL BROWN:
“Let’s be clear about what Common Core is. It spells out what students should know at the end of each grade. The goal is to ensure that our students are sound in math and literacy and that our schools have some basic consistency nationwide. But the standards do not dictate a national curriculum, and teachers are not told how or what to teach.
“The unpopularity of the initiative with segments of the public has been caused by rough implementation in some states and the tests linked to the standards. That frustration is legitimate and can be addressed. But abandonment of the initiative for political reasons is craven…
“Education never quite gets the attention it deserves in presidential campaigns, but monster flip-flops surely do. So here’s some advice for people running for office: If you want to campaign against core standards, perhaps you should try having core standards of your own first.”
======================
Really Campbell? So what standards and testing do you have for your own children?
According the Mercedes Schneider, you send your kids to a private Jewish school with A CURRICULUM, STANDARDS, AND TESTING THAT IS DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO COMMON CORE.. AND NO STANDARDIZED TESTING OF ANY KIND UNTIL HIGH SCHOOL
The Abraham Joshua Heschel School
http://www.heschel.org/
The Abraham Joshua Heschel School: Mission
http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=9
from the link immediately above:
=======================================
HESCHEL:
“In an open and engaging academic setting, the school’s curriculum interweaves the best of both Jewish and general knowledge and culture throughout the school day.
“The school’s approach to education is governed by profound respect for students. It nurtures their curiosity, cultivates their imagination, encourages creative expression, values their initiative and engenders critical thinking skills. The school is committed to development of the whole child and supports each student’s intellectual, emotional, social, physical and spiritual growth. In addition, the school seeks to create an environment that encourages the professional and personal growth of teachers, administrators, and staff.
“Among the Central goals of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School are the following:
“Fostering a lifelong love of learning. The school seeks to develop the understanding that the discovery of personal meaning and the growth of individual identity can emerge from the rigors of study.
“Creating an environment of intellectual challenge and academic excellence.
“Creating an ethical learning community that inspires its students to become responsible, active, compassionate citizens and leaders in the Jewish and world communities.
“Cultivating the spiritual lives of its students and the nurturing of their commitment to Jewish values. The school helps students learn about and respect a range of Jewish practices and encourages them to embody these traditions in the way they live their lives; students learn the skills that enable them to participate fully in Jewish life.
“Building of bridges between different sectors of the Jewish community, and between the Jewish community and other communities, as expressions of our religious imperative to unite human beings through justice, shared humanity and mutual respect.
“Fostering in its students a deep commitment to and a lifelong relationship with the State of Israel and its language, culture and people, in recognition of the centrality of the State of Israel to Jewish identity and to the Jewish people.”
=======================================
Here’s more of what you can get at Heschel—a comprehensive Arts Curriculum—
one that is impossible at public schools thanks to so much its funding going to Pearson and the other Common Core-related vendors:
http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=1130
From the link above:
=======================================
The Arts at Heschel
“As students are exposed to a multitude of media in their daily lives, art courses can help them navigate the unfolding context of contemporary culture and technology in order to understand and find meaning in the possibilities through creating and analyzing.
“The Visual Arts department is rooted in the school’s vision that the discovery of personal meaning and the growth of individual identity can emerge from the rigors of study, of student centered inquiry and the development of a sensitive eye, a discerning mind and skillful hand.
“Music as non-verbal expression continues to say something universal, essential, and native to even the humblest of involved seekers. Music education, therefore, must stand alone as an important and necessary part of the total learning and growing process.”
=======================================
And here’s what happens at Heschel in Grades 1-5 (i.e. “Lower School”) :
The Abraham Joshua Heschel School: Lower School
http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=16
=======================================
Lower School
“It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Heschel Lower School. We hope you will learn about our philosophy and curriculum. If you have additional questions after you have read through the website, please contact us.
“The Lower School comprises grades 1-5 and offers a rich and rigorous curriculum in both general and Judaic studies. Every part of the school day is planned to offer each student a challenging, well-supported, and nurturing environment. Our highly qualified and enthusiastic faculty brings the curriculum to life through analysis of text, thoughtful discussion, projects, and field trips.
“In all areas, the emphasis is on thinking and questioning. Jewish traditions form the basis for teaching ethical values and the imperative to treat others as we would like to be treated.
“As you walk through the Lower School, you will see children happily engaged. The classrooms and hallways are alive with students learning, studying, singing, praying, and playing with joy. You will learn a great deal about us from our website, and we hope you will schedule a visit to experience the spirit of our faculty and students.”
Dina Bray
Lower School Head
=======================================
Does that sound like David Coleman’s “no-one-cares-what-students-think” Common Core currriculum?
Cambpell, in effect, you spend tens of thousands of dollars of money to make sure that your own children are, figuratively speaking, kept as far away from Common Core as your money can manage:
Check out these costs:
http://www.heschel.org/page.cfm?p=232
According to the above link, this is what Campbell pays
FOR EACH CHILD (she has 2 or 3… I forget):
=======================================
Tuition for the 2014-2015 school year is as follows:
N $26,125
PK $35,775
K $36,050
1 $37,425
2 $37,425
3 $38,150
4 $38,150
5 $38,150
6 $38,800
7 $38,800
8 $38,800
9 $39,650
10 $39,650
11 $39,650
12 $40,225
=======================================
Campbell, since you think Common Core is so great, I’m sure that you and/or your husband have stormed into the offices of the administrators of your Heschel, and demanded they implement Common Core standards, curriculum, and testing forthwith… with threats to remove your kids if this doesn’t occur?
Well, we all know that ain’t gonna happen.
So in short, the opinion of Obama, Rhee, Huffman, Duncan, John King, and Campbell Brown: “Common Core rules!!! Just keep it the-hell away from my own kids.”
Campbell and her husband are hypocrites that front the pipeline for more corporate welfare under the guise of education reform.
“What are her credentials?”
I read an article “Racism as an Element of fascism” @ counterpunch.
One “drift” I took from it was the “extremely practiced “divide and rule” (sort and separate),
invent fictional (mythical) social categories, forming the “foot soldiers”, in the service of
capital.
Save the “pinko” ad hominem and consider: Practice and accepting the “divisions”,
tightens our chains. Accepting the divisions is not unity. Division is the master’s tools.
UNITY can target class struggles. Divisions continue them.
If I’m not mistaken, CREDENTIALISM is division. A component of the “circle”
Drum roll….Noel Wilson channeling Foucault:
“So the mark [grade/test score] becomes part of the story about yourself and with sufficient repetitions becomes true: true because those who know, those in authority, say it is true; true because the society in which you live legitimates this authority; true because your cultural habitus makes it difficult for you to perceive, conceive and integrate those aspects of your experience that contradict the story; true because in acting out your story, which now includes the mark and its meaning, the social truth that created it is confirmed; true because if your mark is high you are consistently rewarded, so that your voice becomes a voice of authority in the power-knowledge discourses that reproduce the structure that helped to produce you; true because if your mark is low your voice becomes muted and confirms your lower position in the social hierarchy; true finally because that success or failure confirms that mark that implicitly predicted the now self evident consequences. And so the circle is complete.”
On another note, some actual local voices are weighing in:
“Ohio’s controversy-ridden charter schools may be a national joke, but they’re no laughing matter for the state’s taxpayers who are seeing more than $1 billion of their money being used to keep this failed experiment in education going”
It’s interesting because it’s the Youngstown paper, and Youngstown is targeted for take-over by Kasich and “the movement” 🙂
. – See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/jun/24/ohio-charter-school-system-is-broken-and72/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#sthash.1sJzmSYG.dpuf
Chiara and NoBrick,
Divide-and-conquer is a main part of the corporate reformers’ and Koch brothers’ strategy. Obverve how Wisconsing Governor Scott Walker is always dividing and pitting different groups of workers against each other:
“good” public sector unions (police, fire)
AGAINST
“bad” public sector unions (teachers, nurses)
“good” private sector unions (machinists, constructions0
AGAINST
“bad” public sector unions (teachers, nurses)
and of course,
“good” public school parents
AGAINST
“bad” public school teachers
Indeed he attempts to drive a wedge between teachers on one side, and parents/students on the other is one of the linchpins of corporate reform.
Arne Duncan’s “white suburban moms” quote was about getting parents to start blaming and hating both their kids’ teachers and their kids’ schools. Arne was saying that parents simply think too much of the children’s current teachers, schools and academic progress. According to Duncan, those parents are just too emotional to face facts that their kids actually suck academically, because their teachers/schools suck… and that now, thanks to Common Core and testing, these parents will at last wake them up to this, and also realize that the solution is to wipe out traditional public schools, and replace them with privately run charter schools.
Another corporate reformer that engages in this “division” tactic is Governor Bruce Rauner of Illinois. I did a long post about a TV appearance he made, where he basically says parents are just too gullible and stupid, and too easily manipulated by their children’s teachers… and that’s why 75% of Chicago citizens over all, and an even higher percentage of parents with kids in public schools backed teachers in the 2012 teacher strike, and were opposed the corporate reform Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Here’s that post. It’s from an old 2012 interview back when Rauner was merely Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “advisor” :
In the 2012 video below, a pre-governorship Rauner blathers about the “tragedy” in Chicago that “hundreds of thousands of students” have been having their “futures damaged” simply because they are not yet attending privatized, non-union charter schools, instead of those traditional public schools filled with corrupt incompetent union thug teachers.
CLASSIC, MUST-BE-SEEN VIDEO … trust me on this, folks. (long post, but you’ll enjoy it)
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/09/19/mayors-adviser-attacks-ctu
It’s from an incendiary 2012 TV forum back when Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner was merely Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s “advisor”, (though back then he was hinting at his eventual run for governor in 2014).
He’s appearing with Chicago Teachers Union Vice-President Jesse Sharkey, pinch-hitting for CTU President Karen Lewis (perhaps Rauner didn’t want to share the same news desk with Karen… who knows?).
It’s from Chicago’s PBS affiliate’s show “CHICAGO TONIGHT,” moderated by Chicago TV news veteran Carol Marin, who was awesome. At the time, she was indirectly employed by Rauner at the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, where Marin also worked, and of which Rauner was part owner. Rauner did not happy getting grilled by one of his underlings like that.
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/09/19/mayors-adviser-attacks-ctu
When asked why he thinks that 75% of Chicagoans supported CTU in the recent strike, Rauner basically implies the parents and general public are simply too stupid or at least too gullible, so they got taken in by union “misinformation”, and cannot realize how evil teachers’ unions are.
———————————
( 02:26 – 03:00 )
CAROL MARIN: “And yet, there were parents standing with teachers on the picket lines. What meaning do you take from that?”
BRUCE RAUNER: “That the union has been… uhh… aggressively marketing and running a huge PR campaign of misinformation. Many parents don’t really understand what’s going on inside their schools As long as their child feels safe, and their… their teacher is a pleasant person, they think things are all right. The tragedy… the tragedy is … uhh… hundreds of thousands of children in the Chicago Public Schools are receiving an inadequate education, and their futures are being damaged because of it.”
———————————-
Really, Bruce? “A tragedy” for “hundreds of thousands of children” who are having “their futures damaged”? Exaggerate much? And your claim that the parents are too gullible or too obtuse to see through, or resist manipulation at the hands of their kids’ teachers? You basically just called all those parents idiots.
Bruce, those parents are the folks who talk to their kids every ding-dong day about what’s going on in their kids’ schools… at the breakfast table… at the dinner table… in the car rides to and from school… or whenever. Those parents whose mental faculties you deride are the same folks who regularly meet with teachers in conferences, monitor their kids’ education. review their report cars, etc.. Some even volunteer as unpaid aides, or visit their schools in session, serve on and/or attend PTA meetings. These parents then talk among each other, share their opinion, compare notes on their kids’ teachers, administrators, etc…. and on and on…
Seriously, Bruce? You think that ALL those parents—hundreds of thousands of them–with all that information and first-hand experience and second-hand info from their kids and others, are just wrong, wrong, wrong… and that you and your corporate reform allies know better than them what’s good for their kids, that they need a right-wing consciousness raising so they can face the “tragedy” that their kids’ teachers are all scum, as are their schools?
Am I hearing your right?
Wow… is all I have to say to that one.
Jesse then lays him out:
( 03:05 – 03:42)
JESSE SHARKEY: “I’m both a public school parent—I have two students in the schools— and am a twelve year teacher, and was publicly elected democratically by the members our union. It’s ironic that someone who is a billionaire, whose interests in the schools aren’t based on his long-standing work in that school system—talking about how what’s ruining the schools—in contrast to the very people who work in those schools every day, who pour their heart and soul into the public education and their students every day. Frankly, if you want to know what’s wrong the public education system, it’s been a series of efforts with corporate or top-down reform that don’t take the opinions of the actual educators into account.”
I agree to a certain extent but Duncan’s comment was an another assumption of bad motive and accusation of self interest.
He was saying they’re worried about property values and their own belief that their children are smart over the ACTUAL best interests of their children.
I think it’s really disturbing from a politician because Duncan cannot even imagine a legitimate objection to his agenda. It HAS to be self interest. It cannot be valid.
It means he didn’t hear a word they said. He went right to motive.
They’ve set this up so opposing any part of it = self interested.
Chiara,
True corporate reformers believe that no one does anything unless there is a profit motive involved. Apparently that is the way they lead their own lives, so they cannot imagine that someone might act on principle, rather than the chance to get money.
When I wrote “Death and Life of the Great American School System,” I was accused of changing sides because I wanted to make money by speaking to anti-reformers. The critics forgot that I left the side with big money to go over to the little guys, not knowing how anyone would react. They could not imagine that I could be motivated by anything but money. That’s the way they think. That’s why the folks on “our side” blog for free, and the folks on the side of corporate reform need millions to pay writers. Profit vs. principle.
Well said Diane!
Campbell Brown is married to Dan Señor, the poster boy for our failed foreign policy which has led to countless American and Iraqui deaths. She is to education policy what her husband is to foreign policy. To achieve a militarized, fascist America you need to have an ignorant America. Campbell Brown and Dan Señor – perfect together.
This character, Dan, was on Bill Maher a few weeks ago, and he tried to turn the topic to education, “the civil rights issue of our time,” but luckily the panel overpowered his inane comments and went in a different direction.
Here’s a good video addressing the corporate reformers’ attempt to divide parents and teachers.
Former United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher is attacking the disastrous effect that the Parent Trigger law—spawned by billionaire corporate reformes—has had in practice on schools, causing division, and “sowing hate” between parents and teachers.
01:49 – 04:09
WARREN FLETCHER: ” … because this law is built on the premise is that the only way that a school can be improved is when one group of stakeholders starts BLAMING another group of stakeholders. It is a law based on the idea that we can improve schools by SCAPEGOATING… and it is a law that is based on the belief that the only way we can have progress in a school community is if we DIVIDE THE SCHOOL INTO ‘US’ AND ‘THEM.’ As a 29-year teacher in this district, I can tell you that the parents in this district are being presented with a cruel hoax by this law.
“It is a mechanism to turn ‘hope’ into ‘hate’, and that law is a legal framework to set people against each other. I, as President of UTLA, am proud to say that we reach out to parents, and we set up meetings with parents, and as soon as Parent Trigger is mentioned, suddenly UTLA cannot even get a Civic Center permit (i.e. blocked by corporate reformers within LAUSD & Los Angeles city government, JACK). Suddenly, UTLA runs into legal obstacle after legal obstacle. What we are doing is PLAYING ADULT CONFLICT GAMES and we are fiddling while Rome burns!
“It is important that this school board, and the senior administration. and the superintendent of this district obey the law, but it is also important that a framework is developed like in Mr. Zimmer’s motion that this law does not sow hatred, and does not debilitate school communities. To this point, the senior leadership of this district has been, I think, unready to take on the fact that we must, in Los Angeles, be about bringing groups together, about bringing parents, teachers and students and the community and everyone together, and END THIS SOWING OF HATE!”
Diane,
I defer to your prowess in these matters. You are better than I, and this is as good as it gets. Sarcasm at it finest. No more tepid preaching to the choir. It’s time to beat them at the game. They have the dollars, but we have the numbers, and the skills they lack. All for one and one for all. Refuse to use a Pearson test, and put the bastards out of business. Vote any politico out of office who supports Common Core, no matter their party. Challenge them to prove the efficacy of their directives. Request that Badass Teachers blog change their name to Kickass Teachers. Long live the reign of Diane Ravitch.
Ian Kay
Ian, the best strategy for those who abhor the status quo is opting out of the state-mandated, federally-mandated standardized testing. Support opt-out.
Diane,
That’s a “no brainer.” Of course it’s part of the answer, but once again, we may win all these battles, common core, vouchers, charter schools, for-profit schools, Pearson and excessive testing testing etc., but still lose the war with respect to regaining our rightful status, that is being undermined by a fraudulent administrative culture. We must give equal emphasis to eliminating Administrative titles and rule by intuition as we do to all of these items. They must accept a subservient role rename as “Support personnel.” The level of intimidation has reached epidemic proportions. They have succumbed to the pressure of bribes to de-professionalioze teachers and convert the educational process into digital realm in order to give Bill Gates and his cronies a cash cow that will keep them subsidized ad infinitum. Administrators have been instructed to use CYA techniques taught to them in their certification classes. How do I know. I have certification, and was disgusted by the arrogance of college professors who write books that are expensive and full of edu-speak and replete with empty verbiage. I could wax on and on, but you know I’m telling the truth. I want you to get tougher and tell the truth about the parasites that are eating up educational budgets who are truly superfluous in the educational process. If tomorrow we eliminated the Superintendents, the Asst. Superintendents, the Principals, Assistant Principals, Chairpeople and their entourage, what changes would occur in the classrooms? The answer is nothing, because education takes place between the teachers and their students and everyone else is superfluous. The taxpayer is paying money for old rope, and you know it. Teachers do not need leadership from former peers who lead by intuition. It’s time for a true revolution in education, and change the school culture. for the betterment of the profession and the children. Give teachers their due.
Ian Kay
I can’t wait to let the 74 know that 50 % of all children will always be below “grade level” because statistically “grade level is defined as the 50th percentile. So Dienne, you are on the mark in your observation, grade level means exactly half above and half below a given mark! Let’s see them spin that….It is a problem which is why the term is relatively meaningless.
Your point will fly right over their heads, especially Ms. Brown’s.
How appropriate though that the first new of her project was published in the Wall Street Journal. The publication devoted to everything money. That’s what she the reformers are all about- MONEY.
Also, the name of her endeavor, 74… I think she could try a little harder to manipulate public sentiment. Perhaps she could take picture of herself wearing a flag, while driving a school bus… Smiling kids in the back finally being taken care of… The caption, “Thank you Campbell for taking us to one of your charter schools, now we’ll be ready for college, and to compete with China/India/Finland/ and take our rightful place as the economic rulers of the world.”
From Wikipedia:
Brown grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, and she attended the Trinity Episcopal Day School. Her family was involved in hunting, politics, and cooking, “It was all about Cajun and tight-knit families and big parties,” Brown has said.
She was expelled from the *Madeira School for sneaking off campus to go to a party. Brown attended Louisiana State University for two years before graduating from Regis University. After graduation, she spent a year teaching English in Czechoslovakia. In her 2006 wedding announcement in the New York Times, she was described as having “spent her post-college years as a Colorado ski bum.”
*The Madeira School is a private, non-denominational college-preparatory boarding school for girls located in McLean, Virginia.
So, this HS delinquent/ski-bum, and former TV talking head, who is politically connected thanks to her trophy husband is given a world class stage to rant about a topic of which she has absolutely zero experience.
Why is anyone paying any attention to this clown?
Why isn’t she being laughed off the stage like Diane Ravitch would be if she started lecturing plasma physicists about her plan for building cold fusion power plants?
Without the mainstream media colluding with the reformistas, this ski bum would have gone quietly into the night of former tallking heads – the land of low rating has beens.
I agree. Why IS anyone paying attention to this clown?
Mercedes Scheider shares your opinion, and wrote an article that goes into greater detail about Ms. Brown’s background:
————-
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2014/08/01/pretty-campbell-brown-and-her-ugly-misguided-anti-due-process-crusade/
—————–
Pretty Campbell Brown and Her Ugly,
Misguided Anti-Due-Process Crusade
August 1, 2014
Over the past several weeks, I have read only a little on the situation of former CNN news anchor Campbell Brown’s sudden interest in forming a nonprofit in order to advance a lawsuit in New York purportedly to “save” public school students of the (surely) inept teachers currently protected behind “tenure” (i.e., due process rights).
I’ll admit, I have only been on the fringes of the affair that is New York’s “Brown vs. Board of Education” (I had to go there, what with hedge-funded nonprofits advancing their takeover of public education as a “civil rights” issue). However, with my second book written and off to the publisher, I am now ready to turn my research and writing attention to this Campbell Brown and her crusade to demolish teacher due process.
Brown has not bothered to demonstrate how, exactly, removal of the due process that promotes job security for good teachers will make the profession attractive to those who are good teachers.
It doesn’t matter. Brown will never feel the effects of her foolishness.
Brown, Her Hedge-Fund Friends, and Suing NY Schools
On June 24, 2014, Brown officially founded the nonprofit Partnership for Educational Justice (PEJ) basically to sue to remove due process job protections from traditional public school teachers in New York. The “nonprofit” has some fine hedge fund and corporate reform philanthropic backing as noted by its board of directors, including the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO)– the group footing the bill for Louisiana’s pro-Common Core lawsuit— and StudentsFirst and Democrats for Educational Reform (DFER), all of which I wrote about in A Chronicle of Echoes.
Brown’s husband, hedge fund manager Dan Senor, sits on the StudentsFirstNY board with former NYC Chancellor Joel Klein, former DC Chancellor and StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee, and Success Academies founder Eva Moskowitz, each of whom also has a chapter in my book, A Chronicle of Echoes.
Brown also notes that she sits on the board of Eva Moskowitz’s heavily hedge-fund-backed Success Academies schools. It really comes as no surprise that Brown, who chooses to support the likes of Moskowitz, should form a nonprofit with a mission to sue traditional public education in the name of hedge-funded “choice.”
(For an excellent post detailing Brown, Senor, and their self-serving corporate connections, see this August 1, 2014, post by fellow blogger, Mother Crusader.)
I wonder if Brown sends her own two children, ages five and six, to Moskowitz’s schools, a place where administrators pride themselves for turning children into “little test taking machines.”
Despite all of that obsessive testing focus, not one student scored well enough for admission to any of New York’s eight elite high schools.
(UPDATE 08-20-14: Fellow blogger Gary Rubinstein wrote that he believes Brown’s children attend the private Jewish school, Heschel, a place where they can escape both Brown’s lawsuit and becoming Eva’s test-taking machines.)
I also wonder if this pathetic Success Academies outcome qualifies as evidence of “the great public schools students deserve” according to the PEJ mission statement. The PEJ mission statement also includes language such as “fixing the policies that are holding our schools and our children back.”
Here’s some more of the now-too-familiar reformerspeak from the PEJ website:
—————————–
“All our children deserve to attend great public schools that can prepare them for success in college and in life. …
“Every child deserves great schools and the lifelong opportunities they afford. Yet too often, outdated policies hold back schools and limit families’ options. We challenge unfair education policies and propose common sense solutions through advocacy and legal action. Our first project is in New York, helping students fight laws that deny them access to great teachers. …
“We’re committed to reclaiming the promise of public education for all students. Our passionate team of parent leaders, education advocates and legal experts empowers local communities to strengthen their schools by pursuing common sense policy changes. We provide the resources and support families need to get the schools they deserve. …
“Education policies should be rooted in evidence and common sense, and they should always make student learning the top priority.
“A great education starts with great teaching. Decades of research have proven that teachers have a greater impact on student learning than any other factor a school can control. In fact, even one year with a great teacher can transform students’ lives…. [Emphasis added.]”
—————————–
It all sounds good, doesn’t it? These “choice” folks are just here to help. They only want “great schools.”
Actually, a “great education” does not start with “great teaching.” It starts in the home and community, influential factors outside of teacher (and researcher) control. Since controlling the factors that impact student learning and that are external to the classroom is not possible, so-called reformers like Eric Hanushek (he’s in my book, A Chronicle of Echoes) ignore the externals and heap incredible responsibility for student outcomes (often as measured by standardized test scores) upon the individual whom they deem can be measured and controlled: the classroom teacher.
Brown has no experience as a public school teacher.
As for PEJ’s snatching the phrase, “reclaiming the promise”: Brown cannot apply this “reclaiming” to her own upbringing. She is not a product of her local public school system. If she wants to temper her “passion” for education based upon her personal experience, she will have to send New York’s children to private schools out of state.
Time for some..
DETAILED CAMPBELL BROWN BACKGROUND:
Ferriday, Louisiana
Brown is actually a native of my own state, Louisiana. She is from the small northeastern Louisiana town of Ferriday, located in Concordia Parish, right next to the Mississippi state line. Ferriday is only about 10 miles from Natchez, Mississippi. (The rock singer Jerry Lee Lewis was also from Ferriday.)
According to the 2000 census, the population of Ferriday was only 3,723 people. As to ethnic composition, in 2000, Ferriday was approximately 75% Black and 25% White. The median household income at the time was $14,732 (median individual income at $23,654 for males and $16,725 for females). In 2000, 47.4% of the population lived below the poverty line, including 70.2% of those under 18 years of age.
By 2012, the estimated median household income in Ferriday was was $14,095— down from $14,732 in 2000.
I wonder why Brown has not traveled to Ferriday to spout about the “outdated policies that hold back schools and limit families’ options.” Given the incredibly depressed economy of Ferriday, would the residents just look at her as if she were insane?
On the 2008-12 American Community Survey, Ferriday, Louisiana, earned the distinction of ranking 15th on the list of poorest communities in the United States among locations with populations exceeding 1,000 individuals.
Downtown Ferriday (2008)
Four other Louisiana towns were ahead of Ferriday on the list (Campti, Cullen, Melville, and Clarks).
In 1970, when Brown was two years old, Ferriday (incorporated) was comprised of 5,239 people. By 1980, when Brown was middle-school-age, the population had declined to 4,406 people. (1970 and 1980 census counts can be found on page 20–8 of this report.) In 1989, the median household income for Ferriday was $9,753 (according to the 1990 Census of Population and Housing accessed here.)
Ferriday was and is a poor Louisiana town. However, Ferriday resident Campbell Brown was not raised in poverty. Her father, James Harvey Brown, Jr., graduated from Tulane Law School and had been elected to the Louisiana Senate by the time Brown was four years old, in 1972. James Brown, Jr., served two terms as Louisiana Secretary of State (1980 to 1988).
Factors Outside of Teacher Control: Family Money and Influence
Campbell Brown did not attend the Ferriday public schools. According to a Unapix article, Brown “grew up in Natchez, Mississippi and attended the Trinity Episcopal Day School.” On the contrary, as a Louisiana senator and later secretary of state, Brown’s father was required to reside in Louisiana.
Brown attended school a short drive away, in Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez’s Trinity Episcopal Day School tuition and fees are modest compared to many private schools: In 2012-13, the tuition was as follows:
—————————————
Pre-Kindergarten 3 & 4 year old (Full Day)
First Child $4,300
Second Child $3,870
Third + Child $3,225
Kindergarten
First Child $5,300
Second Child $4,770
Third + Child $3,975
Grades 1 – 4
First Child $5,450
Second Child $4,905
Third + Child $4,088
Grades 5 – 12
First Child $5,600
Second Child $5,040
Third + Child $4,200
—————————————–
Campbell Brown has two sisters. Likely, they did not attend the Ferriday public schools, either. Thus, in 2012 economic terms, the tuition alone for Brown and her two sisters to attend Trinity Episcopal Day School in Natchez would cost roughly $14,000– approximately the entire 2012 median income of a Ferriday household.
I wonder whether Brown would consider it a “child saving” service to society to turn her public school teacher tenure destruction crusade upon the likes of her native Ferriday.
I don’t think so. There is just not enough prestige in such a campaign. Plus, the hedge fund folk– from which her current husband, Dan Senor, yields– simply wouldn’t get the financial mileage out of wiping out teacher due process in a town of some 3,700 individuals, and with a median household income prohibitive of even Brown’s 2006 Vera Wang wedding dress.
Brown and husband Dan Senor. Photo by Dennis Reggie/People
(An aside: Senor is described in this 2006 New York Times wedding article as “loving” venture capitalism for its “cushiness.”)
The next school that Brown attended was the Madeira School for girls, located next to Washington, DC, in McLean, Virginia. The Madeira School boasts a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 and a class size of 12 students. Approximately half of the students board.
Here is some of what Madeira advertises regarding its students:
———————————————————————————————————————————————————–
In 2012-13, 306 students representing 14 countries and 18 states (including DC); 32% students of color; 16% international students.
Madeira School, McLean, Virginia
As for the campus:
A 376-acre campus in McLean, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.
Encompasses a student center, classroom buildings, art and dance studios, dormitories and faculty housing, a 590-seat auditorium, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities, playing fields, horse stable, indoor riding ring, indoor pool, and the Inner Quest ropes challenge course
Overlooks the Potomac River
And cost and available financial aid:
Tuition and Financial Aid
COST OF ATTENDANCE (2014–2015)
Comprehensive boarding fee: $54,555
Comprehensive day student fee: $41,224
FINANCIAL AID
26% of students receive Madeira financial assistance
Total aid available: $2,776,000
Average grant size: $33,964
———————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Apparently, Brown was not there for long. At age 16, she was expelled for leaving campus to attend a party.
Sometimes students squander amazing opportunities and it has nothing to do with their teachers.
Sometimes influences external to the classroom– such as the prospect of an off-campus party– render students as being classified as “noncompleters.”
As a Madeira “noncompleter,” Brown landed on her well-positioned feet.
At the time of Brown’s expulsion, her father was Louisiana secretary of state. There is no mention of another school that Brown attended; just a convenient jump to her attending Louisiana State University for two years and then “fleeing” to Colorado to finish her degree in political science at Regis University.
From “Without Much Direction” to New York Misdirection
After graduating from Regis, and after Communism collapsed in the Soviet Union, Brown spent two years teaching English in Prague. She returned home, according to New York Times writer Warren St. John, “without much direction.”
On the advice of a priest at Regis, Brown moved to Washington and interned at local television stations. Not able to land a job in DC, Brown moved to Kansas and Virginia to do reporting, which led to her preference for covering politics.
And since politics and education reform are now inseparable, it seems that Brown views herself as qualified to attempt to regulate teacher due process in the name of defending “greatness” in an American public education system with which she has absolutely no firsthand experience, neither as a student nor as a teacher.
For Brown, there is no “promise” to “reclaim” when it comes to her own nonexistent K-12 public education.
Instead of using her fame, beauty (let’s not pretend it is not influential), and hedge-fund connections in stripping New York teachers of due process rights, Brown’s PEJ would be put to better use if it concentrated its efforts upon improving quality of life in economically depressed towns such as the Ferriday from which Brown’s family hails.
It’s Not Too Late for Campbell Brown
Brown escaped the economic depression of Ferriday and its public schools, but most residents haven’t the family connections to do so.
Eva can handle terrorizing New York on her own.
Why not turn PEJ energies to investigating what “common sense solutions” that economically-distressed, small-town public school teachers need in order to truly help their students have the “lifelong opportunities”?
I’ll tell you what, though, Campbell Brown: Student success does not begin and end with the school. External factors, such as family economic viability, are much more important and have an undeniable bearing upon educational opportunity. The daughter of a former state senator and secretary of state should readily recognize as much.
I think that Campbell Brown’s launch of website is part of the conservative campaign to pre-empt discussions of education for the entire run-up to the Presidential election. I have reached this conclusion based on a full conservative agenda for education released this month by the American Enterprise Institute titled Conservative Solutions for Expanding Opportunity with these authors: Chester E. Finn Jr., Michael Q. McShane, John Bailey, Frederick M. Hess, Katharine B. Stevens, Diane Auer Jones, Kevin J. James, Andrew P. Kelly. I will try to summarize talking points and portraits of public education in this 92-page document. Many policy positions are predictable.
I stopped dead when I came across this bold-face agenda item: Facilitate School District Bankruptcy. Here is the set up for what the conservatives hope to do.
“The Constitution vests Congress with the authority to set a uniform bankruptcy code. Most relevant here is Chapter 9 bankruptcy, which allows municipalities to revisit existing contractual obligations. Yet in the mid-1990s, revisions to the code allowed states to block school districts from filing for Chapter 9. As a result, not even a handful of the nation’s 14,000 districts have successfully applied for Chapter 9. Even where local governments are authorized to apply, states can veto such a course, giving special interests (such as unions, retirees, and vendors) a second chance to stymie even the boldest local leaders. ”
Washington should craft a new bankruptcy-like mechanism that permits those school districts receiving federal Title I funds and deemed by their states to be performing inadequately to petition for relief from contractual obligations (to unions, vendors, and others) that constrain their efforts to improve schooling.
In other words,
1. Keep Title I funds flowing to districts and encourage states to keep strict “performance” measures.
2. Get Congress to modify the bankruptcy code so districts with “bold leaders” can, without state interference, declare bankruptcy and blame their poor performance on the cost of contractual obligations to unions, vendors, and others.
So the folks who routinely shout that “throwing more money at schools won’t improve them ” have a new take on the importance of money in school improvement.
The not-so-new path to school improvement is this: Get rid of the district’s “monetary obligations” to teachers, especially those in unions, and other vendors–with the exception of vendors who will aide the district in documenting poor performance.
And you can bet the “bold district leaders” most eager to pursue district bankrupcies are graduates of the unaccredited Broad Academy.
This adds another whole new layer of diabolical potential into the privatization schemes. The hedge fund crowd is a crafty crew that churns out new ways to destroy and dismantle. They also have the cash to buy the influence to make this happen. This is frightening!
This is excellent reporting, but she is part of a heartless bunch, chosen to front their efforts to destroy public schools, and divert educational dollars to for-profit enterprises. Their motto is “whatever it takes to get the business.” Shame on her and her greedy hedge fund husband.
“Seventy Four”?
Ha ha hah ha.
Pretty DAM close to 76!
“Seventy-six Campbell Browns” (from a year ago)
(parody of Willson Meredith – Seventy Six Trombones, from “The Music Man”))
Seventy-six Campbell Browns led Reform Parade
With a hundred and ten charter-schools close at hand.
They were followed by rows and rows
Of the wolves-in-sheepy clothes,
The cream of ev’ry famous scam.
Seventy-six Campbell Browns caught the morning shows
With a hundred and ten public schools closed behind
There were more than a thousand Rhees
Springing up like weeds
There were schemes of ev’ry shape and kind.
There were cherry-picking VAM studies and Gates platoons
Blundering, Blundering all along the way.
Double-billed baloneyums and big buffoons,
Each buffoon having his big, fat say!
There were fifty foolish Canons of Reformery
Blundering, Blundering louder than before
Teacher nets of ev’ry size
And reformers who’d improvise
To game the passing student score
Seventy-six Campbell Browns hit the TV shows,
While a hundred and ten public-schools blazed away.
To the rhythm of Test! Test! Test!
All the kids began to wretch,
And they’re wretching still right today!
As the new presidential contest gets underway I’m guessing the public will be treated with more of the same. The facts don’t count. What people remember and react to is the emotional impact. Instead of trying to give people information and discuss whats happening with education I’ve started to paint the picture with questions that poke at triggering emotional reactions. Playing fair isn’t going to make the changes needed.
Dear SomeDAM Poet,
Love the music parody.
Keep it coming.
People will remember that.