THE union-hating Walton Family Foundation granted another $50 million to Teach for America, one of the nation’s most successful businesses. This will allow TFA to meet the needs of the charter industry, as TFA recruits are willing to work long hours and leave after 2-3 years.
93% of charters are nonunion.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Money corrupts. Till these days never dreamed this truth would pertain to teaching and public education as has become the case.
Snark Alert! I just hope my tax dollars continue to flow and assist in subverting democracy and teaching. As a teacher, I can’t tell you how warm and fuzzy I feel knowing that that my tax dollars go to undermining my job and education in this country!
Diane: As you posted in 2013: Sylvia Matthews Burwell, the head of the Walmart Foundation, has been selected by President Obama to take charge of the Office of Management and Budget.
This is one of the most important policy jobs in the federal government. The director of OMB decides how money should be allocated, which programs should live and which should die. There are often intra-agency battles, but OMB holds the whip hand because it controls the budgetary decisions.
Burwell previously worked for the Gates Foundation.
The Walmart Foundation is not the Walton Family Foundation, but it is the same family nonetheless, known for their love of privatization, charters, and vouchers.
Similar to Arne Duncan when he appointed his Chief of Staff, directly from the Gates Foundation. Now, she’s an education executive at a company founded by Bain.
Linda, it is worse than that. The leader of “Race to the Top” came from NewSchools Venture Fund, which finances charter chains and for-profits. She later became his chief of staff. Not sure where she is now, but I’ll bet it is part of the network.
Unfortunately, Politico skimmed the surface, in its Arne Duncan tribute article. The reporter, in proclaiming Duncan’s opponents from “all sides”, failed to note Duncan’s and King’s power base, the money side.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
Diane, I knew I could count on your to bring me great news on this Veterans Day. Somewhere in the vast oceans, there are dedicated sailors in their submarines protecting us right now. And somewhere in America’s schools, there are TFA teachers preparing the next crop of submariners. What a great story for today!
Virginia, I can’t stop you making a fool of yourself. Why don’t you say this on the TFA blog?
Their blog is not nearly as good as yours. Seriously.
Amen
I thought TFA is finding it harder and harder to recruit at the top Ivy League schools and other top colleges.
Yes, TFA’s recruitment is down by about 25%. Maybe that’s why they need another $50 million.
Blech. TFA needs Walmart and Walmart needs TFA to staff its new LAUSD schools. Get it? virginia, you realize those students in TFA classes learn nothing but how to fill in bubbles, right? Why don’t you peddle crazy elsewhere? I see you’ve been banned from plenty of sites. Surprisingly not this one yet.
virginiasgp,
Do you recommend Submariners for America–recruit graduates of respected colleges/give them 5 weeks’ training and set them at sea with our nation’s assets?
What a great story!
If those future submariners attend school in a suburb, they won’t have a TFA teacher–they hire teachers without paying TFA fees.
Booklady, I think I might have misread your post. I thought you said that the Navy should hire recent graduates of prestigious schools (good idea) and give them 5 weeks of training before turning them loose at sea. It’s almost as if you equated the job of a submarine officer with that of a teacher!
Submariner: (a few of their responsibilities)
– must operate a nuclear reactor at sea with no backup power source
– must operate an electricity grid (reactor, short-term battery) and be able to switch sources at will
– must be able to maintain and deploy torpedos with 600-lb+ warheads safely but effectively
– must be able to identify and repair fire/seawater/electrical casualties in the dark while wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus
– must be able to operate (and understand the physics behind) sonar systems to identify other vessels in the sea without any active detection system
– must be able to navigate through all types of underwater topographies and avoid friendly contacts while potentially using only inertial navigation systems
Teacher
– teach young kids the same material that has been taught for generations and which parents teach their children everyday
– lessons created by a STEM major (Sal Khan) were so successful in displacing ineffective teachers’ lessons that the Khan Academy has been the de facto tutorial for millions of students in ineffective teachers’ classrooms for years now
Did you really equate these two positions? I like the graduates of prestigious universities idea though (hint, most of the submarine officers are btw).
I live in Ohio. Unless the subs are in Lake Erie, I’m not sure how well they could stop a hostile invasion from imperialistic Canadians. Just look at that new Trudeau guy. Looks dangerous to me. Probably wants to invade Cleveland and Toledo. Then only diplomacy will solve the question of whether the Browns join the CFL.
Besides, the military will soon be all drones controlled from a bunker in Colorado.
The Walton foundation has caused a great deal of damage to public education and continues by funding TFA. I find it ironic that “America” is used in this acronym when anyone who knows anything about TFA knows there are NO democratic virtues in the treatment of their teachers.
Walton gives a penny to public schools for every $1,000 it gives to privatize them.
Diane,
A friend of mine asked me to post this tongue-in-cheek fairy tale. I was just waiting for a reference to Race to the Top.
Lebkuchen Kinder
It came to pass, once upon a time, that the White Wizard from the Great White House decreed an end to the regional variability of Lebkuchen Kinder. Some say that this edict was the result of an unfortunate accident involving the magnificent Two Towers. Some say it was a matter of taste; still others say that it was a simple problem of supply and demand. The only thing that is known for sure is that in the race to the top, the Piparkukut of Finland were outrunning the Lebkuchen Kinder—and something had to be done about it. After much hand-wringing, hand-washing, finger-pointing, and wand waving, the great and powerful White Wizard consulted with the Captains of Industry, the Media Moguls, the Privateers, and the Politicos to determine a course of action. The Captains of Industry and the Privateers recommended Kunstgriff, while the Media Moguls and the Politicos recommended Blamegoating. Surprisingly, they compromised and im Handumdrehen, the “No Lebkuchen Kinder Left Behind” policy was born with barely a fairy baker involved.
Now it just so happened, that tiny little Thorn Town in the Northeast of the kingdom, had five small factory bakeries, two medium factory bakeries, and one large factory bakery. Thorn Town was separated North/South by the King’s Highway, which ran East/West and Thorn Town was a perfect microcosm for all the sleepy towns on the outskirts of the cities across the nation and their large Lebkuchen Kinder were perceived by many as more valuable than the Lebkuchen Kinder of the cities. Some of the fairy bakers said it was because of the fresh air. Others said it was the freshness of the ingredients and the flavor. Even more said that it was their skill at forming, the nuance of flavor, the use of the traditional ovens and the temperament of the bakers themselves. But once the “No Lebkuchen Kinder Left Behind” Policy reached the tiny district, the Superintendent of Bakeries rolled out the White Wizard’s plan with great fanfare and hired new factory managers for all the factories in Thorn Town. “Argumentum Ad Novitatem,” he said and the babies were thrown out with the bath-water and all the fairy bakers in the Baker’s Guild were required to use a common recipe, common baking standards, and new ovens to measure the “racingness” of the Lebkuchen Kinder, three times each fiscal quarter.
This deeply troubled some of the fairy bakers. “I don’t have the same ingredients,” said the Yellow Fairy Baker.
“My Lebkuchen Kinder take longer,” said the Green Fairy Baker, “they have to rest before going into the oven.”
“Mine might as well be rocks for the rock garden. They’ll never properly mature if I’m forced to continuously open the oven door and record their progress,” said the Red Fairy Baker. “Mine need to endure the heat.”
“Baking is an art,” said the Black Fairy Baker, who often adopted an Eeyore attitude. “The new standards make the racing more important than the Form—there’s no room for creativity, they’re disregarding flavor altogether and, they don’t give us reliable ovens. If we’re not careful, their legs are likely to fall off.”
The Blue Fairy Baker, who liked to consider all sides of an issue said, “We’ve had that argument about Form over Flavor for a while. Can’t we just agree that there should be a proper balance? Don’t you realize that the Bakery Guild is in jeopardy? They’re trying to divide and conquer through specialization. First they got rid of the Gingerbread House-builders division and now, in their race to the top, they only care about speed. What if my Lebkuchen Kinder are too slow? What if they’re not smart enough? The fox will eat them for sure. What happens then? Are they going to fire me, too?”
The Advanced Purple Fairy Baker was practically seething with ire. She was already steamed about the lack of quality ingredients and now she was being forced to convert all her very accurate liquid and weight metric measurements to U.S. cups, tsp, and Tbsp. “Race, race, from here to there, let’s start half-way to make it fair.” She repeated the new factory motto through her clenched teeth. “Don’t even get me started on the new math and the elimination of the first 50% of each batch. I’m not baking fudge, here.”
At the monthly factory renaissance meeting the new factory Minister of Authority, a Nationally recognized Minister, talked about the transformation of the factory to the new system of baking, based solely on the production of racing Lebkuchen Kinder. There would be no more Marmorkuchen, no more, Quarkbällchen, no more Apfelkuchen, no more Zimtschnecke, and no more Käsestange. All production would be focused on Lebkuchen Kinder for the Race to the Top. “Forming will count for 25% of production, “racing” will count for 75% and everyone knows that the best way to improve racing is to race.”
Everyone didn’t agree, but there was no room on the meeting agenda for griping. Sourness descended upon the meeting like too much lemon zest. When the Minister of Authority accidentally asked if there were any question, a number of hands were raised. “What about flavor?” nearly everyone murmured. “How is this better?” mumbled one of the veteran bakers. “”If we don’t spend more time on forming, they’ll never race properly.”
But the questions were ignored. Following the meeting protocol, he continued, “Are there any questions on implementation? Good. Then I’ll continue.”
He then proceeded to show them a four-part grid.
“As some of you are aware, it has been determined that the country must produce more “Stars.” And it has been decided that we will all produce Lebkucken Kinder for the Race to the Top because they have high profitability and high popularity. The “Plow-horses” have high popularity but low profitability. Of course, no one wants to produce a “Dog” and while some of you have the skill to tackle a “Puzzle,” frankly, no one cares. Perhaps someday we can push Puzzles, but for now let’s make the best Lebkuchen Kinder we can.”
The veteran baker raised his hand again. “How can we all make quality Lebkuchen Kinder if we don’t all have the same ingredients? I’m nearly out of ginger and my baking soda is past its expiration date. And who decided that “racing” is the most important quality of our Lebkuchen Kinder? For generations we’ve been producing high quality Lebkuchen by balancing form and flavor.”
“You’ll just have to do the best you can in a difficult situation. We’re in talks with the Mayor to see if we can get some of those new and improved easy-bake ovens and automate the entire process. Maybe by this time next year the Lebkuchen Kinder will be baking themselves.” He closed the meeting by saying, “Remember, a Hi Ho mindset is a crucial component of racingness.”
The entire Special Forms and Flavors Separtment had arrived to the Renaissance meeting late and missed the Minister of Authority’s explanation of the grid he had “borrowed” from the “Rescue my Restaurant” member of the Business Advisory Council. The Special forms & Flavors Department had always been strong advocates for Lebkuchen that come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors and believed that all Lebkuchen, if properly cared for, had innate value; so they ignored both the category scale and the value scale of the grid. “I like dogs,” one of them said. “I’ll work with the dogs, because they’re loyal.” Another said, “I’ll work with the plow horses. They’re slow but they work hard and they’re determined.” A third Fairy Baker, who understood what it was like to be unpopular, said, “I would love to work with the Puzzles.” And the others thought she was weird. “I guess that leaves me with stars,” said a fourth fairy from the Special Forms & Flavors Department. She had worked with stars before and frankly found them to be a bit vain. Some of them had holes in their heads to string ribbon through, so they could be put on display and she found most of them to be overdone and a bit stiff. But she had a proper Hi Ho! mindset and was willing to make the best of a difficult situation.
The first factory race of the fiscal quarter produced half-baked results. The entire Special Forms & Flavors Department had thought that their Puzzles, Dogs, Plow Horses, and Stars would be exempt from racing. When the first race started, the dogs decided to lie down and take a nap. When one of the fairies was about to poke one of the dogs another fairy stopped her. “Let sleeping dogs lie,” she was told. The Puzzles fell apart immediately because they couldn’t handle the pressure. As expected, the Plow Horses forged ahead with great determination but no speed whatsoever. And the stars simply pranced from one point to another in front of the starting line audience, singing, “I can’t run, But I can dance, Let’s have fun, And sing perchance.” The audience clapped. He was, after all, a star. The rest of the Lebkuchen, unaccustomed to racing, were not much better. Some were little more than round blobs, which their bakers tried to roll to the finish line. Even starting half-way they failed to build up any momentum and on the first hill of the race they rolled backwards. “I told them forming matters the most,” said the Black Fairy Baker, who was beginning to feel more like Sisyphus than Eeyore. When she brought up her concerns with the factory Minister of Authority, he said that the new policy allowed for the Lebkuchen to race multiple times. “Perhaps you don’t understand the importance of the race… Let them have a do-over and race again,” he said. “Surely they’ll do better the second time. You should push them harder.”
The Advanced Purple Fairy Baker said, “My Lebkuchen Kinder practically form themselves.” She was very proud of her Lebkuchen and felt privileged to be their Baker.
Some of the other Fairy Bakers, however, whispered that she had the best ingredients and equipment in her room of the factory, while they had been stuck with stale flour, no cloves, and absolutely no magical get-up-and-go, the most essential ingredient for racing Lebkuchen. They were encountering difficulties in every part of the baking process. The heterogeneous ingredients refused to mix properly and become homogeneous. Some of the Lebkuchen lost their heads because they were totally too baked, and the half-baked Lebkuchen were starting to outnumber the ones that were ready to race.
Instead of the required Hi Ho! inclination, a number of Fairy Bakers grumbled that the lack of emphasis on forming contributed to a Hi NO! notion. The cookie-cutter approach wasn’t working. The shortage of magical get-up-and-go meant that the legs of more and more of the Lebkuchen were becoming inflexible, they were becoming thick-headed, and the thrice quarterly racing caused the ovens to overheat. The Lebkuchen Kinder started to shrink rather than grow, which in turn caused many a Fairy Baker to pull out their hair in despair.
“By hand, I used to produce fine and healthy Lebkuchen Kinder of good form, flavor, and quality,” said the Blue Fairy Baker. “Even when I was low on get-up-and-go, somehow they used to develop their own. Sure, some of them were a little slow, but a little bit of icing on the head, arms, and legs, and no one noticed. “ Each Fairy Baker in the room could hear the Blue Fairy grinding her teeth with dismay. “All this racing, racing, racing is turning my stars into dogs.”
And they all nodded in silent agreement.
Why aren’t we challenging Randi Weingarten for her unholy alliance with TFA in her new TeachWrong scheme with Lily? They’ve both jumped into bed with TFA E4E and Stand On Children. How do they have the gall to call themselves unionists?
Those of you who watch the Food Network may be aware that Ree Drummond, “The Pioneer Woman,” is now appearing in ads for Walmart. I plan on contacting her to register my disappointment in this endorsement in light of the Walton Foundation’s record against public education. I hope some of you will do the same!