Three years ago, Mercedes Schneider started her blog. Today it turned three. She reveals here how much money she has taken from unions and billionaires.
Her blog has been hugely successful, for a few reasons.
First of all, Mercedes is unusual because she is a classroom teacher in Louisiana with a Ph.D. in research methods and statistics. She left teaching in a university to teach high school kids because she enjoys it.
Second, Mercedes is a prodigious researcher, and she comes up with discoveries that others missed.
Third, she has her own voice. She is a character, a real southerner and Louisianan, and she has fashioned a style that combines her intellect, her colloquialisms, and her research.
Fourth, she is fearless. She will tackle her governor, her state superintendent, or the billionaire boys who are wreaking havoc with public education. She afflicts the comfortable, and comforts the afflicted.
Her books (she has written a new one every summer for the last three years) have been tremendous contributions to those wanting to understand the silent takeover of public education by corporate interests. The first was Chronicle of Echoes (a description of the corporate reform movement and its movers and shakers), the second was Common Core Dilemma (a history of the Common Core), and the third will be coming out soon, on the history and dangers of school choice.
Thank you, Mercedes. You are one of a kind.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yeah!!!! Congrats Mercedes. And thank you.
Without doubt….”one of a kind”…thanks Mercedes for it all…and Diane for pointing it out.
Mercedes is another Diane Ravitch in the quick making. I am SO grateful to have Mercedes around and have learned tons from her research and exposes.
Keep up the excellent journalism and fact-finding, and congratulations on the third anniversary of your sleuth-like blog!
Happy Blog Birthday to you, Mercedes, and to all of us lucky enough to be along for the ride! 🎉🎂
Happy birthday, Mercedes, from a fellow Louisianian! I thank you for your tireless work speaking out for our students and the teachers in our state.
A very old and very dead and very Greek guy had such people in mind when he said:
“Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country’s cause.” [Homer]
Thank you, deutsch29, for drawing your sword on behalf of a better education for all.
😎
thank you, mercedes, & happy birthday!
I know Mercedes is a volunteer and this may not be her focus, but I have a request. I wonder if Mercedes would write something about Louisiana’s new governor and public schools. I read about him after the election and the general (local newspaper) consensus seemed to be was he was elected on support for public schools. They all listed that as the 1st or 2nd issue for voters. That seemed like a positive sign to me.
Maybe it’s too soon to tell but I’d like to know if he’s following through now that he’s in.
One would think the people he hires would be a solid indication of the direction he’s going, much more so than any campaign promises, and he must be hiring.
Mercedes–Congrats! I don’t know how you maintain your blog, teach full time, find time to write, and stay so politically active. You’re amazing! Thank you for being such an outspoken child advocate for public education.
Happy blog B-day wishes to Mercedes. I bought, “Who’s Who in the Implosion of Public Education”. I refer to it and, refer others to it, often. An appropriate Schneider, Wikipedia, description would be, “A researcher for America”.
KEEP UP YOUR WONDERFUL WORK, PLEASE.
Felicitaciones, Mercedes.
Mercedes is a real detective. Nice work.
Thanks, Mercedes. I so appreciate that you took the time to answer my questions about the situation here in Arizona. Our nightmares are coming true with this ALEC bought and paid for governor. Keep up your wonderful work on behalf of our children.