Marla Kilfoyle, executive director of the BadAss Teachers Association, wrote the following explanation of how to show genuine appreciation for teachers:
“Want to Appreciate Teachers This Week? Stand Up to Those Seeking to Destroy our Profession and Public Education!
By: Marla Kilfoyle, Executive Director BATs
“Chris Hedges in 2012 noted that the U.S. Federal Government spends about $600 billion a year on education. He further stated, “corporations want it. That’s what’s happening. And that comes through charter schools. It comes through standardized testing. And it comes through breaking teachers’ unions and essentially hiring temp workers, people who have very little skills.”
“Rupert Murdoch, a media mogul, stated in a 2010 press release, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the U.S. alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed by big breakthroughs that extend the reach of great teaching.”
“What stands in the way of capitalists getting their hands on the education billions? Teachers!
“Writing this during Teacher Appreciation Week is hard for me. I am a teacher, I have taught for 29 years, and I have watched the slow destruction of a profession that I cherish. I have witnessed, over the last decade, an escalated attack on a profession that was a calling for me, and I know a strong calling for many teachers. Make no mistake; teachers are called to this vocation! I write this, sadly, as my brothers and sisters in Detroit were forced to take to the streets this week because the state decided to stop paying them. It is time to respect and honor teachers, not just appreciate them, but respect and honor the profession.
“In the last few years, teachers have been accused of being the resistance to “change” by many who seek to destroy public education and our profession. The problem is that teachers know the change is not productive change. Let’s take a look at how teachers have resisted change; teachers take to the streets in Detroit to protest the deplorable conditions that children in their schools must endure. Teachers take to the streets in Chicago to protest the fact that many in this country don’t make a living wage. Teachers in Seattle stood strong for small class size and funding. Teachers testify in the halls of state government and the federal government against policies that they know destroy good teaching and learning. All one would need to do is examine teacher labor contracts to know that teachers are the force behind positive change for children in their schools…..
“Resist change? Yes, we resist change that we know is not rooted in research or sound practice, and that is destructive to a child’s self esteem and well being.
“We embrace, and fight for change, that allows our profession to create great schools that will best service our children and their families.
- “Appreciate THAT on Teacher Appreciation Week….
“Teachers are the first responders to the trauma of poverty….
“Want to appreciate teachers?
“Stand up and fight against those seeking to destroy our profession and public education! That is how you can show teachers you appreciate them.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wonderful to see this and the support for teachers in Detroit and Chicago.
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Well, thank you Maria Kilfoyle….
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You make me sad that I gave up and retired last June, with the big old boot mark right on my back. Please keep up the good fight! I am out here fighting with and for you, now that I can no longer be accused of not wanting to change.
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“. . . and I have watched the slow destruction of a profession that I cherish.”
And why might that be. What have the GAGA teachers done?
Not a damn thing (or at least the vast majority, 99%, of them). Nothing, zilch, zippo, nada! They have chosen personal expediency over justice and doing right by the students. Good Germans they’ve been!
Oh, I know “they had to do it”, “they would lose their jobs” or “I’ll be able to pretend to do the deforms” etc. . . . GAGAers through and through. Chew on this GAGAers:
“Should we therefore forgo our self-interest? Of course not. But it [self-interest] must be subordinate to justice, not the other way around. . . . To take advantage of a child’s naivete. . . in order to extract from them something [test scores, personal information] that is contrary to their interests, or intentions, without their knowledge [or consent of parents] or through coercion [state mandated testing], is always and everywhere unjust even if in some places and under certain circumstances it is not illegal. . . . Justice is superior to and more valuable than well-being or efficiency; it cannot be sacrificed to them, not even for the happiness of the greatest number [quoting Rawls]. To what could justice legitimately be sacrificed, since without justice there would be no legitimacy or illegitimacy? And in the name of what, since without justice even humanity, happiness and love could have no absolute value?. . . Without justice, values would be nothing more than (self) interests or motives; they would cease to be values or would become values without worth.”—Andre Comte-Sponville [my additions]
GAGAer “values” are values without worth, lacking justice.
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