These past few weeks have been very difficult for many of us. For the first time in my long life, I fear that our country is going backward, not forward. We have had bumps along the way and regressions from our ideals and dreams. We have had too many wars. We have way too much poverty. We have too much indifference to the sufferings of others. But throughout my life, I have thought that we were moving in the right direction, incrementally but surely. Not now.
This election has been a source of great anxiety for me and many others. We were not prepared for a candidate like Trump, for a man who blithely lied throughout the campaign and who appealed to the basest instincts of the electorate and made promises that he had no intention of keeping. We were not prepared to believe that a man with so many business failures and ethical lapses could be elected president. We–I, especially–did not believe that the American people would fall for his promises, his lies, and his bombast. He was selling snake oil and he knew it. Didn’t everyone see it? They didn’t, and now we face the prospect of a government made up of retreads from previous Republican administrations and denizens of the far-right underground. Who knew that Trump’s promise of “change” meant that the editor of Breitbart news would have an office in the West Wing? Who knew that “change” meant an Attorney General who was turned down by a Republican-led Senate for a federal judgeship because of his racist remarks and actions? Who knew that “change” meant the appointment of a billionaire ideologue, a rightwing extremist committed to replacing public schools with vouchers and charters?
Instead of fresh faces and new ideas, we get an administration determined to roll back the New Deal and return to the 1920s or the 1890s.
Ah, but we still have much to be thankful for.
I am thankful, to begin with, for life. I have had many physical challenges in the past few years, some of them life-threatening, but I am still here.
I am thankful for my loving partner, Mary, who shares my life and helps me survive from day to day.
I am thankful for my children and grandchildren, who give me great joy. I am grateful that I can watch them grow in maturity and goodness and kindness.
I am thankful for my five living brothers and sister and sorely miss the brother and sister who died far too soon.
I am thankful to be an American, to live in a country where we have a Constitution and the First Amendment and the rule of law to protect our freedoms.
I am thankful to live in a society where we can organize and assemble to speak out for what we believe.
I am thankful for my friends, who have stood by me through thick and thin.
I am thankful for those who read my writings and those who publish them.
I am thankful for my friends at the Network for Public Education who are passionate about resisting the privatization of public schools.
I am thankful for the many people who want to make America the nation of liberty, justice, and equality for all that it is supposed to be.
We will organize, we will assemble, we will write, we will speak, we will make documentaries, we will write plays, we will write parodies and satires, we will paint and draw and sing and laugh. They can’t stop us. We will not acquiesce. We will resist. We will defend our ideals and our dreams.
We will fight to protect our public schools. We will not let the Trump administration privatize them. They belong to the public and we will not allow them to steal public funds for private profit or private purposes.
Today is a day to thank God for our blessings. (If you are an atheist, just be thankful.)
Count your blessings.
In the Mad Media Age it should be no surprise as to how this election turned out. Two very flawed candidates made for a true Hobson’s Choice. Le’s hope our system of checks and balances will prevail. Happy Thankgiving!
Are you kidding me? A “Hobson’s Choice?”
That’s really not even close….
I am thankful, among other things, for Diane Ravitch, and for others like her, who defend our public schools so eloquently and with a true passion so necessary to continue the fight. You give us strength and hope.
You nailed it on this day of gratitude mixed with recent disillusionment. I remain thankful for a country that gave my Czech and Jewish father a chance to survive during WWII and allowed my family, which became a mixture of Christian and Agnostic viewpoints, to live the American dream and now give back to those less fortunate than us. But as we know, we must be watchful because the liberties we enjoy belong to all, not just some, and as they did in 1930s Europe, the rights can disappear in a flash. Public education can always improve, just as any other endeavor should. But taking tax dollars and transferring to them to private-for-profit organizations is not appropriate for schools or prisons. May you and many others soon find some peace and hope for what lies ahead.
Thank you, Diane, for these bright words in a dimy lit moment. I am always grateful for the work that you do. And, who knows? A recount is underway ! 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Among my blessings today, I count the opportunity to have a voice on this blog and a few others. No one is more eloquent and unrelenting in defending public education than Diane Ravitch. Enjoy the gifts of this and every day.
I am thankful for your leadership, Diane. Because my parents have passed on, I am in need of maternal role models and mentors and I consider you one of the best. I read your blog daily and am so thankful for it.
Diane,
We are so thankful for you and for our movement. I keep telling myself that we must all be part of the Resistance. Others have faced greater challenges, but we are organized, and our cause is just. Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you and yours.
Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to all and especially to the host of this esteemed blog. We are indeed lucky that we have a person of Diane’s achievement, a nationally recognized author and educational scholar who actually advocates for public schools, their teachers and even their unions. What a rarity. If only Diane were a billionaire.
I am thankful to still be here (on the planet) and to be still biking along the D&R nature trail.
I must add that Diane advocates for the children of the public schools first and foremost.
While Counting Our Blessings, maybe we should also consider counting out a little spare change and sending it to The Green Party who are now fundraising for a RECOUNT.
This could get fun, don’t you think?
“On November 23, the Stein/Baraka Green Party Campaign launched an effort to ensure the integrity of our elections. With your help, we are raising money to demand recounts in these three states where the data suggests a significant need to verify machine-counted vote totals.
In true grassroots fashion, we’re turning to you, the people, and not big-money corporate donors to make this happen.”
https://jillstein.nationbuilder.com/recount
Being that it’s Thanksgiving, I won’t be hashing out the irony of Jill Stein’s efforts. Peace.
I am thankful for everything you do! The world is a better place for having you in it! Have a great Thanksgiving!
I appreciate so much the stream of thoughts that flows through this blog everyday led by Diane’s up-to-date collections of relevant news, and infused by her constant presence. My sincere thanks to you, Diane.
On Thanksgiving: It’s often said how contentious such family get-togethers can be. However, I have often thought that it’s not because we get together once or twice a year that they are so contentions, but because we don’t get together enough–to more regularly BE in a familial “stream of thoughts” born of a regularity of common care that is missing in many of our lives. That spontaneous sense of common caring cannot be by pretense; nor can it be recovered in one day of eating together and repeating cliches. However, we can be aware of its quiet presence–different for everyone, but waiting behind all of the busy-ness and emotional clutter of the day. I don’t think it’s gone–just trampled on by our also-common way of life. Let’s watch for it today–I will–in ourselves and in the people we are with. Maybe it will show itself.
I’m glad I found you, Diane, and I am indeed thankful to you and all here for your thoughts; and especially for your passion for education in this Country of ours that, indeed, I have in common with you all.
I am 75 years old, today. My brother is 70 today, (we are not twins).
I too, am grateful, but I have never in my life felt the despair and anxiety that I feel now –as this ignorant, corrupt, sociopath takes apart the last of our nations’ heritage.
I find myself crying, often.
I hear the rants of voices that lay hidden beneath the surface, nativist haters who feel empowered.
And I see things like this: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cnn-sees-backlash-jews-are-people-headline-chyron-949834?utm_source=Microsoft&utm_campaign=Syndication&utm_medium=CNN+Sees+Twitter+Backlash+Over+%22If+Jews+Are+People%22+Headline+Crawl and this
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/California-History-Teache-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Bias_History_History-Activism_History-And-The-Present-161114-408.html#comment629490
I read th fake news, and realize that the media will continue to pass on the lies, even as they point to th lies as the underlying cause of this charlatan’s victory.
https://thinkprogress.org/washington-post-fake-news-lomborg-climate-e13681c350f8#.afedfy86t
I see a man who hoodwinked and defrauded so many people, appoint to his cabinet, people who not only are the least qualified to do the job, but who will UNDO whatever small gains we made — taking down the unions and the laws which we fought so hard to erect as fence against the power of wealth, starving the government so it cannot fulfill its commitment to “PROVIDE FOR the common good!”
I know that the dynasties of wealth, have been waiting in the wings, working behind the scenes since the guided age, to re-emerge with all the privileges and all the POWER OF ACCESS that great wealth bestows.
It is ACCESS THAT MONEY BUYS. The real POWER of great wealth is THAT ACCESS.
If you know only THAT, then you will GRASP what is happening now, as Trump in his need to PASS ON TO his scions — his BARON– whatever fortune he accumulates.
Trump appoints a man to be head of the EPA who is a fossil fuel advocate.
He appoints a man to head HOUSING who will see that discrimination regulations are shredded.
He gives us a SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, far removed from the qualifications that YOU possessed in that position (as assistant secretary). She will deal the death blow to PUBLIC EDUCATION, if we allow it to happen.
Bernie tells us in his REVOLUTION emails, that it will be GRASSROOTS that prevails.
We must support grassroots candidates who will move into he school boards, and local & state legislatures.
WE CAN ONLY RESIST what is afoot, and we will, Diane– YOU WILL, and we need YOU, so do not despair!
… but that said… I cry often these days when I see him and remember FDR, and Truman and Ike. I cry, when I imagine this monster’s wife — an illegal immigrant who was not bothered by the fact that the she was f… (oops, having an affair ) a married man — is now sleeping in the house where Eleanor, Bess, Maimie, Jackie, Nancy, Barbara and that noble and fine MIchelle called home.
Happy Birthday dear pal and respected and loved colleague, SuziLee. You state what I too feel.
Hope all here have a peaceful fulfilling holiday, and thanks again Diane for giving us this surrogate home. Stay well.
Happy Birthday, Susan. You and I are just a few days apart in age. I was supposed to be born on Thanksgiving Day 1941 but did not show up until Dec. 1.
Happy Thanksgiving, and birthday, Linda…my fave LA Times letter writer.
Thanks, Ellen. At this time, I’m going from letter-writing to prayer because we need divine intervention.
I am thankful for “Diane Ravitch’s blog A site to discussion better education for all.”
😎
I am also thankful that I can post this correction—
“discussion” should read “discuss.”
😎
I appreciate your blog, Diane. It is good to hear of hope in these dark days. A recount? Electoral College? Trump ironically unified many people to form an impressive RESISTANCE! The new secretary of ed?! We will resist. Perhaps this will strengthen our unions.
I am thankful for you, Diane, because you stood up for our schools and teachers when everyone else, including the teachers’ unions, seemed to abandon them.
Great list! Enjoy.
Dear Diane,
I am thankful for you!
I am very hopeful after this election. The waters are no longer muddied by fake progressives privatizing public schools and working with Silicon Valley billionaires to institute putting kids in front of screens. Now we have a billionaire whose only credential for being Secretary of Education is that she is rich and the state where she comes from has an education system that is on life support. Her political spending deserves much of the criticism for that.
This all seems glum but I see a bright light of hope. In this last election, Georgia, Massachusetts and Washington handily defeated big privatizer money. I think it has taken us a long time to educate the public about the destruction of their public schools, but we are winning; the public is seeing our point.
In America, it is only possible to sell a bad product for a limited time before the public apprehends the scam. Even with all the money and political positions of power, their privatized systems will lose market share and go out of business. Having overt privatizers in power should make the job of educating the public much easier.
I think as soon as the Trumpians have a few big losses – and they will – their power crumbles and their privatization schemes will go the way of Trump University.
To a very American Diane Ravitch and her wonderful American readers:
I too choose to celebrate this holiday to reflect upon how thankful I am for this blog and its commentators, who educate me so severely, so accurately, and in such a short amount of time. Know how you are affecting the globe, as I will be taking this education back to me to Norway one day.
You are all doing an amazing job, and please keep up the excellent work!
There is tremendous realistic hope America as people are waking up more and more and behaving proactively. NPE and Wolf PAC are prime examples of this, but there are hundred more organizations who are revving up the civic participation like never before.
Be patient. Be strong, and be relentless. You have and will always have the truth and morality on your side!
I hear YOU Norwegian Filmmaker.
My daughter in-law is a filmmaker, and I am a playwright ( an English &bArt teacher and an artist/ photographer, who studied acting and directing in college) , so we see the world is the same way, ‘actors on this stage’, as Shakespeare noted.
I do not give my email, here, but I write about education and the media, at Oped News, and can be messaged there, at my author’s page. (Or goggle my name, and go to Oped, author’s page). My resume article series and links to all the articles from many sources that I post are at that page. I m a trusted writer at Oped for years now, because I link everything I say to evidence and proof…ie. OBSERVABLE REALITY. Opinions are one thing, but opinions based on facts are welcome at that site.
http://www.opednews.com/author/author40790.html
If you send me your email, there, we can correspond by email, as I do with several regulars here.
I am thankful for Diane’s site where I met, so many wonderful, smart folks.
Yours
Susan Lee Schwartz
And among the many things I am thankful for, I am thankful for you.
I am thankful and grateful that there are people out there like you who remind us everyday that there are people out there who have so little voice or choice and we need to make sure they matter and are given a voice.
I am very thankful for your clear dedication to bringing education news together; we all function more effectively when we are informed.
I’m thankful for President Teddy Roosevelt.
In 1900, when he joined and supported the progressive movement, children and women were chattel. Children as young as 7 could be sold into a form of slavery called indentured servitude to work in coal mines, factories, and even prostitution. There was no mandatory education. Women were not allowed to vote and many did or could not work to earn money in jobs outside of prostitution. They were the chattel of men, fathers, brothers, husbands, pimps, etc.
40 percent of Americans lived in crushing poverty
Only 7 percent graduated from high school
Only 3 percent graduated from college
The average life expectancy at birth in 1900 was age 47 for white men and 33 for black men. For white women it was 49 and black women 34.
These few facts are a snapshot of what the United States will be in 50 – 100 years if Trumpism survives and becomes the norm.
And I am so glad you have come into my life, Lloyd, as a fellow Californian and a fellow educator. You continue to educate me.
As an aside, I find it most interesting that almost all the comments so far are from people who use their real names. Appreciate it.
Every day lately I feel like I’m living a new chapter in a dystopian novel. But I am grateful for so many things, and finding this blog is one of them. I’m thankful for the good conversation and ideas. It’s quite an education. Thank you Diane and everyone. Have a happy thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving. I have many blessings to count today, and among them is you and this blog, filled with good information and camaraderie.
And all happiness to you Karen, and to your family, my fellow warrior. You do a great job in our community. Hope everyone is read
PS Connection and learning more about LA public schools.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Diane, Carol Burris & to all readers & commentators. I am thankful for this blog (& had hoped you would start one since the time I read your conversations w/Deborah in Ed. Week). Not many–if any–have your creds, Diane, & so your posts are always based on reliable knowledge & your many years of research.
If not for you, this exchange & invaluable information wouldn’t be out there for us to act upon, & act we must.
As I’d stated in two comments I made on one of yesterday’s DeVos posts, PLEASE remember the Standing Rock Water Protectors today. And, tomorrow, call those #s I linked (to POTUS & to the Army Corps of Engineers), & tell them to STOP the Dakota Access Pipeline construction. Also, go to Mike Klonsky’s Blog to see other ways you can help.
I think it’s going to be four years of hell under Trump but after that I think a lot of people are going to say “never again” to the Republicans.
Mjpledger,
I agree. After four years of Trump, the Republicans will look very bad for a long time.
Sadly, so will the country.
The result of this election was fully preventable….
I’m thankful for William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, William Blake, Lord Byron, John Keats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Browning, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rosetti, Lewis Carroll, William Butler Yeats, Ernest Dowson, Robert Frost, E.E. Cummings, and Dylan Thomas.
MUAH Leftie…you are such a great teacher…your students are so lucky to have you. Diane has done us such a service to build this academic community…and through it, we in LA have found each other.
Thankful. Happy Thanksgiving, Ellen.
LCT,
I will second that! Those writers free our minds from cant and trump the intellectual squalor of our current situation.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Dr. Ravitch and your loved ones.
Happy Thanksgiving to NPE staff and your loved ones
Happy Thanksgiving to all conscientious bloggers and your loved ones in this website.
May God bless all of us with peace, health, endurance, hope, and unison to win our rights to live with humanity and civility.
I am always thankful to have you and NPE, to be alive and to experience the truth in enlightenment in the most dangerous situation. May King.