From 1991 to 1993, I worked for Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. I was Assistant Secretary in charge of the Office of Education Research and Improvement and also Counselor to the Secretary of Education. Lamar Alexander is now Senator from Tennessee and Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), which is evaluating the qualifications of Betsy DeVos to be U.S. Secretary of Education.*
An Open Letter to Senator Lamar Alexander
Dear Lamar,
I hope you don’t mind my taking the liberty of writing you a public letter.
I was just reading your book of sayings, the “Little Plaid Book.” For those who don’t know, this is your book of “311 rules, lessons, and reminders about running for office and making a difference whether it’s for president of the United States or president of your senior class.”
The main lesson of the book for me is that you should be honest with people. You shouldn’t bore them. You shouldn’t lecture them or try to impress them. You should get to know them, listen to them, respect their concerns, and try to understand their problems.
Rule 151 is very important at this time in our national life. It says, “When stumped for an answer, ask yourself, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ Then do it.”
Rule 168 says, “Read whatever Diane Ravitch writes about education.” It doesn’t say that anyone should agree with what I write, it just says you should read it.
So I am writing you this letter in hopes that you will read it and that I can persuade you to do the right thing.
When I worked for you in the early 1990s in the Department of Education, I absorbed important lessons about character and ethics in public life. You were a model of dignity, integrity, and respect for others. You never raised your voice. You smiled and laughed often. You were always well informed. You picked the best person for whatever job was open.
Now you are in the position of selecting a new Secretary of Education. I watched the hearings, and it was evident to all but the most extreme partisans that Ms. DeVos is uninformed, unqualified, unprepared, and unfit for the responsibility of running this important agency.
When asked direct questions about important federal issues, she was noncommittal or evasive or displayed her ignorance. She thinks compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Act–which protects children with disabilities– should be left up to the states; she does not know it is a federal law and is not optional. When asked about higher education, she was stumped. She was unfamiliar with the basic terminology of education issues.
Her lack of experience leaves her ill-equipped to address the needs of the vast majority of America’s schools. I understand that she doesn’t like public schools and much prefers religious schools and privately managed charter schools, including those that operate for-profit.
Frankly, it is unprecedented for a Secretary of Education to disapprove of public schools. At least eighty-five percent of American school children attend public schools. She has no ideas about how to improve public schools. Her only idea is that students should leave them and enroll in nonpublic schools.
She would be the first Secretary of Education in our history to be hostile to public education. I have written extensively about the history of public education and how important it is to our democracy. It seems strange to return to the early 19th century, when children attended religious schools, charity schools, charter schools, were home-schooled, or had no education at all. This is not “reform.” This is backsliding. This is wiping out nearly two centuries of hard-won progress towards public schools that enroll boys and girls, children of all races and cultures, children with disabilities, and children who are learning English. We have been struggling to attain equality of educational opportunity; we are still far from it. School choice promotes segregation and would take us further away from our national goal.
Since Michigan embraced the DeVos family’s ideas about choice, Michigan has steadily declined on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
In 2003, Michigan ranked 28th among the states in fourth-grade reading; the latest results, in 2015, showed that Michigan had dropped to 41st.
In 2003, Michigan ranked 27th in fourth- grade math; by 2015, it had declined to 42nd among the states.
Michigan has hundreds of charter schools. About 80% of them are run by for-profit operators. The Detroit Free Press conducted a one-year review of the charter sector and concluded it was a $1 billion a year industry that operated without accountability or transparency and that did not produce better results than public schools. Last year, when the legislature tried to develop accountability standards for the charter industry, Ms. DeVos successfully lobbied to block the legislation.
Detroit is awash in charters and few of them perform as well as the public schools. Detroit is the lowest rated urban district in the nation on the NAEP. The proliferation of choice and charters has not improved education in that city.
As I am sure you are aware, Tenneesee’s “Achievement School District” has been an abject failure. The state’s lowest performing schools were taken over and given to charter operators. The leaders of the ASD claimed that these low performing schools would go from the bottom 5% in the state to the top 20% in five years. That was five years ago. Not one of the promises was kept. The schools are still among the lowest performing in Tennessee. There are actually research-based approaches that would have helped the children and the schools, like reducing class size and providing medical services. Charters are not a research-based reform.
As for vouchers, there have been many state referenda over the past 20 years, and the voters have rejected them every time, by large margins. When Ms. DeVos and her husband Richard led a movement to change the Michigan state constitution to permit vouchers for religious schools in the year 2000, the referendum was defeated by 69-31%. Even in deep red Utah, the public rejected vouchers overwhelmingly in 2007. Florida was the last state to reject vouchers, in a 2012 vote deceptively named the Religious Freedom Act; voters rejected it by 58-42%.
Time and again, the American public has said that they don’t want public money to be spent to pay tuition for religious schools. That is the responsibility of the family, not the state.
There is ample evidence about vouchers, which have been imposed by legislatures, not by popular vote. Milwaukee, Cleveland, and the District of Columbia offer vouchers, and these districts are among the lowest performing in the nation on national tests. Milwaukee and Cleveland have had vouchers for more than 20 years, and neither district has seen any improvement in its public schools, nor do the voucher schools outperform the public schools. When the taxpayers’ precious dollars are divided among two or three sectors, none of them flourishes.
I feel sure that you do not want your legacy to be that you aided in destroying the historic institution of universal public education in the United States. Every dollar that goes to a charter school or to vouchers is taken away from the budget of the community’s public schools. In a regime of free-market choice, public schools, which educate the great majority of students, will have larger classes and fewer programs, services, and electives, all in the name of a failed concept called “choice.” I need not remind you that the origin of school choice was the sustained effort by racist governors and legislatures to preserve racial segregation in the South; the term was tainted by its origins for many years, but the effect remains the same: School choice will exacerbate racial, religious, and socioeconomic segregation without improving education.
The Every Student Succeeds Act, which you worked so hard to produce in a bipartisan spirit, goes a long way towards devolving control of education to states. I, of course, would have liked to see the elimination of the federal mandate for annual testing, which has proven to be ineffective for 15 years.
But the best way to enable ESSA to work is to appoint a Secretary of Education who comes to the job with knowledge, experience, a strong devotion to civil rights and equality of educational opportunity, and a commitment to let districts and states nurture better ideas than those mandated by Washington.
With kind regards and great respect,
Diane Ravitch
*I posted this column yesterday at the Huffington Post in a slightly abridged form (I edit and revise constantly). Much to my surprise, the comments were remarkably positive. People are truly aware that Ms. DeVos is ill-suited for this job.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks, Diane. Excellent letter and use of data to support your assertions.
Agree. Pitch perfect for the person to whom it was addressed and also for a general audience.
You are surprised this got favorable comments? You shouldn’t be.
I do wish, though, that you would exercise some control over your paragraph spacing. I suspect that you are separating paras in your drafts with empty lines which then have spaces added to them automatically by your posting software. Just eliminate any empty lines in your drafts and your words will flow better.
And they are lovely words.
She should be. You must not read a lot of comments on education stories The bashing of schools and teachers if often highly offensive.
I’m glad Diane got positive comments, though. Because she’s right.
Friends of mine who never really paid attention to education issues and didn’t know about Diane before I encouraged them to pay attention have been forwarding me the HuffPo piece since last night. That small sample size indicates to me that your voice is resonating. The best way to resist is act locally and educate your circle of friends, family and neighbors. They’ll start informing others to build effective grassroots pressure.
As always, Diane Ravitch is factual, polite, respectful and convincing. Let us hope her former colleague pays attention to this open letter to him.
She models for everyone that name calling (e.g. calling DT a moron) will get us nowhere. All it does is inflame an already dangerously out of control ego.
Hope the press, too, pays attention to her excellent model.
DT is unreachable. It’s prevented by his make-up (figurative, not literal).
Right, Melissa! (DT is not a moron, he is a a con man, a fraud, a narcissist, and a pathological liar. These are facts, not opinions.)
You are SO right!
I watched FOX news right after Trump’s press secretary responded to the Women’s March. They were laughing. The FOX pundits were laughing at the Trump administration. They made fun of him. FOX did!
I have tried and tried to understand why there are so many politicians who think our public schools are broken. OOPS forgot … follow the $$$$$. They have never taught; they have no clue about what teaching and learning is all about. All they can do is make things even more unequal, whcih I think is their goal. What galls me is in far too many situations, we teachers have been there right along side buying their BS and actually helping them to destroy public schools. I have found this true since Reagan the president with Alzheimer’s. It got worse with each and every president, until we NOW have Humpty Dumpty in charge. Are the citizens of this country so fractured and barinwashed that we don’t even know who the enemy is that we continue to vote for rotten candidates from this totally dysfunctional two party system and the HUBRIS of THOSE politcians?
Thank you for your efforts to defend public education. It is inconceivable that so many policymakers are tone deaf to the great public education heist, and they have forgotten how important public education is to our country. Thanks for reminding Senator Alexander. The world is watching to see if he does the right thing.
If Betsy DeVos is not confirmed will Trump turn back to Michelle Rhee? Are there no rational people politics.
Dear Diane –
Great letter, but as you know, rejecting DeVos would use up whatever political capital Alexander has with the White House, and, since he is above all else, a political animal, that’s asking a lot of a fellow Republican. So, while I greatly appreciate your well-reasoned and heart-felt letter, I am afraid it will not change his vote at all. In the long run, the ONLY way to get rid of this unqualified person is to elect a Democratic majority in the House next election. In the short-run, I fear for the Republic, not only because of Ms DeVos and the many other incompetent appointees, but because, most of all, of the current President.
Sadly,
John
John V. Knapp, Editor,
Style
Professor of English, Emeritus.
Northern Illinois University,
330 Reavis Hall
DeKalb, Ill. 60115 USA
jknapp@niu.edu
(608) 345-0509
Given the perverse situation we find ourselves in, perhaps it’s better to have someone who is transparently incompetent and dishonest as head of the DOE, in the hope that they might fail in their sinister plans and have conflicts with other like-minded crooks.
Wishing for “competence” in this administration is just likely to lead to an effective, rather than ineffective crook.
As for supporters of public education pinning our hopes on the Democrats, rather than local struggles we ourselves develop and pursue, how has that worked out for teachers and students over the past eight years?
Thank you so much for this, and I hope Senator Alexander is willing to hear what you said. As a mom, former teacher, and professor in a college of education, I couldn’t agree with you more. DeVos would be a disaster for public education and I sincerely hope she is not confirmed.
Thank you so much Diane for putting yourself on the line and fighting for our public schools with your eloquence and scholarship. Betsy DeVos is the worst of a not very good bunch of secretaries of Education: Bill Bennett (he hates public schools), Rod Paige, Arne Duncan and his replacement. It’s a steady devolution and DeVos is the worst of the worst. Sadly Bill Bennett has a radio show and can spread his poison and hatred of public schools on a regular basis.
Side notes: Bill Bennett has ballooned into an incredible size. He makes Chris Christie look svelte.
Betsy DeVos would be fifteenth in the United States Presidential Line of Succession. Yikes!
Joe: Maybe Bennett gave up gambling and took up food.
Bill Bennett was my pick for worst Education Secretary ever…until Arne Duncan came along.
Perhaps he spent whatever money remained from his (most purloined) book of “morals” (because he surely hasn’t any) on food, as you said, Catherine.
Thank you Diane for being a voice of reason in this debate. You’ve presented “true facts” and data and, in light of the current firestorm of news, that’s the perfect antidote to “alternative facts”. I do so hope that Lamar Alexander will listen carefully to all that you have said and move forward in a way that will benefit ALL children in our country and listen to the majority of people who support public education.
Diane: Ditto for all good above. I read the comments–apparently, the trolls were busy elsewhere. But well done you!
Unfortunately, the “political animal” comment above probably has some weight–I hope not, however; and that your plea for Lamar’s legacy will hit home for an “older” person who may find it easier to do the right, rather than the political, thing at this time of his life.
Catherine, you make such a good point–I would think he’s about done w/his political career. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, for his legacy, he stood up & did the right, moral, decent thing?]
A tremendous thank you, Diane, for that letter.
We would all hope that he would respect & value you/your opinion and long history of expertise and knowledge to push him to the side of right.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
Making rational arguments means nothing when dealing with non-rational people. The very fact that someone like DeVos, Tillerson, Price, Carson, et al. are being considered for jobs they are not qualified for means that we are not dealing with rational people. We can only hope to elect more rational people in the future.
Arne Duncan and John King approved of public schools?
On what planet?
On Rhee World, of course…
Whose inhabitants ruthlessly inflict Rheeality Distortion Fields on themselves. They then attempt to mete them out to others…although, to be honest, often with little or no effect…
Question asked. Question answered.
Next question?
😎
Rheeality has a known Deformer bias.
..And let’s leave Ruth out of this, shall we? She had nothing to do with it.
BTW, is Rhee world populated by Kingons by any chance?
Here’s a funny one:
When I wrote the above comment I used the word “Reformer” and the self correct on my tablet changed it to “Deformer”.
The same thing just happened on this comment. In fact, it changed it 3 times to deformer before it accepted “Reformer”.
Artificial intelligence has finally arrived!
SomeDam Poet:
Despite the well-publicized faults of at least Klingon warriors… since they esteem purpose and value honor, death would be preferable to the penalty of having to live on Rhee World. Why? Because they would be forced in the afterlife to Gre’Thor, where the dishonored live, and forever barred from going to Sto’Vo’Kor [think the Valhalla of the Vikings].
Now if you are referring to “Kingons” [not a typo] who count rheephormistas like John King among their number…
They will all go to the rheephorm equivalent of Gre’Thor. Not even the heroic actions of family and friends can save them from the rheephorm counterparts of Fek’lhr and his demons.
Glad I could clear that up…
😎
P.S. Klingon culture—
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_culture
That was actually not a typo and I thank you for your errudite response.
Your knowledge of all things Rheeformy is indeed impressive.
Given that it involves Kingons, it did cross my mind that the planet Uranus may play some role. Perhaps that is where the mothership is located — around Uranus.
Thank you SomeDAM Poet. Except for that line, the rest of the letter is on point. Let’s hope that Alexander has some ounce of integrity and listens to Diane along with the majority of the public.
Scrolling through your letter with one hand and eating my sandwich with the other. Gotta say great job. Hope it gets a lot of attention.
You wrote this to a man that you respect for past actions. It shows. I hope what you had to say resonates with him.
Yes, it’s a great letter from Diane, but I am not holding my breath waiting for Lamar to actually pay attention to this.
Just the fact that he threw his weight around to prevent any of the members of the committee to make any comments or ask any more questions beyond five minutes, does not bode well.
Anyone who watched the confirmation hearings, could see that Sen. Alexander was completely enamored with the nominee. Obviously, he is going to vote to recommend confirmation to the full senate, and a majority of the committee will follow his lead.
The Senate is going to confirm this nominee, probably with a chorus of “hosannas”!
Realpolitik.
Charles,
She made herself a national laughing stock
What does this say about your party?
I was not enamored of the nominee. I only said that Sen. Alexander was. I thought of what Charles Laughton said in “Spartacus”. If we dismissed every politician who made a fool of themselves, we would have no politicians.
The selection of Ms. DeVos reflects most specifically on the selector, not the selectee.
I am appalled that a more qualified individual could not have been sent up for SecEd.
To grizzly bears, she is no laughing matter.
Thank you so much. I just visited your blog for an upper and was so happy to see your open letter. Although I very often disagree with him, I have always respected Sen. Alexander, but this nomination really blew me away. I can adjust to different policies from the top in education, but there are a few “untouchables” at the federal level and, to me, IDEA is at the top of that list. Of the many missteps during her hearing this one revealed the deepest misunderstanding about the federal role in education policy. IDEA is a civil rights law — children who qualify for services and protections under this law should never be asked to relinquish these rights. I was surprise that several (not all:-) news outlets missed this flub, so again — thank you for your deep understanding and willingness to push back.
Thank you so much Dr. Ravitch. I realize you don’t do all you do for the kudos, but I hope you realize so many of us appreciate all you do, even though we don’t let you know often enough. Thanks for being the education champion we so sorely need, now more than ever!
Thank you Diane!
KC Walsh,
The praise for Diane should be shouted in D.C. and, in state capitols.
Let’s not forget that in 1900, 7-percent of 17-18 year old graduated from high school and only 3-percent went to college. This is obviously the world that Betsy DeVos and her minions want back.
The real golden age of American public education took place after 1900 and took off after 1954. That was also about the time that the war on public education was launched leading to NCLB in 2001, and it has been downhill and going backward in time since then.
IMHO, GOP strategists like Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, KellyAnne Conway, and Reinhold Richard “Reince” Priebus focus on pushing people’s emotional buttons to push their agenda with a twist of lies.
However, all conscientious veteran educators should stop and rethink the importance of the root of all causes and how to prevent bad outcomes.
IF and only if Betty Devos is a true believer in Christianity, then all true Christian people can judge her actions and those of her family and her family-in-law, past and present, in business with regard to the intentional imposition upon GOOD politicians and children, along with teachers in public education.
A GOOD conscience, in local veteran teachers and politicians, is a unifying force to guide the public on how to put pressure on Churches to stop the FAKE religious cause of Betty Devos. She is using this supposed cause to advance her own gain in power and her looting of the PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND for the benefit of her family’s generational wealth.
If LAW MAKERS and the common people can put pressure on regulators and on church officials, then teachers and local politicians will be able to successfully unite in protecting their PUBLIC SCHOOLS. More importantly, they will be empowered to eliminate business people who want to destroy local public education, along with local places of worship. Back2basic.
My mother frequently comments on this blog, so I thought I’d drop by. I’m part of the code school scene in Canada – helped launched one of the original ones, launched my own, and am now helping NortheasternU expand into Toronto via their Level bootcamp.
Activism of this sort will not counter the emerging plutocratic regime. You fight business people on the battleground of business. It’s time to become educational entrepreneurs – I’m speaking from the field as one who has soul in the game and believes strongly in tech education. When the current system did not respond to the needs in emerging web & mobile tech, my clique launched our own schools and we’re largely winning our own war.
I would advise all educators here to do the same. Find your investors, launch your own schools, and outcompete these philistines into the ground. Give them no inch, and make them fall over themselves as they retreat in losing market share.
The only language your opponents understand is their bottomline – make them feel the pain there. If you proceed with typical activism, your voice will fall on deaf ears and you will watch your hard work torn asunder. These are interesting times. Fight the right way or give up right now. A new reality needs new methods.
iangeraldking.com
Ian Gerald King: I know you are new here, and my is guess is that Diane will respond well to your note. However, let me express to you, without anger or other forms of ire, but with a sense of quiet exasperation, that many of us here have been arguing against everything in your note for a very long time–from your basic idea of adopting the basic idea of charter schools as somehow the new and better way of doing things, and as distinct from public schools, to your idea of adapting the language of capitalism for public institutions, namely, entrepreneurship, which I abhor–insofar as it suggests the erasure of the essential distinction between (a) public institutions, that are there for the public good (not to make a profit), and (b) a business and its selective mentality. That mentality is at the least a split between moneyed interests and the public good of student development; where money taking first place in a two-place race. Then there is the great potential, if not already-real, closure of curriculum around the specific ideology of owners and business “interests” –THAT, rather than openness to the entire world of questioning–and THAT as embattled as it is at present.
I won’t repeat those arguments further–they are more complex than that–but if you are really interested in them, please peruse the posts in related sections in the archives with appropriate headings. However, let me say here that there is NOTHING in your note that persuades me, in the least, to the kind of thinking portrayed there. It’s been all put aside in good argument many times here before. The most telling thing, however, is the absence of a regard for the foundations that connect public education with democracy (small d), and regardless of whether some schools, charter or public, are better than others.
In my brief experience in K-12 and education departments, I do think “we” were late in the uptake in technology–for years, teachers have had to learn from their students, and work with poor resources, in good part, because of under-funding–which seems to be a part of the plan of attack by those who want to end public education and install charters and vouchers everywhere. On the other hand, charges of public schools as “monopolies” and naming them “government schools” speak of that same not-so-veiled attack on our long-term experience of a vibrancy public educational system as well as an effort to eliminate what “entrepreneurs” cannot understand from their one-view silo-of-capitalism mentality–the value of public institutions and their significant distinction from business enterprises.
I hope you will take my comments in the collaborative but critical vein that I intend them.
[0] | Your comment is well received. I, too, am an ardent supporter of public education. My K-12 education in Ontario was public, and I went to McGill, a public institution, where I paid less for my four years than most Americans will pay for one year.
[1] | My experiences as an educational facilitator operate upon the necessity of someone: (A) having had at least a high school education and, (B) having experienced dissatisfaction with post-secondary offerings related to training for careers in the digital economy. My very industry necessitates the work that educators do in the K-12 sector and I will gladly cede the role once the public sector catches up to where it needs to be in tech education.
[2] | My comments are situated in the reality of the current climate that is encroaching upon education in the States, which I fear is already having repercussions with woeful candidates like O’Leary appearing in Canada. Take a moment to acknowledge a situation in which DeVos is enacting her schemes. What will you do then?
[3] | If we accept [2] as currently manifesting, then alternative routes of attack need to be considered as well. They may not be long-term plans, but you need to work within the destruction and dismantling that will occur in the next 4 years.
[4] | If we accept [3] namely, that alternative plans need to be considered, even if you don’t accept launching schools of your own to counter the thrust of the DeVos League, you must try something else. David beat Goliath because he changed the rules of the game from hand-to-hand combat projectile warfare.
Given all that has been stated, my biggest ask is: how do you plan to counter the storm that is gathering at your doorsteps? How will you pull a David to shift the battlefield in your favour? You need to match your tactics to the new war – i.e. the reality of the situation – you are about to fight. Moreover, if you collectively fail on your home turf, there will be repercussions globally and I’m all too aware of what could happen in Canada as well given what I’m already seeing.
Ian Gerald King: A few quotes below from your note followed by brief comments:
You say: “My very industry necessitates the work that educators do in the K-12 sector and I will gladly cede the role once the public sector catches up to where it needs to be in tech education.”
Nothing wrong with that–from a view inside of a charter or private school. The problems that Diane and others here are addressing, however, are about providing the ground to keep improving public education where it needs it and in NOT trying to privatize everything public while draining funds from it so that neo-reformers can add to their “it stinks” propaganda, “Look, see how bad it is? Let’s get rid of it.”
You say: “[3] | If we accept [2] as currently manifesting, then alternative routes of attack need to be considered as well. They may not be long-term plans, but you need to work within the destruction and dismantling that will occur in the next 4 years.”
Me-thinks that’s a little like selling the farm? Not good if you want a place to live and to come back to. It puts public institutions in competition with private and charter schools, and public education is what it is precisely because it’s not about competing on a capitalist, zero-sum-game playing field. If you play on their field, the game is already over. And as you suggest in your note in (1), your post-k-12 situation depends on what K-12 public school does.
You say: “[4] | If we accept [3] namely, that alternative plans need to be considered, even if you don’t accept launching schools of your own to counter the thrust of the DeVos League, you must try something else. David beat Goliath because he changed the rules of the game from hand-to-hand combat projectile warfare.”
Well, . . two things (at least): First, the failure of DeVos-style programming is becoming manifest–as Diane manifests good reports and statistics here regularly and reports to the press often–she has a good voice in that respect–cred. The manifestation of DeVos et al failure, however, follows the basic rule of reality: Hubris, hypocrisy and corruption on this scale commonly self-destructs, though often not soon enough to avoid immediate damage and long-term blow-back.
And second, I hear what you are saying–you have the right question: How to proceed? We DO need to work on our communications skills, again, on a large scale; and we need to NOT take for granted that everyone understands the import of public education in a democracy–too many don’t.
On the other hand, we are educators. We are not trying to fool anyone in our efforts to keep, support, and improve public education (as the reformers are); we are not trying to make a buck on the backs of children (as many reformers are); we are NOT trying to indoctrinate children to a religious or corporate ideology or, more subtly, to avoid questioning the powers that be; (as many reformers are) and we certainly are NOT trying to discredit or destroy public education or other public institutions that, BTW, happen to lay the groundwork for a qualified, even capitalist-democratic culture–*towards a more perfect union” (as the reformers are). We are not even trying to discredit or destroy good private institutions of education–ones who know their place, that is, and who accept public oversight and regulation in a secular and democratic culture. From what I understand, reformers are trying to piggy-back good private education into their paid-for-by-taxes programs–I happen to think Catholic and Montessori education are fall within this category, as examples.
I appreciate the dialogue.
To Catherine Blanche King:
Please accept my apology for my son’s arguments. He is young and inexperienced in what business world leadership in USA and in UK can impose their idea upon the world.
I just get hold of him to have a chat with him. Please note that Dr. Ravitch and you will not hear from him. This is his first and last time to voice his ideological idea in this education forum. May
m4potw: I appreciate your note–but please don’t think he has offended anyone or that his note is not appreciated–not at all. And I was worried that it was I who offended him. How are any of us going to work through ideas if we don’t have such exchanges?
I am going to respond to his last note in the morning–please tell him that I’d like to hear from him if he still wants to discuss any of these issues. It was refreshing for me to hear a new voice from a different place. At times like this I think of that line in the movie “Young Frankenstein” when the monster was dining with Gene Hackman who was playing the blind man and who frustrated the monster so much that he went out the door screaming. And Gene Hackman follows him saying: “Wait! Don’t go! We were gong to have Expresso!” So thank you for your note, but don’t worry. We were going to have Expresso!
I sent Sen. Alexander an email telling him that I oppose the selection DeVos. I live and vote in Tennessee. It is clear that he is acting in his own political interests and not the taxpayers. Here is the email that his office sent me:
Thanks very much for getting in touch with me and letting me know what’s on your mind regarding President-elect Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos to become the next Secretary of Education.
Betsy DeVos is an excellent choice. The Senate’s education committee will move swiftly in January to consider her nomination. Betsy has worked for years to improve educational opportunities for all children. As Secretary, she will be able to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act, the new law fixing No Child Left Behind, just as Congress wrote it, reversing the trend to a national school board and restoring to states, governors, school boards, teachers, and parents greater responsibility for improving education in their local communities. Under the new law, the federal government may not mandate or incentivize states to adopt any particular standards, including Common Core.
I also look forward to working with her on the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, giving us an opportunity to clear out the jungle of red tape that makes it more difficult for students to obtain financial aid and for administrators to manage America’s 6,000 colleges and universities.
Improving our schools has been one of my top priorities in public service, both as a U.S. Senator and during my earlier service as governor, president of the University of Tennessee, and U.S. Secretary of Education. Better schools mean better jobs, which is why I have worked to support states and school districts in improving education so that our students have the tools they need for success.
We are unleashing a new era of innovation and excellence in student achievement—one that recognizes that the path to higher standards, better teaching and real accountability is classroom by classroom, community by community, and state by state—and not through Washington, D.C. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know where you stand. I’ll be sure to keep your comments in mind as this issue is discussed and debated in Washington and in Tennessee.
Sincerely,
Lamar
Shows that no one read your letter. How can DeVos contribute to reauthorization of the Higher Education Act when she knows nothing about higher education. Her advice: have rich parents and don’t worry about the cost.
Yes. ^^This^^
DeVos knows nothing about higher education, and she knows nothing about K-12 education. And she particularly knows nothing about special education or anything having to do with children living in poverty and the struggles they go through.
Total and complete bullsh!t from Lamar. But to be expected.
Last paragraph: “…innovation…excellence…higher standards…accountability…” The staffer who wrote this has never heard of Diane Ravitch, much less read anything she has ever written. And you can “be sure” that this senator will never “keep your comments in mind as this issue is discussed and debated in Washington and in Tennessee.” I hope you will write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper every three to six months (depending on the policy of the newspaper on publishing letters from the same author) pointing out how Alexander’s staff could care less about is happening in Tennessee classrooms.
Sooxie,
Does Sen. Lamar DeVos truly believe that DeVos is an “excellent choice”? I was really hopeful with Dr. Diane’s open letter, hopeful that we can keep pushing for her to be heard . . . until I read this response you received from the Senator’s Office. Well since her ethics report is still being reviewed, we may still get an 11th hour miracle.
For one, let’s get DIane’s letter to go viral.
You didn’t get the revised edition of the Little Plaid Book. The one with Rule #312:
Disregard all previous rules.
It is wonderful to have Fred Smith to remind us to disregard Senator Lamar’s words from Senator Lamar’s ADVICE. How ironic it is!
I guess that all educators need to roll their sleeves and work well with local conscientious politicians, their local parishes, and their own GROUND-ROOTS supporters for Public schools.
We must successfully fight with our might in the LOCAL level to gain our ground for our just and necessity to public needs for all children to deserve A QUALITY of PUBLIC EDUCATION with a concept of A WHOLE CHILD EDUCATION. Back2basic
May–
Excellent advice. Yes, we are going to have to double down locally. I believe Diane (& many commenters) have been advocating that for years. It’s a cornerstone of Our Revolution (what Bernie advocates, & where he started). I have always believed in the adage, “Think globally, act locally.” Bad school board? Run! Consistently unopposed & poorly performing state legislators? Primary them!!
Democracy is NOT a spectator sport…as we so participated in last Saturday. Haven’t said this in a long time, but–yes, WE can.
And WE WILL.
Hi retiredbutmissthekids:
Thank you for your agreement which all ground-roots supporters will do and can do with success.
In Canada, Coca-Cola was permanently gone out of business in Newfoundland province for many years. Newfoundlander people have boycotted Coca-Cola products because this company tried to bully workers. All towns unions agreed to boycott it throughout the province.
THIS IS THE TRUE POWER OF THE MASS = the dignity in consumers
In the same vein, it will take a county, then a state, and then a nation to eliminate the corporate who bullies the mass.
All retirees need to spearhead a cause for our next generation to sustain their human rights. We, retiree do not need job. We need DECENT REGULATION for our children and grandchildren to have a whole child education concept throughout K-12, a knowledge-content based in higher education, and a skilled based in hand-on practice Trade College.
There must not enforce or impose NONSENSICAL TESTING SCHEME upon our school children. These testing schemes must be school-age appropriate, transparent to educators, and feed-back from educators to parents properly within a time frame. Love. May
Please find a way to publish this letter in the NYTIMES and Washington post. And, in the hometown papers of ALL members of the Senate HELP committee.
URGENTLY
Despite Diane Ravitch impassioned letter, Senator Alexander will run with the corporate crowd, where love of money and power are more important than children’s lives.
Ed,
That may be true but I never stop hoping. Life without hope is death.
The children in this country thank you!