The Good Old Days
Don’t you miss the good old days?
The days of school deforming ways?
When Arne ruled with iron hand
With Common Core and test and VAM?
And Cuomo plotted night and day
The way to make the schools obey?
And Rhee was riding on her broom
And closing schools and spreading doom?
And charter schools in neighborhoods
Were popping up like shrooms in woods
And billionaires were here and there
And all about and everywhere?
Don’t you miss reformy times
Immortalized by someDAM rhymes?
Well, good old days of yesteryear
Have never left, are still right here
The good old days were never gone
The school deform lives on and on
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hitting the “nail” on its head! Priceless.
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Yep! And it is a hint that the People cannot depend on Parties anymore. With the demotion of Sanders and Ellison, it has become clear that the Democratic Party is only a more suave reflection of the Republican. So, how to correct the situation for the common citizen becomes the important question.
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Another good one.
Everything old is new again, except for a few bells and whistles.
For example, as a matter of federal concern, Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been moved from the Department of Education to ….to…the WHITE House. No joke intended.
I do not know who authorized that move or why, but it has not made much news. Presidents of those institutions were brought in for “conversations” hoping to get some secure budget allocations. They got trapped in a Trump photo-op and following that, removal from the oversight of DeVos in the Department of Education to some place in the White House. All of that has unknown outcomes for budgets. Meanwhile in K-12, the ESSA tests will continue as if the only and best guarantor of civil rights.
That sham continues. It is promoted by major foundations, now organized to shape educational policy as if they were experts.
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They are SO pushing ed tech it’s frightening. It just has all the markers of a disaster.
They’re “creating demand” because parents and kids ARE NOT actually clamoring for this stuff.
I feel like I can confidently predict that in ten years a lot of public schools will regret buying this snake oil. Why invest so heavily? Why not do small scale and see if there’s any real value?
It’s incredibly reckless.
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I do I could simply give you a ‘thumbs up’, or something. A disaster will happen because it has been shown that children learn so much better from other humans than machines, and the machines are controlled by corporate sociopaths.
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I feel sorry for the young people that are subjected to this chaos and free market blindness. Poor students are the ones that crave and benefit the most from stability. School should be a safe haven for them. Instead, the poor are on the front line of school closings and reckless experimentation. These young people will pay, and all of us will pay for the blunders inflicted on the guinea pig generation.
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SDP – So on point! If I may chime in…
Meet Betsy DeVos. Worse than the old boss.
And what you aptly say in verse, if anything has gotten worse.
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Like enthusiastically!
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Perfect! Thanks for this, Diane. SomeDam Poet’s poems are spot on. Glad the word DEFORM is used!
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I’d prefer that those old ways would go the way of the “old and in the way”:
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Love it.
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Please note that tomorrow, March 8 is a designated day for women to be acknowledged as major contributors to the economy and the social fabric of the nation. Those who are able to disconnect from work and other activities are encouraged to do so. Tere are other ways to participate.
Here is more about this effort, with splendid posters (free) and an interview about the project on Democracy Now.
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thank you dam poet – you struck again – and perfectly…
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