Kenneth Bernstein, who blogs at The Daily Kos as Teacher Ken, calls attention to a perceptive statement by former Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden writes:
“The giant forward steps we have taken in recent years on civil liberties and civil rights and human rights are being met by a ferocious pushback from the oldest and darkest forces in America. Are we really surprised they rose up? Are we really surprised they lashed back? Did we really think they would be extinguished with a whimper rather than a fight?”
One man has brought the forces of darkness out of the shadows.
What can we do?
“We have to do what our president has not. We have to uphold America’s values. We have to do what he will not. We have to defend our Constitution. We have to remember our kids are watching. We have to show the world America is still a beacon of light.”
The way to begin is to vote in 2018. Flip the Senate. Flip the House. Flip the state legislature. Go to town halls. Speak to your elected officials. Give them a spine if they don’t have one. Support candidates who support the common good. Insist that they speak up for public schools. Insist that they support adequate and equitably funded public schools, for the sake of our children and our future.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dump is a MONSTER. RESIST!
Borrowed from Winston Churchill with some revisions.
We shall defend the U.S. Constitution, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight at the ballot box, we shall fight in the courts, We shall fight in social media, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
The U.S. Constitution I’m referring to in the previous paragraph is the one that the U.S. Founding Fathers wrote – not the one the Koch brothers and ALEC want to replace it with.
Thanks to the reference to what, imho, is one of the finest speeches ever given in English, in response to the evacuation at Dunkirk. A portion of Churchill’ speech is here.
The full speech is here.
https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches
He concluded:
“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”
Magnificent words, Lloyd. Thanks for recalling and adapting them.
It wouldn’t take much effort to adapt the entire speech to our times in the United States as we combat the forces of evil led by Fake President Donald Trump, the Koch brothers and ALEC, the DeVos family, the Walton family, Richard Mercer and his hellish spawn, and too many other autocratic, corrupt in so many ways, extremist billionaires and millionaires that think they are smarter than the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Didn’t the Kremlin’s Agent Orange recently claim that only one president was greater than him and that was Lincoln – no mention of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the other Founding Fathers?
It’s obvious that Trump thinks he is the Founding Father of a new United States, a U.S. that worships white supremacists and crushes everyone else that doesn’t.
Magnificent oratory indeed! And I love listening to Churchill, but you must admit he always sounds one scotch past tipsy. Don’t get upset, just having fun with one of my heroes.
I posted at OEN, the original speech: Joe Biden Addresses Charlottesville and Its Aftermath – The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/joe-biden-after-charlottesville/538128/
The problem is that the Democratic party is just as evil as the Republican party….they are just quiet about what they do to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars. The Democrats throw the common man a bone but keep the lion share for themselves and their supporters and the public has been pseudo happy with the dry bone. Sorry, but we need a 3rd party for the people.
Hear, hear. Frankly, we’ve been in a battle for the soul of our nation for quite some time. But for so long we’ve had well-spoken, polished representatives to carry out our evil, so we haven’t noticed that our souls have been sold. It’s taken Trump to make us wake up and realize how soulless we are.
I like Ken’s list including “Support candidates who support the common good. Insist that they speak up for public schools.”
But, let’s be clear that privately managed charter schools are not real public schools and must not be included as supporting the common good”. Privately managed charter schools are an attack on American values and the common good.
Agreeing with Lisa M. As much as we have to defeat Trump, that is not enough. Trump is nothing without the party that stands behind him. The party whose only regret about Trump is that his crassness endangers the policy goals that they share . That shared policy is far more dangerous than Trump himself. A Pence will be more effective and thus more dangerous .
But what good is it to put a Democratic party into power whose policy is a mere kinder gentler evisceration of the poor , of working class and middle class Americans. I should not have to do battle with my Democratic congressman on Universal healthcare. Should not have to do battle on regulatory reform. (deregulation of Public protections ) . Should not have to do battle on trickle down economics (tax give aways ), Should not have to do battle on education reform .Should not have to do battle on the privatization of public goods in addition to education, through Public Private Partnerships. .Should not have to do battle on the Pharmaceutical industry .
Yes there are lesser evils, me being tired of voting for them is not the problem . Dismal Democrats empower republicans than fascists .
Of course, Joe’s brother is invested in charters. Good words, though.
True and boldly clear statements. However, trusting any message from a representative of the ineffective and complicit party in this disaster is naive. His solutions are proven to be null and void evidenced by the 8 years of Obama supporting only Goldman Sachs’ solutions. That’s no exaggeration.
It’s Bernie or bust people; or you can just continue to suffer and waste 100% of your time on dead ideas. That includes destroying the all those children’s futures you claim to care so much about.
There’s no room left for compromise. Both parties are now illegitimate.
And that’s the good news; because at this point there’s nowhere to go but up.
Well said. I am tired of having to vote for the lesser of 2 evils. That’s not democracy but it’s all we have… and it’s wrong. My gosh, the government is one big convoluted mess and no common man is able to invest the time, energy or money figure it out, so the problems just build up and accumulate every election cycle. You can’t trust the politicians, you can’t figure out what is real news and what is an “alternative fact” or if facts are omitted. We need a big DO OVER!
Why do we necessarily want the United States to survive as a political institution? It is not working. We need to look around the world and see what kind of government is actually serving the best interests of people.
“We need to look around the world and see what kind of government is actually serving the best interests of people.”
If you looked around the world to find a government that’s actually serving the best interests of the most people, that road would lead to China.
In the last 30+ years, China reduced poverty drastically representing 90 percent of global poverty reduction and grew a middle class that is now larger than the population of the United States with plans to double the middle class by 2030.
Yes, China has pollution problems but when compared to the United States, the per capita CO2 pollution is about half of the U.S. In addition, China leads the world in alternative energy production with more solar power, more hydroelectric power, more wind power than any other country.
Instead of fighting wars and spending more than a half trillion dollars a year on its military, China has focused heavily on infrastructure that benefits its people. China has built hundreds of new airports while in the U.S. airport infrastructure rots.
China has built a high-speed rail network that has more miles of rail than the rest of the world combined and China plans to double those miles in the next few years. China started building this high-speed rail network back in 2008.
While building airports and high-speed rail, China also has been building and expanding subways in most if not all of its major cities.
The only thing missing is freedom of speech equal to the alleged freedom of speech in the United States and religious freedom is limited to about 7 major religions that are not allowed to become politically active. If you join one of those approved religions, you are allowed to worship your definition of God but not politically organize.
China does not support private sector education with public money. When a public school in China is not performing to expectations, that school isn’t shut down. Instead, a team of teachers and administrators from a nearby successful school is sent to support and teach the underperforming school how to fix the problem.
Thank you for your comment supporting the totalitarian government of China. You encapsulated what almost all the regular commenters on this far Left blog want: a coercive government that mercilessly crushes the views of everyone who dissents from the party line. Call yourselves the Antifa, a synonym for totalitarian communism.
John Webster, you need to educate yourself about China, it’s culture, and its history and stop comparing it to the alleged freedom of the Constitutional Republic known as the United States.
While the White West has its roots from ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, China has its roots in Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.
The Chinese Communist Party is not perfect but it has done more for the Chinese people than any government in China’s history.
Before the CCP, China suffered droughts and famines where people in one or more provinces lost their lives on an annual basis. Imperial records record these events going back more than 2,000 years on an annual basis. Since the CCP has ruled China. there has only been one famine where people lost their lives and lying propaganda (Trump style) in the west blamed that all on Mao. If you educated yourself without bias, you would discover that Mao accepted the blame and stepped down as China’s president letting another man become president. He also asked the world’s democracies for help to feed China’s people and stop the suffering. The U.S. said no and urged its allies to not help and let the Chinese people starve and die. France and Canada did not cooperate with the U.S. and shipped grain to China to help end the famine early saving millions of lives.
It has been documented that those U.S. leaders wanted the Chinese to suffer, die and the survivors would rebel to throw the CCP out and bring the Nationalists and another brutal dictator back. Chiang Kai-shek ruled Taiwan with an iron fist as its brutal lifelong leader and dictator until he died in 1976, the same year Mao died. But Taiwan would not become a democracy until the 1990s.
Before the CCP, the average lifespan was 35. Today it is almost 76 years and growing while the average in the U.S. is shrinking.
Before the CCP, 95-percent of Chinese lived in poverty as serfs and were little more than slaves for the wealthy landowners. According to the CIA World Factbook, China’s population below the poverty line today is 3.3-percent. The U.S. poverty rate is almost five times that.
China has its own Constitution and that document clearly says that public protests that might disrupt the harmony of the state are illegal and can result in prison terms, but it isn’t China that has the largest prison population in the world. That is the United States.
The U.S. locks up 737 people for every 100,000. China only locks up 118 people for every 100,000.
The U.S., the alleged land of the free, has almost 2.2 million people behind bars vs. about 1.56 million in China. China’s population is more than four times that of the U.S.
China does not bar university students from attending colleges in the United States. In fact, Chinese from the mainland make up the largest segment of foreign students in the U.S. Even the daughter of China’s current president attended and graduated from Harvard. She is his only child.
China does not bar its own people from being global tourists. More than 100-million Chinese travel to other countries all over the world annually and then they return home.
Yes, freedom of speech is limited and there is little or no freedom to protest what the government does, but the people still protest when they get angry. Do a little-unbiased digging and you would discover this.
Yes, freedom of religion is limited and religions are not allowed to become political.
Article thirty-six of the Chinese constitution says that Chinese citizens “enjoy freedom of religious belief.” It bans discrimination based on religion and it forbids state organs, public organizations, or individuals from compelling citizens to believe in—or not to believe in—any particular faith. In 2005, the State Council passed new Regulations on Religious Affairs, which allow state-registered religious organizations to possess property, publish literature, train and approve clergy, and collect donations. … The state only recognizes five religions—Buddhism, Catholicism, Daoism, Islam, and Protestantism.
But you will also find Jews and synagogues in China. When the United States and the UK were turning away Jews fleeing Hitler’s Germany, China accepted thousands and sheltered them even from the Nazis.
The CCP is the largest political party in the world with more than 80-million members who vote in national elections.
But there are democratic elections at the rural village (local) level where more than 600-million Chinese are allowed to vote. The CCP invited the Carter Foundation (you know, President Carter) to monitor these elections.
http://www.hrichina.org/en/content/4728
Dr. Sun Yat-sen is the recognized father of China’s republic by both Taiwan and Beijing and Sun was educated in Hawaii. When he returned to China to form its first republic he said it would be a democracy Chinese style and would not copy western democracies because a western style democracy would not work in Chinese culture.
China is a collective culture where harmony is more desirable than individual rights and those who threaten that harmony are considered enemies of the state. Read all of China’s Constitution to learn what that means. Do not cherry-pick elements of that Constitution as a critic, but learn from it as a whole.
http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Constitution/node_2825.htm
What a lame effort at exculpating a totalitarian dictatorship. Your ideological ancestors also swooned over the Stalinist Soviet Union, Maoist China, Castro’s Cuba, and most recently Venezuela as the new Utopias. All estimates of Mao’s cultural revolution put the death toll at a minimum of 400,000 Chinese; most estimates put the number killed at 1.5 million or more, with the Holocaust Museum estimating 5,000,000-10,000,000. Millions more were imprisoned tortured, and publicly humiliated in your Utopia.
You celebrate a murderous regime from a safe distance; you use your speech rights to advocate for denying those rights to others. If China is as vastly superior to the U.S. as you believe, why don’t you move there? Surely they would protect a dupe like you.
John, are you nuts? Lloyd was a Marine. He fought for our country. He wore its uniform. Did you?
Diane,
It’s sad to see how anger and bitterness cause a complete loss of reasoning abilities. Lloyd’s service as a Marine doesn’t make him an infallible expert on the desirability of the Chinese form of government. For very veteran who celebrates that very repressive system, there are 100+ who oppose such an anti-democratic government. John McCain served nobly in the Navy for many years, and he suffered terribly for 5+ years as a POW because he wouldn’t violate the code of honor to be granted early release. Barack Obama never served a day, and it’s inconceivable that he would ever have volunteered no matter how dire a threat there might have been to the United States. Using your reasoning, did you vote for McCain the veteran in 2008 over Obama?
American liberalism has a proud history of making the United States a better country: civil rights laws, Medicare, environmental protection, ending child labor, expanding educational opportunities for young people, and much more. I’m dismayed by how so many on the Left have veered away from pro-free speech, pro-democracy beliefs, and now support coercion against those with differing views and celebrate harshly repressive governments. Apparently you’ve joined that crowd.
John,
I did vote for McCain the patriot in 2008, despite his selection of a nut job for Vice President. I never again voted Republican.
Those of us who have read Lloyd’s comments for years know that he is wise, knowledgeable, and strong in his convictions. He is also a patriot, unlike the traitor in the White House who got five draft deferments and sucks up to Putin.
John Webster: When Lloyd wrote “If you looked around the world to find a government that’s actually serving the best interests of the most people, that road would lead to China.”
You replied: “Thank you for your comment supporting the totalitarian government of China.”
Mr. Webster in your response you don’t argue whether or not U.S. or China “actually serving the best interests of the most people”. You switch to attacking Lloyd for being left thinking and post a rant attack Lloyd’s charter and the left as evil.
I read your post as being intolerant of a view of China’s government as ahead of U.S. government in serving the best interest of the most people.
But, Mr. Webster your posted rant didn’t respond to Lloyd’s assertion that China is serving the best interests of the most people.
Why did you not feel the need to provide evidence in your posting that U.S. government form of governing best serves “interest of the most people”?
Lloyd implies you lack knowledge of China’s government. Is that true; and lacking knowledge you can only substitute a rant?
I was a World War II baby and grew up in the post-war Cold War era and found many of Lloyd’s points that China government had served the interest of most of the people points that I never considered before.
Being a leftist I believe in American idea of limited government power in a democracy and do not believe in dictatorship; and therefore do not support China’s type of government where it is illegal to question the government’s decisions.
The question was what best served the interest of most of the people? The question was not what form of government was best?
John, you are still living in the Mao era. Mao died in 1976 and so did his policies. When Mao died, his wife planned on leading China and continuing that madness. She was arrested, tried and convicted soon after Deng Xiaoping swept in to take over and drove out the Maoists.
Here is where you are wrong, wrong, wrong all the way: “Your ideological ancestors also swooned over the Stalinist Soviet Union, Maoist China, Castro’s Cuba, and most recently Venezuela as the new Utopias”
My ancestors were working class Americans. My mother and father were high school dropouts and were not political in any way. They were blue collar workers and they worked hard their entire lives and never supported any movements. My dad and mother never voted. My dad said it was a waste of time because they were all liars and crooks.
What an idiot you are to throw out such allegations without knowing one drop of blood about me and my ancestors. My maternal ancestors arrived in the United States as indentured servants with the Pilgrims. My mother’s abusive father was a member of the KKK in South Dakota, and she ran away from home and him when she was 14. My sister and I suspect our mother was sexually abused by that asshole.
My dad’s ancestors can be easily traced to England. I’m the third generation on his side of the family. A Lofthouse was a bodyguard for Alfred The Great, and there is still a Lord Lofthouse in the House of Lords. A Lofthouse was the Governor General of Ireland when the British Empire still ruled Ireland.
Mao set the Cultural Revolution in motion by motiving millions of teenagers to get rid of capitalism and then he let those teens do whatever they wanted once they took to the streets. That turned China upside down while Mao did nothing to stop it for the first few years. The PLA stayed inside their army camps and also did nothing to stop the teenage Red Guard.
Eventually, Mao did stop the madness by sending millions of Red Guard teens to labor camps where my former wife ended up as a teenager.
My friend and former wife grew up in Mao’s China. You can read her memoir about what that was like. That book is called “Red Azalea” and it was a New York Times Notable Book of the year back in the early 1990s and is still in print and is even studied in universities in the U.S. in Asian studies programs.
“Red Azalea” by Anchee Min is still blacklisted in China. My wife knew first hand what it was like to be in China during the Mao era and she also knows how much it has changed since Mao died.
Get over it. Mao has been dead and gone since 1976. What you know about China wouldn’t fit in a thimble.
Read more closely. I said your “ideological ancestors”, not your blood ancestors. You live in a country with far more freedoms and economic prosperity than China has, and you celebrate a very repressive dictatorship from a safe distance. I know more than enough about China to not consider it anyplace I’d want to live; plenty of people with far more knowledge about China than you have feel the way I do. This blog has descended into a haven for left-wing, anti-democratic crackpots, and you’re foremost among them.
And you still don’t know what you are talking about. I think you are an example of the ignorant Americanprogramed to be full of hate for anything that don’t understand.
I wouldn’t live in China either. I don’t speak or write the language. I’m not a member of the CCP and never will be, but I know enough about China’s culture and history to know that the government they have now isn’t as bad as the U.S. media makes it out to be.
China has more than 1.3 billion people and yes a few have been arrested for violating the Chinese Constitution that was revised after Mao died so China would never have another Mao.
Since Mao’s death, China has a new president every five to ten years. There are term limits for all political positions elected or appointed, and a mandatory retirement age for every citizen.
The United States elects its president through the 538 electors of the Electoral College, and anyone can become president even serial lying fraud and traitor like Fake President Donald Trump.
It doesn’t work that way in China where it is probably impossible for an imbecilic idiot like the Kremlin’s Agent Orange to become president.
And China has its problems with political corruption just like the United States. The current president of China has been cracking down on corruption.
I stand with the U.S. Founding Fathers when it comes to democracy. I agree with them. That’s why I support the U.S. Constitution and our Constitutional Republic with the balance of powers divided between the Courts, the Congress, and the Executive Branch out of the White House.
To the Founders, Democracy meant Mob Rule – and that’s what Fake President Trump wants – mob rule.
Is that what you want, a democracy and mob rule?
I am a little tired of all of the hyperbole, concerning our current President. I do not support this president, in all of his policies. He was certainly not my first choice.
I was unhappy with our previous president. He was not my first choice, either. Nevertheless, I supported the presidency, notwithstanding my disappointment, with the individual.
Absent an impeachable offense, we are stuck with this president, until the next election.
I suggest that we all learn how to deal with this man.
He has shown himself unable to get his principal policies through the congress (health care reform). This is with a congress of his own party.
There is no hyperbole that can adequately express the moral and ethical emptiness of Trump. He is an embarrassment to our nation. Even though he hasn’t passed any legislation, even though he regularly attacks the members of his party, his appointees do terrible damage by rolling back good regulations (e.g., protecting the air and water, protecting civil rights). We won’t stop calling him out for his ignorance and venality and greed. He now uses the Trump Hotel near the White House as an ATM for his family. Want to bribe the president? Rent the $22,000 a night suite.
There is one advantage to having a wealthy man in public office. They are generally immune from bribery. What is $22k to a man like Trump?
We have not seen his tax returns. Trump is making money with every political decision. He has conflicts of interest everywhere. He refuses to divest from his business. Having his sons run it does not eliminate his conflicts. He can draw money out of his business at any time. Foreign emissaries can rent rooms at the Trump Hotel next to the White House to bribe him. Top rate: $22,000 a night for a suite.
The GAO contract says explicitly that NO GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL may have any part of the profits from that hotel, which is leased from the government. But Trump is above the law.
He cares only about money and self enrichment.
He went bankrupt four times. He is probably not a billionaire. He may be in debt to Russian oligarchs.
Every time the GOP holds an event at his hotels, he charges rent. The Secret Service paid rent for space on Trump Tower.
Charles, you are very naive.
This man loves money and can never get enough.
You are somewhat naïve. If all Trump cared about was money, he would never have gotten involved in politics. It costs him money to be president. The salary is only $400k per year, and he is giving to charity.
I think we can agree that Trump does care about POWER.
Wrong, Charles. Wait until Mueller sees Trump’s tax returns. Why did he rent space to the Secret Service to protect him instead of giving the agents the space for free. This guy is corrupt on a scale we have never seen before. He rents space for parties at Mar-a-Lago, and I’m happy to say that most of the charities canceled after he said that there were fine people marching with the Klan.
If he is rich, why is he running a hotel two blocks from the White House?
I live in NYC. This man has a very bad reputation as a fraud, a con man, and a chiseler.
“There is one advantage to having a wealthy man in public office.”
Trump is not that type of wealthy man. He is not financially free.
Trump’s wealth is at risk every single day because most of his financial empire is leveraged with debt to banks in Germany, China, and Russia. U.S. banks stopped loaning him money years ago due to the hundreds of million they lost through Trump’s many bankruptcies.
To survive, Trump has laundered money through his real estate holdings in the United States for the Russian mob.
Trump is a horrible business man who has only survived because he is a fraud, a con-man, a bully, and a manipulating serial liar.
Trust and respect must be earned. Trust and respect are not automatic just because you are elected to a political title.
Trump is the same low-life scum he has always been and putting “President” in front of his name doesn’t change that.
A Tale of Two Schools
“I will be returning to the highest poverty school in Spokane in less than a week. Highest Homeless. Highest Refugee. Highest ESL …
Please. Please.
Grit is NOT the answer.
Please.
Let these children experience art, music, movement, projects, building, exploration, curiosity, fun… DAILY … Not push push push … Not test test test … Not sit sit sit … Not listen listen listen … “~Raschelle Holland~
I know this lady. I know her soul.
And now you know about the hole in her heart.
So this exquisite woman must walk out of that Twilight Zone school … and into a completely different dimension … one occupied by her very own son.
“I toured my son’s remodeled public school … It’s gorgeous … art every week in a beautiful art room … science every week in a beautiful science room … [few] qualify for free and reduced lunch. Test scores are high. It’s considered an “A” rated school by OSPI in Olympia.”
And she almost aches that her son is so advantaged … and those “other” children … back in the cheap seats where she teaches … are not.
But she’s not to blame. That belongs to some far away folks … who are allergic to her reality.
The federal government has now admitted what we all knew … that this dreadful reform was a multi-billion dollar ruse. Actually … seven billion dollars worth of ruse.
It was a reform that was never real. Never genuine.
Just a concoction of cellophaned premises. Orphaned promises. Gilded in educratic junk-speak. Championed by cultural-tinkerers in the Department of Education … who pissed away billions. And forgot about the kids in the cheap seats.
Seven billion dollars that should have fixed Raschelle Holland’s school … and spackled that hole in her heart.
But this reform was timid and spineless. Never facing up to racial or economic realities.
“The building I will walk into has 94% of children qualifying for FREE lunch … The students I work with … Will not have art consistently each week … Or science … Rather they go to a class on “Grit” and learning to push through and try harder … ”
Yeah. Buck up! You shirking 8 and 9 year olds.
Grit.
That’s a helluva reform. Unmask the genius who imagined that a good idea. Give his kid a cheap seat … and see if the child blossoms on a steady diet of grit.
The most struggling schools are almost always found in inner city circumstances … and they are overwhelmingly schools of color and disadvantage.
But reformers ignored that … ’cause that would require speaking some hard, racial truths … and the race card would surely show up somewhere. And you shouldn’t shake that tree. No, no, no. That would cause discomfort.
But what about the discomfort of those kids in the cheap seats? Weren’t they worth it?
Apparently not.
So, the reformers whimped. And took the easy way out.
“The scores in my school will remain low … And reform curriculums will keep coming … to ‘cure’ the academic achievement gap … And it won’t be cured. In fact, it continues to widen.”
And so will the hole in Raschelle Holland’s heart.
Here’s the sick irony.
These reforms were applied across the board. To every single school. In a grand display of meaningless equality.
A one-size-fits-all reform extravaganza. And it didn’t much matter if a school was successful or not. Everyone was gonna sip the same scholastic hemlock … even if it poisoned good schools and made bad schools worse.
It was government idiocy in search of perfect equality … and it screwed everyone. Equally.
But … it didn’t have to be this way. And this teacher shouldn’t have wind whistling through her heart. And those kids shouldn’t be glued to cheap seats.
This is a mess that cannot be unmessed. It’s time to begin again … and time to get it right.
Everyone knew certain schools were short-changed. Poisoned by greasy politicians and self-serving unionists. But … instead of a cure … we got a $7 billion travesty.
And Raschelle Holland?
She holds on to her heart.
Denis Ian
Denis, someone sent me a Facebook post under your name that gushed about Trump. Was that you or someone with the same name?
Biden can say all he wants and I’m not listening. He is another neoliberal, and he and his snake-ish brother are heavily connected to the charter school industry.
His brother Frank is part of a for-profit charter chain in Florida called Mavericks.
I have five brothers. I would hate to be held responsible for whatever they did. Same for my sisters.
I sincerely respect your POV, Diane. Thank you for your thoughts.
If Biden is pro-public school, he would make rampant statements against charters. He does not because he does not want to do any grandstanding against his brother.
Blood is thicker than politics, and money is thicker than blood.
Yes, Joe is relatively an upgrade from Trump and company, make no doubt about it. But that might not be saying much. He had no problems going in the direction of Obama’s grain on charter schools just like a good little vice-president should.
If you say nothing, it’s as bad as advocating for the enemy in my mind. MLK said something similar.
I put my faith in no politician until I hear the words from their mouth.
Even then…
Diane, I’m the same way.
Reblogged this on Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" and commented:
Teacher Ken: Biden Says We Are Living Through a “Battle for the Soul of This Nation”
by dianeravitch
Kenneth Bernstein, who blogs at The Daily Kos as Teacher Ken, calls attention to a perceptive statement by former Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden writes: