The Network for Public Education commissioned a series of short video clips to explain the issues in education today. The filmmaker is professional filmmaker Michael Elliot, who is a parent of children in the New York City public schools.
NPE is fighting for the future and the very existence of public education. We oppose the relentless attacks on public schools, teachers, and the teaching profession by unaccountable billionaires, entrepreneurs, and public officials like Betsy DeVos. We oppose the status quo, in which privatization is offered as the remedy for inequitably funded public schools.
We believe in the importance of democratically controlled, adequately resourced public schools staffed by professional educators. Good public schools are essential to democracy. We want to improve them, strengthen then, make them better for every child.
This short clip, in which I am the speaker, is the first of a series of eight, each addressing different reasons to fight for our schools.
The audience consists of parents, educators, and other citizens. It was filmed in a warehouse in Brooklyn.
We want our message to reach the largest possible public. Please put it on Facebook, tweet it, share it with your friends and family.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you, Diane, for making this “public service” video which touches upon all the key points in the war against public education. If everyone does a social media blast, we should be able spread the word quickly. We can help counter the narrative the other side has been inundating the public with for the past decade. There is a change in the air. We are starting to win in the court of public opinion.
Excellent.
My network is small but I will circulate this.
Already done. Will be sharing each one.
Diane, thanks for your incredible efforts to fight for public education and for our very democracy. The video has been shared by me.
Diane: Talk about A HUGE STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION! Put it out all over the nation! Parents will finally understand that they are being scammed by the very idea of their having a “choice,” and by those who, as you say, want to make parent-citizens in to “consumers.” I’m still in jaw-dropped at Betsy Devos’ lack of experience in education. She’s really the poster-child for: “what democracy looks like when it becomes degenerate.”
BTW, I saw a sign at a local shopping center that read: “Space for School–First Month Free Rent.” I was horrified. So shopping center owners have a stake in this also.
In our rapidly re-gentrifying city there are more and more instances of “cheap” buildings being put up for choice school space and then, as the city is strategically gentrified, the rent on these spaces skyrockets.
ciedie aech I was shocked, but not surprised to see that sign renting school space in a shopping center ? if that’s possible? But it “rang” as so fly-by-night. That whole scenario reeks of a lack of soundness and even security.
When I was a child I NEVER QUESTIONED that the school would be there–and I mean “there,” always in the same place, always doing education for us children. I cannot even imagine taking my grandchildren to a shopping center for their education. And my school never had anything to do with selling things (Girl Scout Cookies were the exception).
The question that is also raised in Diane’s video is this: Do you (parents) want the curriculum to be guided by a CEO or by professional educators who are directly connected with their fields of study, and whose only financial stake is getting paid a living wage for their PROFESSIONAL services. Teachers don’t and cannot hold stock in a public school, save for the general taxes that we all pay. The whole idea is ridiculous, but becomes sinister as it slowly (and now not so slowly) encroaches on all-things-public and, in this case, with the end-run of eliminating public schools and the teaching profession altogether.
When they are finished, the parent “choice” will be limited to, not between public and private, but to which CEO/COMPANY will control my child’s education?
Thank you for speaking out, but it was very difficult to hear (even turning up my sound to 100%)
Thank you gj. I thought that I will need hearing aid soon. Dr. Ravitch’s gentle and very soft tone is clarity, but I cannot hear the full speech well enough at the first round.
Maybe, the microphone is not been placed in its proper position. Back2basic