I was invited to speak in Santa Fe about the state of education by the Lannan Foundation. Jesse Hagopian, the great teacher activist and test critic from Garfield High School in Seattle, was the interlocutor, who arranged the invitation, introduced me, and led a discussion afterwards.
Here is a summary of the talk.
New Mexico is a purple state with a Republican Governor. The governor brought in Hanna Skandera, an associate of Jeb Bush, to lead the state education department. Skandera introduced every element of the corporate reform program. None of it worked. New Mexico vies with Mississippi and Louisiana for the lowest NAEP scores in the nation. It also has the highest child poverty rate in the nation, at 36%, worse than child poverty in Mississippi. But nothing was done to reduce poverty over the past decade. Instead of doing anything about poverty, medical care, or hunger, Skandera and Governor Martinez pushed test-based teacher evaluation, charter schools, and school grades. The ultimate endorsement of the vaunted Florida model that Betsy DeVos applauds. The result? Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If/when there is a video of the talk available, please post.
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If/when I get a video, I will post it.
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Thank you for tell the truth and not pulling any punches. Communities need to understand the harmful impact of bad policies over time. I hope some members of your audience will work to make the necessary changes to move the state forward. Ignoring poverty never works, but at least there should be the willingness to address the problem. We cannot test our way out of poverty or punish poor schools. Privatization is a wasteful distraction that costs a lot for poor results. New Mexico would be wise to focus on concentrating their funding in public schools that are the best hope of meeting the needs of poor students.
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Love this
Ravitch surprised Hagopian by saying she hopes DeVos never goes away.
“She is like a walking advertisement for what is wrong with educational reform … a paradigm for destroying public education … and she doesn’t try to hide it,” she said.
It is good to hear that the audience was receptive to your pointed criticisms.
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A child poverty rate of 36% is stunning, shocking and disgusting in the richest economy on earth. There’s no excuse for this other than the greed and avarice of the plutocracy and the financial elites who can purchase compliant politicians by the truckloads.
“Today the Walton family of Walmart own more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of America.”
— Bernie Sanders on Sunday, July 22nd, 2012 in a message on Twitter
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Only 36%?
The child poverty rate should be 100% and our leaders in the White House and Congress (from both parties) intend to see that it gets there.
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I have been in contact with Fairfax public schools, Alexandria public schools, and Arlington public schools. So far, none of them will permit any visitation of a class in progress. All I am getting is a stonewall. Public schools are delighted to take my tax money, but they operate in secret. I will keep trying.
I have volunteered to present talks on engineering, global war on terror, Islam,etc.
None are interested. All refuse.
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No, public schools do not “operate in secret”. Just because a school doesn’t want the interruption of, perhaps, countless outsiders demanding to watch the goings on doesn’t mean they “operate in secret”.
I believe you said that you have worked in and/or for the military. Using your logic, I, as a taxpayer, should have free rein in wandering around a military base, nuclear missile site or sub, going from office to office, barracks to barracks inspecting things to see if they measure up to my expectations (guaranteed they wouldn’t). Sound good?
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Public Schools are public enterprises, operated and financed by the public. The public should be granted reasonable access to the operations. You can read a post about a woman who was trying to choose between public schools, and contacted both, asking for a visit. One school welcomed her with open arms. One school said it would be “disruptive”.
I am a veteran (Air Force). I have worked for the Dept of Defense as a civilian. I now work at the Pentagon as a civilian contractor.
When I was in uniform, we had all kinds of visitors to our unclassified areas. I worked in a radio station, and we had dependents and visitors in the station frequently. I worked unclassified computer operations in Columbus OH, and we had visitors often. I now work in an unclassified area of the pentagon doing systems engineering. We get tours through here all through the week.
US citizens, when properly registered and escorted, are given access to unclassified areas on military bases. When I was in high school, we visited Fort Campbell, and saw barracks and offices and the firing range. We visited Fort Knox, and saw the museums and other public areas. We are all stockholders in the military “corporation”, and the Defense department sees a very definite value in public relations.
Of course, classified and restricted areas are closed to uncleared personnel. You cannot compare a 4th grade algebra class to a nuclear-weapons control center. Get real.
If you (or anyone here) is ever interested in getting a tour of the Pentagon (unclassified areas only), please see
https://pentagontours.osd.mil/Tours/tour-selection.jsp
I will be glad to show you around.
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Charles,
It is true that a classroom is not the same as a secure military facility, but the classroom must be protected from dangerous intruders who look fine on the surface.
Many years ago, after I had graduated from the Houston public schools, a terrible incident occurred on the grounds of an elementary school. I learned about it because the principal had been principal of my school many years earlier. A father showed up with his son to register him. He didn’t have the right paperwork. He left, briefcase in hand, and went to the playground with his son. A teacher alerted the principal. As soon as the man saw her, he detonated an explosive device that was in his briefcase, killing him, his son, a teacher, and some other children. The principal lost a leg.
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But I want access to classified areas. Oh, wait, an average citizen can’t get access. My, oh my! Imagine that kind of thinking in the schools. Classrooms are classified areas off limits to all except those with clearance.
“The military is a public enterprise, operated (ultimately by a civilian, the president) and financed by the public. The public should be granted reasonable access to the operations.
Sorry, Chas don’t buy your arguments.
Please tell what is the only government entity that is required by law to complete a yearly audit and has never, never done so? Is it the public schools? Why aren’t you bitching about that fact?
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See
See dianne 77 at 1002am 17 April
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Not sure of the reason for you posting this Chas. Please explain. I’m a little slow today.
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Your point is well-taken. Any sicko could just walk in, and shoot up the place. Schools need to take adequate security precautions with visitors. To be fair, if you visit the Pentagon, you must go through security inspection, full-body scan, metal detector, all parcels are x-rayed,etc. Public schools do not have this technology.
Visitors must be carefully screened, escorted, etc. Pre-registration is a good security precaution as well.
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The Defense Dept initiated their first ever audit. see
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/08/569394885/pentagon-announces-first-ever-audit-of-the-department-of-defense
If you truly wish to have access to the classified/restricted areas of our defense establishment, get a clearance, and apply for a position. My firm is hiring now. see http://www.cortek.com
I posted the link to dianne’s post, because she agreed with me about granting access to public schools. She attempted to get a visit to a school with her daughter, and she was refused.
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“If you truly wish to have access. . . ”
Considering that I lived in South America-1973, ya know the original 9/11, when the CIA was intercepting all the mail and some of the mail both to and from me never got to the destinations and considering that I got the magazine Soviet Life in the mid-70s, I doubt that I could get any kind of clearance. Not to mention that all of my life I’ve been against the vast majority of what our government has done in its foreign policy-plenty of “damning writings”, I don’t think I could get past the first minute of a check-ha ha! And I’m proud of that fact!
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There was an article about the talk in the Santa Fe New Mexican today that included a lovely photo of you and Jesse chatting, but the pic doesn’t show up in the online edition. – they just included a stock photo of you (sorry Jesse…you got short shrift).
The writer, Robert Nott, has been covering education stories for a long time for the paper. He did a decent job of recapping the evening, except for the glaring omission that the role of poverty plays in educational outcomes. I seem to recall that was one of your major talking points, but Nott only refers briefly to poverty a couple of times in the article, stating it stunts learning and that’s about it.
But was glad to see Nott include your comment about holding government and leadership accountable…our pizza party Governor Martinez subscribes to the “I’m above the law” political mentality.
Would sure like to ask Nott and some of the folks at the Education Department to accompany me to the rez when I am working in schools there. Their understanding of poverty and neglect might increase just a tad. For those of you unfamiliar with places like Ojo Encino, Newcomb or Counselor, suggest you search in Google images to get an idea of how poverty plays out in these communities…most Americans are clueless how difficult life really is for Natives…
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/noted-author-assails-state-of-education-in-new-mexico/article_777ccf03-6aac-5dd2-8139-b8053263bad3.html
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I appreciate your calling out the Governor and your observation about local coverage.
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The billionaires run New Mexico. They are uninterested in education people or ensuring the their citizens have the skills to reach some kind of income equality. This video about the tax cut explains the mentality of the billioniares who push school reform instead of taking some of the money and putting it to work to help the people, not just for better schools, but for the ability to pay rent and still eat!
Here are some patriotic billionaires who have a word to say about the tax cut that ensures there is no money to fix schools, or do anything for the people!
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THANK YOU, Diane! Good speech.
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I really appreciated your comments relative to Governor and ex-Secretary of Education Skandera. I serve 8 years on the NM Public Education Commission (PEC) — 4 of which where as Skandera was in office. The PEC would deny charter school applications or vote to close a charter school and she would reverse the Commissioners decisions. Several times a couple years later the Commissioners had to re-vote to close a charter school that Skandera had previously reversed our decision. She is all for privatization of public schools. She is another DeVos without millions of dollars. The damage Skandera did to the education system in New Mexico will take years to correct. The damage she did to Students may never be corrected. Thank you for speaking out against Martinez and Skandera.
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