Tom Ultican to the California Charter School Association: “Destroying Public Education in America Is Wrong”

June 21, 2018 //

Tom Ultican, retired teacher of physics and mathematics writes an open letter to the monied, powerful California Charter School Association, whose lust for more power and unchecked, unaccountable control is insatiable.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools

14 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

June 21, 2018 at 2:20 pm

Califor-NICATE is so wrong!

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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

June 21, 2018 at 5:07 pm

But the fascist, racist, separatist, billionaire autocrats that mostly belong to ALEC have to destroy the public education system before they can take over and turn the US into a corporate surveillance state that worships money in the name of their god.

If Emperor Trump of Emperor Pence is going to control the masses, that means controlling education so the programming starts as close to birth as possible.

Hitler did it.
Mao did it.
I suspect Stalin did it.

Who else?

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  June 21, 2018 at 9:21 pm
  
  Lloyd,
  
  You are right.
  We are on the cusp of losing America.
  We are led by a malignant narcissist.
  He has destroyed the Western alliance, embraced dictators, and made war of efforts to control environmental damage.
  
  Reply
- BackAgain says:
  
  June 22, 2018 at 4:27 pm
  
  Lloyd, you are a funny guy.
  
  The U.S. had been worshiping the money since Columbus stole gold from the Indians and then subjugated them to dig more gold. He was killing and maiming them left and right just in the name of gold. This is what this country is built upon, it has always been like this since the European invasion.
  
  Controlling and programming the masses? Same thing. The propaganda machine in the U.S. is less direct that it was in the Soviet Union, but as effective. Actually, it is more effective, because it gives you an illusion of choice: Ford or GM. Pepsi or Coke, Letterman or Leno, Clinton or Trump.
  
  The present government is simply more open and cynical about its motives, that’s all.
  
  Reply
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    June 22, 2018 at 4:41 pm
    
    Back Again,
    
    “The present government is simply more open and cynical about its motives, that’s all.”
    
    Really. Trump never admits he is wrong. Trump always finds someone else to blame and that includes firing anyone that works for him.
    
    Endless lies and conspiracy theories are not being “more open”. One has to be honest to be open.
    
    That’s all — the Trump administration and GOP is only “more open” and “cynical”?
    
    Trump is a crawling, bloodsucking swamp virus and his administration is the most dishonest administration this country has ever had.
    
    The only thing cynical about Trump, his administration, and the ALEC Deep State owned GOP is that they believe all people are motivated by self-interest and lack integrity and they use this to justify their own abhorrent behavior and greed as acceptable.
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    June 23, 2018 at 8:49 am
    
    Lloyd,
    
    To get the full extent of Trump’s Perfidy, read this:
    
    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-06-16/new-york-s-trump-lawsuit-may-be-a-map-for-mueller?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=180622&utm_campaign=sharetheview
Chiara says:

June 21, 2018 at 5:21 pm

The US Department of Education allowed representatives from a public school into the building today.

Only for a discussion on why public school students are violent and dangerous- a constant theme with Betsy DeVos- how terrible public school students are- but still.

I’m amazed an actual, existing public school was good enough to get an invite into the hallowed halls of their own government. The public schools who serve 90% of US students are usually excluded from “debates” about public education in DC.

Now if they could just come up with some positive benefit or actual help or support for the unfashionable public school sector we’d really be getting somewhere.

Our schools are more than school shooters and drug addicts. DeVos is wrong. A lot of solid, worthwhile work goes on in public schools. They’re not the dangerous hell holes ed reformers portray them as.

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Chiara says:

June 21, 2018 at 5:33 pm

I’m reading about the DC safety forum for public schools. It’s a shame our lawmakers only look at public schools in terms of violence and opiate addiction.

Our kids are a lot more than that.

Apparently the best we can do for public schools is prevent some portion of school shootings. That’s the best we can hope for from our public servants- lectures on how public schools must prevent school shootings.

Talk about low expectations. It’s rock bottom. Nothing positive, no actual value-add, just a half-hearted effort to literally keep public school students alive at school. Breathing. That’s all we get and we’re told we can’t expect more, but we SHOULD expect more. Our schools and students have value. They deserve better advocates.

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- Lloyd Lofthouse says:
  
  June 21, 2018 at 6:30 pm
  
  It isn’t “our lawmakers”. It’s Trump and the ALEC fascist elements in the GOP that have hijacked our government with help from Russia and the Alt-Right conspiracy theory generating fake media machine, the real Deep State.
  
  “Our lawmakers are currently the minority party in Congress. The GOP controls all branches of the government, and arguably, they represent a reprehensible minatory since Trump lost the popular vote by almost three million.
  
  Reply
- dianeravitch says:
  
  June 21, 2018 at 9:16 pm
  
  Well, there going to do something about video games to stop gun violence. Stupid
  
  Reply
LeftCoastTeacher says:

June 21, 2018 at 6:53 pm

Quote of the day, for the thieves behind the CCSA, from one of their victims: “The reason why I lost my lamp was that the thief was superior to me in vigilance. He paid however this price for the lamp, that in exchange for it he consented to become a thief” –Epictetus

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- ciedie aech says:
  
  June 24, 2018 at 1:37 pm
  
  for those teachers/school employees paying the overwhelming price of being pushed out for taking a stance against Big Money school “reform,” sometimes there is little left but this truth: I did not sell out
  
  Reply
Charles says:

June 24, 2018 at 6:48 am

True school choice and vouchers are an impossibility in the largest state in our Union. I cannot imagine, the state of California ever having school choice.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  June 24, 2018 at 10:39 am
  
  Charles,
  
  The billionaires have created a very large charter sector in California. There are more charter students in California than any other states, and the charters are bankrupting entire districts, like Oakland and Inglewood, and causing massive budget cuts in others, like San Diego. Happily, San Francisco is fighting to keep more charters out. They see the game. They will not go willingly to the slaughter.
  
  Reply