Senator Bernie Sanders addressed the United Teachers of Los Angeles Leadership Conference recently. I was invited to introduce him by video. I recorded a two-minute introduction on my iPhone, while in my home office.
I talked about his Thurgood Marshall plan for education. To date, it is the most far-reaching proposal that any candidate has offered. It should be a template for all Democratic candidates.
Here is Senator Sanders’ speech that day. It is worth watching to see what should be the true Democratic Party agenda for K-12 Education.
Bernie is so far ahead of the field on nearly every policy issue and probably the only one who go to the mat fighting for them.
and thus an essential reason why educational policy MUST be a repeated topic for the 2020 debates: if the other candidates must speak about education along with Sanders, the differences will be clear
Wow! What a great introduction! Thank you, Diane Ravitch, for your powerful leadership in support of public schools and kids in America!!!!
Feel the Bern!
Bernie’s Marshall plan intends to use public money to improve public schools. Bernie’s plan is a conservative one as it seeks to conserve our public education and put more public money into struggling schools that serve the poorest students. Bernie wants to eliminate the federal “slush fund” that incentivizes the waste of federal money on private charters. Bernie understands that students need stability, and that education should provide equitable resources for all schools. Bernie knows that public education is the best hope for our nation’s young people.
Other than when the Marshall Plan was released, I have not heard too much about his bold plan. None of the other candidates come anywhere near the investment in public education that Bernie wants to make. I fear that the party and the media are once again trying to marginalize him. .
Well put! Thank you, Diane!
So glad you got to him. Hope he listened. I trie dust time to get him to talk to you. I trie dot find a way to talk to him, as graduated together at. the same High School . I wrote a letter to him and to his friends trying to get to him so I could talk about LEARNING.
His vote , back then, on the Murphy Amendment really inflamed teachers… It was obvious to me, that Bernie —like the rest of this nation— is woefully ignorant about LEARNING, as the only info and narrative is about teaching. As the NYC cohort for the real Pew funded National Standards research on Learning, (out of Harvard and the LRDC -Univ. of Pittsburgh.)
I wrote, back then: “The power elite are closing that road so that only the scions of the wealthy will be able to afford a good education. They have timed it to coincide with the rape of our middle class, so that they lose their homes, and cannot afford health coverage. Thus, our middle class, not merely our poverty stricken, have to decide between food or rent and health care. Education, a complex subject, is the last thing they can think about, and with all the static and noise from the charlatans disguised as experts and pundits, the true voice of the professional has been not merely lost, it has been systematically expunged. (then I told. my sad story, because as a famous educator the way they took me out was THE PROCESS they used to eradicate all real teaches across the 15,880 school systems in 50 states… so the schools would fail.
I wanted to explain that to ‘fix’ what they broke, we need to return to the genuine PRACTICE of teaching(pedagogy) which has as its premise that classroom practitioners ENABLE AND FACILITATE THE LEARNING OF SKILLS & INFORMATION (both) with BEST PRACTICE, which they have learned through education and experience.
I used the term ‘practitioner’ or teacher-practioner because Duncan and clones have defined ‘teacher’ as some sort of mechanic/worker who follows mandates form above…or else.They have made the narrative about teaching and evaluation, not learning. (here is another one I wrote http://www.perdaily.com/2011/08/subverting-the-national-conversation-a.html)
But at this juncture, when the schools are going down at dizzying speed*, to legislative takeovers and big money, we need someone to tell the public that the road to opportunity is being shut down, and thus our shared knowledge of democracy, which is the CRUX of our nation’s success, is being changed — and at the debates not a whisper of the war on our schools.
If bernie got it right, and made education (not just health care) his agenda, MILLIONS OF TEACHERS WOULD VOTE FOR HIM!
i reposted Diane’s video on facebook with comment: “Some of us grow sharper with age.” I’m a Warren supporter, but I do accede to you on education.
Diane,
THANK YOU so very much!
Again, thank you for your great introduction and the links
Go Bernie 2020!
Having Bernie and Diane’s support during the strike was greatly important; thank them. Thank everyone; we all came together for each other. It was beautiful. Public education is of, by, and for the people.
I was really shocked and very pleased that Bernie addressed the inequitable pay of teachers in child care centers, where most Preschoolers attend school. It’s the primary reason why I’ve been in poverty for most of my career, as well as in my retirement, despite all my degrees.
I’ve never heard a politician mention that, so I was very surprised he even knew about our plight, so if you informed him of that Diane, thank you ever so much!