If you missed the 10th annual conference of the Network for Public Education, you missed some of the best presentations in our ten years of holding conferences.
You missed the brilliant Gloria Ladson-Billings, Professor Emerita and formerly the Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ladson-Billings gave an outstanding speech that brought an enthusiastic audience to its feet. She spoke about controversial topics with wit, charm, wisdom, and insight.
Fortunately, her presentation was videotaped. If you were there, you will enjoy watching it again. If you were not there, you have a treat in store.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you for sharing this presentation. Too bad Hakeem Jeffries, Cory Booker and Barack Obama were not in the audience to hear Dr. Ladson-Billings say, “School choice is about racism.”
As for what is happening in Houston, I think the likely scenario is that the higher performing white majority schools may form their own district, and the black majority schools will get privatized charter schools, as Dr. Ladson-Billings predicts. Privatization is often about separate and unequal education for Black and Brown students.
In Pensacola where Charter Schools USA took over Warrington Middle School, the state just announced a large grant that will train the students to become carpenters, electricians and plumbers. I am in favor of technical education if students select to do it. In this case I think the program is for the entire school population. What about the students with different talents or interests?
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So very excellent. Thank you for posting!
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It was a treat to listen to this outstanding educator. Her talk reminded me of the prescient words of author and educator Jonathan Kozol, who said this about school choice: “Slice it any way you want. Argue, as we must, that every family ought to have the right to make whatever choice they like in the interests of their child, no matter what damage it may do to other people’s children. As an individual decision, it’s absolutely human; but setting up this kind of competition, in which parents with the greatest social capital are encouraged to abandon their most vulnerable neighbors, is rotten social policy. What this represents is a state-supported shriveling of civic virtue, a narrowing of moral obligation to the smallest possible parameters. For all its imperfections and constant need of diligent repair, public education remains a vision worth preserving.”
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Brilliant!
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Inspired by the presentation that Dr. Larson-Billings gave, I completed my first op-ed for a course at Wayne State University. I’m not sure if this is allowed but I’m eager to share my work with a like-minded community: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12jb_NAuBgP2uMbtE5sQs5G7HZkzd4tGzJQV29SfKltY/edit
I hope someone gets a chance to read it!
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Wow, Prospective Teacher, this is awesome (and funny). Great job, and welcome to the most exasperating and exhilarating, demanding and wonderful of professions!
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