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My Vacation in Cuba

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2013 //
41

I just returned from an amazing week in Cuba. I went there legally, from Miami to Havana.

I wanted to go someplace warm in mid-winter but I didn’t want to sit on a beach in the sun. I wanted to learn. It took quite a lot of digging to discover that the U.S. government has granted licenses to a number of tour agencies to arrange trips to Cuba for U.S. citizens.

Last November, a high school chum in Houston told me she had just returned from Cuba, and she gave me the name of her agent, who is based in New York City. Her name is Myriam Castillo, and I found her via this article in Forbes because she doesn’t have a website. Some of the other agencies that organize people-to-people trips are mentioned in the same Forbes article.

Myriam planned a fantastic week for four of us. It was a customized tour, tailored to our interests in the culture, art, and history of Cuba. We visited museums, went to the homes of established artists, visited art galleries, toured historic sites, saw the countryside, ate wonderful food, and consumed countless mojitos. We were accompanied at various times by an architectural historian, an art historian, and various other experts.

We were excited by the sight of many vintage American automobiles from pre-1959–Chevrolets, Dodges, Oldsmobiles, Plymouths, Buicks–most in beautiful condition. We were amazed by the large number of tourists from Europe, South America, Canada, and yes, the United States. Last year, 400,000 tourists from the U.S. visited Cuba. When we departed the Havana airport on the morning of February 8, ten flights were leaving, and eight were headed for Miami. One of them was an American Airlines flight. Most, like ours, were charters carrying about 150 people.

The architecture of Havana is varied and wonderful, with some beautifully preserved buildings but very many in decrepit condition. A beautiful public square of stunning homes and apartment houses would be adjacent to blocks and blocks of squalid abodes. The magnificent and elegant Italianate mansion that houses an astonishing collection of Napoleonic artifacts is next door to a crumbling and ramshackle mansion built in the same era.

The Cuban people we met were warm and welcoming. The culture is vibrant. The music is fabulous.

Tourism is a major industry, probably the biggest in the country. And yet, the island is isolated in many ways, with no cell phone service and very limited access to the Internet. I was able to log on at a major hotel, but service was spotty.

There is no advertising, few shops, not much to buy, no billboards other than political slogans like “Defend socialism.” Everywhere, one sees Che souvenirs, so many that it seems like revolutionary kitsch.

And yet it seemed to me that Cuba is on the verge of a major transition. It won’t happen overnight but it will happen, it is happening already. A new generation is coming of age. They want opportunity. They want a better life. Little pockets of entrepreneurialism are opening up. Officially, the government owns everything, but there are many inconsistencies. Private restaurants called paladares offer excellent food (and pay heavy taxes). Because of a shortage of hotel space in some cities, many private homes rent rooms to guests. The old world is passing, dissolving, and a new world is beginning, shoots of grass breaking through the concrete.

The embargo seems as antique as the now ancient slogans.The sooner the embargo is lifted, the sooner there will be normal relations between our countries. As it now exists, cruise ships bypass Havana because they are not allowed to visit a U.S. port for six months if they dock in Cuba. Cuba’s isolation from the U.S. has impoverished many Cubans and done nothing to weaken the regime. If we wanted to weaken the regime, we would end the embargo and encourage open exchange among our populations.

We loved our trip. It was beautifully planned. It was educational. It was filled with surprises.

I hope that President Obama lifts the embargo and restores normal relations between our nations. This would be a major legacy for him, ending a dispute that began more than half a century ago. It is time.

Categories International, Personal

My Good News

By dianeravitch
January 18, 2013 //
47

As readers may recall, I started a new book last June.

I finished it and turned it over to the editor on January 15.

The manuscript was nearly 600 pages.

In print form, it should be about half that length.

If you have been reading the blog all along, you know what is in the book.

Now it’s time to catch a break.

I am taking a one-week vacation starting January 31.

The blog will still be here every day, as I will have some pieces in the pipeline and I have invited some of my favorite bloggers to write guest posts.

This will be the year that the public begins to see who the corporate reformers are and the havoc they are wreaking on schools and communities.

Diane

Categories Personal, Ravitch, Diane

Today We Mourn

By dianeravitch
December 15, 2012 //
231

I had half a dozen interesting posts ready to go out today, but I decided it was inappropriate to return to business as usual after the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

I postponed them. So you won’t be getting another post today.

This is a time to mourn, to reflect, to be still.

It’s a time to think about the heroic staff at the school who reacted immediately to protect their students.

It’s a time to think about the principal Dawn Hochsprung and the school psychologist Mary Sherlach. When the trouble started, they ran to the shooter instead of hiding.

I saw an interview with a teacher who was distraught. A reader saw the same interview and said this: “Did you happen to catch the interview with the one teacher (one amazing wonderful woman) who shepherded her class into a bathroom and kept them all assured that they would be ok? She told them, “i want you all to know I love you.” She expressed to the interviewer that her thinking was that she was afraid they would die and she wanted to make sure that if they were that the last thing they would remember hearing was not the gunshots, but the sound of someone telling them that they were loved. “This” in this era of teacher bashing.”

Last night I got an email informing me, “you lost a follower.” That’s when I found out that Dawn Hochsprung followed me on Twitter; she followed only 70 people. I was shaken.

Mostly what I thought about was the parents. I have a six-year-old grandson, and I was heartsick for those who lost their babies. Many years ago, one of my children died of leukemia, which was horrible, but how much worse to think that your precious son or daughter was murdered. What unfathomable madness. I don’t know how you live with that terrible knowledge. The pain is unbearable.

There is no way to make sense of what happened. I ask myself why anyone is allowed to have an assault weapon. I don’t know why. I ask why and how our society has become so desensitized to violence and at the same time so addicted to it.

I think of the violent video games, the violent movies, the violent conflicts in which we engage around the world. And I think about how many seriously disturbed people see violence as a route to infamy or attention or some fantasy in which they are a super-hero/villain.

We have a lot of thinking to do.

About violence. About our reckless media. About the true heroism of our educators. About how we change our ways of thinking and acting. About how we protect our children. About why we are obsessed about being number 1 instead of spending more time repairing the serious ills of our society.

I don’t have the answers.

I just think it’s time to start asking the right questions.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

Categories Personal

All Those Errors!

By dianeravitch
November 28, 2012 //
14

Sorry about typos in last few posts.

Typing in airport on cellphone.

Auto correct took control.

Then I was in air and just landed in NYC

Sad funeral in Houston.

Categories Personal

Waiting for the Hurricane

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
50

I live in New York City, which is now on almost complete lockdown waiting for the hurricane to arrive.

All traffic has come to a halt. The only people on the street are those walking their dogs.

The mayor and governor halted all mass transit Sunday night at 7 pm. Most stores and restaurants closed by 5 or 6 pm to allow their employees time to get home. Most people don’t work near their place of residence. Last night, supermarkets had been swept clean of water, milk and all essentials. There won’t be any more deliveries until mass transit is restored. Most restaurants and stores will remain closed because their employees can’t get to work.

The storm was predicted to arrive by 4:30 am. When I woke just before 6, it was not yet here. No wind, no rain. By 7, there was some of both.

We were told there would be no garbage pickup all week and advised not to put our garbage bins out. So I dutifully taped the garbage cans shut, so the lids and cans would not blow away. But much to my surprise, the city trucks began collecting and I had to hurry out into the rain to untape the cans and put them onto the street.

Will the newscasters be proven right? Is this the storm of the century? Will it be the worst in our lifetime? That is what they are saying. They say that often. They should say it sparingly. Remember “the boy who cried wolf”?

We shall see. We are prepared for the next few days. Like one of the three little pigs, I am glad to be living in a brick house, in my case, a brick house that is attached on two sides to other brick houses.

 

Categories Personal, Ravitch, Diane

One Million Page Views!

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2012 //
40

Good news!

This blog began on April 24, 2012.

Today, September 18, it passed the one million page view mark.

That’s a lot of people across America and in other countries joining our discussion of better education for all.

I don’t want merit pay or a bonus.

I am grateful that readers here and on every continent are listening, speaking, thinking, contributing and sharing ideas about how to improve education.

Thank you!

Diane

Categories Personal, Ravitch, Diane

A Note to My Readers

By dianeravitch
September 3, 2012 //
36

With school starting tomorrow (and in some districts it has already started), I know you won’t have as much time to read these posts. The typical teacher, according to the Scholastic-Gates survey, works an 11-hour day. And from your comments, I know that most of the readers of the blog are teachers. I know there are also parents, principals, superintendents, school board members, journalists, concerned citizens–and, I hope, students as well.

So I will try to restrain myself, not post as many times each day. But it will be hard. People send me articles from all over the nation, and even from other countries.

My impulse is to share.

I’ll just have to develop a huge backlog. That way, when my fall schedule of travel and lecturing begins, my blog will be on auto-pilot, posting every day even if I am on the road.

I will continue to post the great comments of readers about their own insights into the education issues of the day.

By the way, my first lecture this fall will be in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on September 18. I was invited to speak by the Benwood Foundation. If you are in the area, please try to attend.

Then I will be in Austin, Texas, on September 30 speaking at the annual convention of the TASA and TSBA, the administrators and school boards. I speak in the morning. That afternoon, I will speak to parents and teachers and anyone else who wants to show up at an Austin high school, thanks to the invitation of the Austin Independent School District. I’ll post the details when I know them. Come on over, y’all.

Categories Personal

What Are the Bounds of Civil Discussion?

By dianeravitch
August 28, 2012 //
17

Earlier today I published a biting critique of John White and Bobby Jindal, who are doing their best to privatize public education in Louisiana. I happen to think the pair have turned the state of Louisiana into an international laughing stock and put the future of a generation of children at risk.

The writer, who lives in Louisiana, called them vandals, said that John White is a hack, and referred to White’s staff as “the TFA  Goon Squad.”

Two people wrote to say how shocked they were that I would permit such language to be used. They said I called for civility and had violated my own pledge.

I am reminded that when I used to tweet, I would find myself at the receiving end  of really nasty, vituperative insults. I never responded in kind. But if I dared to show that I was offended, I could count on several reformer-types to jump in and tell me I was out of line. I have heard the same complaints in the past. These guys want a double standard; they want to be able to hurl insults and then step back and say, “you promised to be civil.”

Well, my friends, this is my blog, my living room, and I make the rules. Here they are, if you didn’t get them the first time around.

I watch my own language and tone. But there is very little that other people write that I censor.

I am not going to silence someone who cries out in righteous rage when their profession and their livelihood and their integrity are attacked by so-called reformers. I am not going to defer to those who have no respect for the men and women who teach our children every day.

I am not going to censor a writer who writes in the style of H.L. Mencken and uses colorful language.

Public officials who betray their sacred trust are fair game, and I won’t tell anyone to treat them gingerly. If they don’t like the heat, they can stay out of the kitchen, as Harry S Truman once said.

This is a site to discuss better education for all. If you want to join the discussion, welcome. But don’t expect me to silence or censor voices you don’t want to hear. If you don’t like what you are reading, don’t read it.

Categories Education Reform, Personal

Advice to My Readers: House Rules

By dianeravitch
August 13, 2012 //
11

When this blog started, I imagined a cozy conversation among friends, which it was, in my virtual living room.

But as the weeks went on, the daily readership began to exceed 10,000, and the living room sometimes seems crowded.

I hope it continues to grow. We can move from my living room to the nearest football stadium and take turns at the microphone.

The only dark cloud, to be frank, is that a very small number of people take up a disproportionate amount of space in the comments section.

Sometimes they are angry, because they don’t like our conversation, so they jump in again and again and keep saying, “I am right and you are wrong.”

I welcome dissidence, so I welcome them too, as it keeps us on our toes.

There is room for them too in my living room.

But I remind our dissidents that this large living room has rules of courtesy.

If you become rude, if you become insulting, if you continue repeatedly  to try to dominate the discussion and shout down others, I’ll ask you to step outside.

If you don’t, I’ll eject you.

Fair enough? That’s the house rules.

Categories Personal

ADL Alert! Is This Comment Acceptable?

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2012 //
18

I mentioned in a post this morning that I had received a letter form the Anti-Defamation League warning that comments on my blog displayed “insensitivity” and that I should take this opportunity to warn readers about the dangers of “hurtful analogies,” especially in referring to Hitler and the Holocaust.

A reader wonders if he was the one who wrote the comment that was reported as offensive to the Anti-Defamation League:

I think that the comment referred to was mine. I am a teacher in one of the 24 “closed” NYC schools. I went back to look for what I actually wrote but could not find it but I definitely remember reading the comments after that post and being surprised at the reaction.First, let me say that I am also Jewish. Whichever members of my family remained in Poland at the start of the war, were totally wiped out in the camps. I am also a history buff, I read and make analogies. (Obviously, I am a product of a great public education, Thomas Jefferson HS, Brooklyn, NY.) If I offended anyone by my comparisons I am sorry, but I do not withdraw my statements. Let me instead, back them up.

I typically refer to the Holocaust and our situation in 2 ways and I don’t remember which I used in that previous post. First, I believe that our mayor, his flunkies, and all those trying to tear down public education are using what my World History text back in 1962, called the “Big Lie” technique. Tell a lie often enough and boldly enough and even those who know it is a lie will back down. Hitler and Stalin were both masters of the “Big Lie” and used it to secure and maintain their power. The “Big Lie” technique includes scapegoating. Again, as a Jew I am particularly sensitive about scapegoating but now, as a teacher being scapegoated, I think I have have an even better understanding of what my Jewish/Polish/Austrian family and their friends felt as they heard Hitler rant about how the Jews were responsible for every bad thing in post WW I Germany. Yes, I know that there are (currently) no camps to be transported to, but the lie still hurts every time I hear it.

This leads into the second way I draw analogies to the Holocaust. As I said above, my family split just about the time of WW I. One branch came to America, the other branch stayed in Poland and Austria and were decimated. My grandma spoke German as well as Yiddish and English. Even after the holocaust, she proudly referred to our family as Austrian. From her, from other friends and family and from my reading I have learned that most German and Austrian Jews thought of themselves as Germans. Even as the Nuremberg laws went into effect, even as Kristal Nacht destroyed their businesses and homes, they told themselves that they were good Germans, important to the Reich and the minority of hotheads will eventually see this and respect them for the contributions that they made to their country. Many Jews continued this denial until they were packed off to the camps.

A few days before the end of this school year, as we were sitting in the heat grading the Regents exams, my colleagues and I were being told our fate by those involved in this ridiculous hiring system. I know that the ones not hired are not going to camps but the damage to their spirits was still substantial. These are people who have been teaching for 10 even 15 years. One of the main centerpieces of their identity is teacher, right up there with mother, father, Jew, Christian or other identity labels. This central part of their identity was ripped out unjustly and with violence. Not the violence of guns but more like the violence of the Judensau when Jews were forced to bend down and kiss the statue of a pig for only one purpose . . . public humiliation. Teachers were being divided into 2 lines. The “effective” teachers who were staying and the “ineffective” teachers with astonishment and tears in their eyes who could not understand this injustice that had been done to them. As my friends and colleagues were told their fate my thoughts went back to the words of Victor Frankl, a survivor of the camps who said, “the best of us did not survive.”

No, I don’t expect the Brown Shirts to be knocking on my door tonight. In fact, as much as I think teachers are being falsely scapegoated and blamed for things beyond our control, I think the real holocaust (note the lower case) is being carried out against the children of NYC. Under performing students need smaller classes which means more teachers. They also need more experienced teachers. Privatizing education siphons off money that should be going to the children and sends it to overpaid CEOs and shareholders of these charter businesses. Thomas Jefferson saw public education as necessary to maintain a democracy. Wouldn’t it be terrible if after true public education is gone we discover that Jefferson was right.

I could go on about the economics of fascism as taught to me by Mr. Kraft in the 5th grade, Mr. Hudesman in the 7th grade and Mr. Horowitz in the 10th grade (great teachers among other great teachers who I remember fondly) how we can draw parallels to big business today, but this is already a very long post so I shall stop now.

 
Categories Education Reform, Personal, Ravitch, Diane
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