John Ogozalek teaches high school in upstate New York. He watched some of the GOP debate last night (his stomach is stronger than mine) and reacted to one of Marco Rubio’s memorable lines.
He writes:
“A great howler from the GOP debate last night:
“We need more welders and less philosophers…” Marco Rubio
Now I wish I could weld. Seriously. 10 years of Upstate New York winters have seriously rotted my car. And, I’ve had plenty of great students who go into trades like welding. I respect people who can do these jobs.
But, c’mon. Can Marco Rubio aim any lower?
Why can’t welders ALSO be philosophers??? (And, vice versa!)
Neil Postman wrote a great piece, a graduation speech, he never had a chance to give. I used it years ago when I taught ninth grade Global Studies. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2009/06/athenians-and-visigoths-neil-postmans-graduation-speech/
Postman compares the Athenians, who valued wisdom and art to the Visigoths, who believed that the quest for knowledge is useless if it doesn’t give you power and money. Athenians cherished and respected the written word. In comparison, “A Visigoth’s language aspires to nothing higher than the cliche.”
Postman wrote, “And I must tell you that you do not become an Athenian merely by attending school or accumulating academic degrees. My father-in-law was one of the most committed Athenians I have ever known, and he spent his entire adult life working as a dress cutter on Seventh Avenue in New York City. On the other hand, I know physicians, lawyers, and engineers who are Visigoths of unmistakable persuasion.”
Welders CAN be Athenians. They CAN be philosophers. To say otherwise, is just to further divide our own already damaged polis.
I could only stomach part of the GOP debate. But what I saw indicated how far our nation’s ability to have a mature, civil discourse has fallen. What happened to the days when the League of Women Voters hosted serious debates in which booing and hissing was not tolerated? And, remember when Gerald Ford slipped up about communist domination of Eastern Europe, and his feet were held to the fire for the mistake? Nowadays a buffoon like Donald Trump can say anything regardless of the facts…..and his political life thrives.
No, Marco Rubio is just this year’s model…..a faster, trimmer more high tech version of the age old Visigoth pattern. Do anything for power and money even if it means dividing the people you profess to lead.
By the way…..I’m sitting here at home writing on this blog, with a day off from school. But, of course, this day is really meant to honor our veterans, past and present. It’s those veterans who deserve the credit for defending our nation against Visigoths like the Nazis. We honor them by standing up for the “better angels of our nature” -not by rolling in the political mud.
Reading Neil Postman’s great speech is one of the best ways I can honor our vets and our country. Taking part in this blog, “a site to discuss better education for all,” is another.”
Investigative journalists Andrew Perez and David Sirota write that Marco Rubio led a luxurious life, subsidized by corporations.
This is the Florida way.
The good life:
In 2003, as a member of the Florida State House, Rubio created a special fundraising committee, called Floridians for Conservative Leadership, that could accept unlimited contributions. In the span of a year, the committee raised $228,000, with large donations from lobbyists, telecom giant AT&T, health plan manager WellCare and the state’s sugar conglomerates, Florida Crystals and U.S. Sugar. Not all of the contributors were disclosed, and some are listed simply as gold or silver memberships.
By mid-2004, the group had spent $193,000. More than a third of the committee’s money was spent on meals and travel. Some of those expenditures were made as reimbursements to Rubio and his wife, Jeanette. Other payments appear to be multiple items lumped together as single expenditures — an uncommon arrangement — like a $3,476 expense listed under “Citibank Mastercard” that includes hotel, airfare, meals and gas. Another $71,000 was spent on staff and consultants.
While Rubio was in the legislature in the February of 2004, he created a federal 527 organization with a similar name, called Floridians for Conservative Leadership in Government. Rubio was listed as the group’s president, with his wife as vice president. The committee raised $386,000 by the end of 2004, with donations from Hewlett-Packard, Dosal Tobacco Corporation and private prison company GEO Group, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service.
The federal group spent $316,000 by the end of 2005. The bulk of its spending was on consulting, but the committee also paid Rubio’s relatives roughly $14,000 for items wrongly described as “courier fees,” the Tampa Bay Times reported.
A new definition of conservative.
Rachel Maddow will ask questions at the Democratic debate tomorrow. Please email her and urge her to ask a question about the forgotten subject: K-12 education. Will the candidates continue the disastrous Bush-Obama policies?
Join with the Network for Public Education and send Rachel an email.
Network for Public Education Action needs your help. We’ve come up with a list of 8 questions every presidential candidate needs to answer. Parents, teachers, and students need to know where candidates stand on our issues.
We’ve created an action campaign asking Rachel Maddow, the host of the next Democratic presidential forum, to ask one of our 8 questions. Voters should know how the candidates feel about crucial issues like high-stakes standardized testing, student privacy, and equitable funding. With a couple of clicks, you can send her an email, and let her know education policy needs to be part of the discussion.
You may have seen Network for Public Education President Diane Ravitch’s recent article in Salon. In that piece, Diane cautioned that in 2012 the subject of K-12 education was largely ignored. She said:
The media and citizens at public forums must not let that happen again. Education is central to our future as a nation; it is also the single largest item in every state’s budget. Yet the candidates for the 2016 race in both parties are talking only about pre-kindergarten and higher education, skipping right over the important issues that face millions of children and educators in public schools today.
Diane has done her part to elevate the conversation about our public schools — now it’s up to us! To get these questions asked, NPE ACTION NEEDS YOU!
We’ve made it super easy. Just follow this link, and with a couple of clicks you can let Rachel Maddow know how important K-12 education issues are to you.
Thanks for all you do,
Robin Hiller
Executive Director, Network for Public Education Action
Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address or to stop receiving emails from Network for Public Education, please click here.
Jason France, aka Crazy Crawfish, ran for state board of education in Louisiana and lost. As he explains it here, the winning candidates pretended to share the views of the losers and had the advantage of millions of dollars from super-PACs. The losers were outspent by at least 100-1.
The winners’ campaign was promoted by the Louisiana Association and Industry.
Jason says there are still two candidates in the race who need our help so that the corporate people don’t gain total control.
He writes:
“To everyone who supported and believed in me and the other FlipBESE candidates you have my utmost respect, thanks, and gratitude. With your help we terrified our opponents into outspending us in the 100’s to one range, to fabricate and promulgate lies about us, and to actually adopt OUR platforms to defeat us.
“None of the LABI backed candidates ran on platforms claiming Common Core and PARCC were outstanding or that the state should confiscate and run all of our schools, because they knew those claims would cost them the elections. So while LABI and their allies claim education reform got a mandate in Saturday’s election, nothing could be further from the truth. You won’t see LABI’s remaining lapdogs doing anything to promote the agenda they claim they have a mandate for in their runoffs.
“That means it is crystal clear (even to our opponent’s highly paid political consultants) that it was FlipBESE that won Saturday, October 24th, NOT corporate ed reform and Common Core.
“Now that LABI has most of the BESE seats, and has deceived and bribed their way into unseating two of our greatest champions (Carolyn Hill and Lottie Bebee) it is more important than ever to rally around our remaining champions.
“We NEED Mary Harris and Kathy Edmonston to defend our teachers, parents, and students.
“For this reason I am proud to endorse and support Kathy Edmonston for the BESE district 6 runoff race against LABI owned Jason Engen.”
The Network for Public Education Action Fund is pleased to endorse Dr. Suzie Abajian for the South Pasadena School Board
Dr. Suzie Abajian is an educator, in every sense of the word. She has sixteen years of experience as a teacher, field supervisor, educational researcher, and professor, and holds a Ph.D. in Education from UCLA. Dr. Abajian taught Mathematics at Loyola Marymount University for four years, and is currently a professor of education at Occidental College. She has been a committed supporter of public education throughout her career, and will bring a profound understanding of education policy, effective teaching, and education research to the South Pasadena School Board.
NPE President Diane Ravitch has offered Dr. Abajian her unqualified endorsement, stating, “Dr Suzie Abajian is exactly the kind of person who should run for school board and be elected to serve. She is a well-informed advocate for students and for educational change. I hope that the people of South Pasadena turn out to elect her for their school board.”
Abajian has already demonstrated that she can successfully work within the system to bring about positive change for students. She was on the steering committee for the Save Adult Education campaign that kept the Adult Education Program in Los Angeles Unified School District open. She is also on the steering committee of the Ethnic Studies Now Coalition that made Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement in select school districts in California.
Teacher, El Rancho School Board Vice President, and fellow Ethnic Studies Now Coalition member Jose Lara has also endorsed Dr. Abajian, stating, “Dr. Abajian championed Ethnic Studies in our schools, which meant that having the literature and history of students of color, Latino, Black, Armenian etc. in the classroom is as essential as expanding STEAM programs.”
“She has been a champion for students and educators from many years now,” Lara continued. “She has been an advocate for equitable funding of public school and maintaining essential programs like Adult Education, music, arts, and expanded Pre-K education.”
A strong proponent of small class sizes, Dr. Abajian stated, ‘Class size definitely matters! Class size should be kept under 20. I will do whatever I can to support legislation and policy changes that reduce class size.”
Dr. Abajian immigrated to the United States from Syria with her family when she was 12 years old. “I can identify with the struggles of students who don’t quite fit into our school district. Our school board needs to have individuals from more diverse backgrounds that better represent the diversity of the city in which we live.”
NPE Action agrees that Dr. Abajian is an ideal candidate for the South Pasadena School Board. Please visit her website to learn more about her, and do what you can to support her campaign by donating or volunteering.
The Network for Public Education Action Fund endorses Kathleen Gebhardt for the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education in Boulder, Colorado.
Kathleen has an unparalleled combination of experience in education that makes her ideally suited to be a school board member. Not only is she is a graduate of the district, she has been a parent in the district for over 25 years, and has served on several school and district committees. She clearly has a deep and thorough understanding of the issues specific to the Boulder Valley School District.
In addition, Kathleen has spent over 20 years working professionally in education, and currently teaches education law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. She is the Executive Director of Children’s Voices, which is a “non-profit law firm of school advocates dedicated to achieving equal access to a high quality public education for all school-age children in Colorado.” Children’s Voices puts a special emphasis on working on behalf of special education students, English language learners, and children who live in poverty.
It is no surprise that Kathleen has received multiple endorsements, including the Boulder Valley Education Association and Boulder’s newspaper, the Daily Camera. The paper’s endorsement stated, “Kathy Gebhardt’s passion, experience and lifelong commitment to children make her the hands-down favorite and the candidate we endorse for the District C school board seat.”
Kevin Welner, professor at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education and director of the National Education Policy Center, has also endorsed Kathleen. He writes, “If school board members were hired through a normal application process, based on qualifications, Kathy would be hired immediately. No person in the state of Colorado is better qualified for such a position. She has worked tirelessly for two decades to get our children the supports and resources they need for their educations.”
NPE Action agrees that Kathleen’s qualifications are phenomenal, and we urge our members in Boulder to do everything they can to support Kathleen’s campaign. Please visit her website to learn more about her positions on the issues. We are sure you will agree that the Boulder Valley Schools will be well served by Kathleen, and hope you will donate or volunteer to help her win a seat on the school board.
State Representative Andrrw Brenner recently became chairman of Ohio’s House Education Committee. His views are extreme, to say the least. He believes that public schools are socialistic, along the lines of the old Soviet Union. He is upset that children don’t read the Bible in school, a practice banned by the U.S. Supreme Court half a century ago.
This is the kind of slander about public schools that was popular among hard-right Republicans in the 1940s and 1950s. I wonder if Rep. Brenner also considers police and firefighters to be socialistic and if he objects to public parks, beaches, and highways.
Brenner was co-sponsor of the bill that allows the state to takeover the Youngstown school district and to place a non-educator in charge with sweeping power.
Rep. Brenner reminds us that the assault on public education will end only when supporters of sane, centrist, and equitable education policies are returned to public office.
Mercedes Schneider here reports the disappointing news from Louisiana.
More than $3.5 million of out-of-state money swamped the candidates for the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, who among them raised only about $50,000. Only two opponents of corporate reform survived the election, and both are in a run-off.*
Four billionaires put up more than a million dollars.
Democracy lost.
But the good news is that the likely next governor is John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who is not in sympathy with the mean-spirited policies of Governor Bobby Jindal and who has said that he will fire ex-TFA State Commissioner of Education John White, who is known for hiding and spinning data.
*THE ORIGINAL POST NOTED ONLY ONE CRITIC OF CORPORATE REFORM WHO SURVIVED THE BILLIONAIRES’ ONSLAUGHT, BUT THERE WERE TWO: DISTRICT 4 AND 6.
The Network for Public Education Action Fund endorses Jason Morris for school board in Néw London, Connecticut.
Jason is the parent of two children in the New London School District. He has spent the last several years working diligently to bring about change in the public schools as a parent activist with a group called the New London Parent Advocates.
When he learned that students in his local elementary school were being punished for not performing on standardized tests or for not taking them because their parents had decided to opt them out, he did something about it. Jason fought for 2 years to ensure that “no student should be punished for either not taking the test or for shutting down from the stress.” And he won.
Jason’s commitment to undoing the harmful impact of standardized testing in our schools in indisputable. He is a strong believer that “authentic, teacher created, progress testing is the only form of testing that can be universally accepted, useful, valuable, and as least harmful as possible.” He is similarly clear that the current overemphasis on testing in our schools is misguided. He stated, “Testing doesn’t bring equity, focusing on equity of resources is where we start.”
Equity is a very clear priority for Jason. Mongi Dhaouadi, a New London parent and founding member of New London Parent Advocates says, “We aren’t the kind of group that just complains, we want to find solutions. Because of his commitment, research skills and passion, Jason has been instrumental to the New London Parent Advocates. He has worked on diversity, restorative justice, and hiring teachers to reduce class size.”
Jason’s restorative justice work, and commitment to ending “zero tolerance” policies, is laudable. As a part of the New London Parent Advocates he presented a report to the Board of Education that clearly showed how such policies disproportionately affect male students of color.
If you live in New London, help Jason Morris. Open the link and you will find his Facebook page. He is a passionate parent advocate who will be a great board member.
