Archives for category: Students
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Michael Winerip Slips In an Education Column

By dianeravitch
December 12, 2012 //
12

I used to wait with great anticipation every Sunday night to read Michael Winerip’s education column. They were always informative and on the cutting edge of important issues.

But a few months ago, for no discernible reason, the newspaper of record canceled his invaluable column and gave him the assignment of writing about “Boomers.”

I was tempted to scream and curse (in private) at the loss of this great voice, this beacon of sanity in a world gone mad.

Today, he managed to write an education column that was about a boomer.

It is about a great teacher inspiring his students and changing his community.

It reminded me how much I miss Michael Winerip on education.

Categories Students, Teachers and Teaching

A Student Activist Joins the Honor Roll

By dianeravitch
November 30, 2012 //
9

Stephanie Rivera is a junior at Rutgers University preparing to become a teacher.

Stephanie was one of the leading forces in creating Students United for Public Education, a new organization in which students are joining to stand up against the privatizers, profiteers and naysayers now besieging our public schools.

She has her own blog, where she regularly debates other students who support corporate reform policies.

Stephanie is an activist on behalf of the teaching profession and on behalf of social and educational equity.

She joins our honor roll as a hero of public education because she has bravely taken on powerful forces and dared to ask hard questions.

She understands that teaching is hard work, and that it is a profession, not a pastime.

I admire her spunk, her willingness to debate, her energy, and her courage.

The future belongs to you, Stephanie, and to all the other students who understand that public education belongs to them as a democratic right to build their future.

It must not become a plaything for Wall Street and billionaires, nor a stepping stone for politicians, nor a profit center for entrepreneurs.

It belongs to you and your generation. Preserve and strengthen it for future generations, doors open to all by right.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Honor Roll, Students, Teach for America TFA, US Education

Students Organize to Support Public Education

By dianeravitch
November 26, 2012 //
21

Attention!!

A group of college students has organized a new organization to support public schools, teachers and unions, to oppose privatization and to demand elimination of high stakes testing.

They will work together to strengthen free,open, democratic and equitable public schools.

I have signed as a supporter.

Please join them. Show your support.

Categories Students

A Plague of Junk Food in the Schools

By dianeravitch
November 25, 2012 //
9

Marc Epstein, a veteran New York City teacher, describes a common phenomenon: the proliferation of junk food, which contributes to child obesity.

He recalls his own student days, when teachers absolutely prohibited chewing gum and snacks in the classroom.

In today’s schools, junk food is everywhere.

It’s bad for students, bad for discipline, and indicative of a society that refuses to set appropriate limits, allowing children to engage in harmful behaviors.

Categories NYC, Students

Student in San Antonio Objects to Electronic Tag

By dianeravitch
November 24, 2012 //
39

A high school in San Antonio initiated a bizarre requirement this fall.

Every student is expected to wear an electronic badge, presumably so the district knows how many students are in school and can track their movement.

When a student objected on religious grounds to wearing the tag , the district suspended her.

She is suing the district.

The district claims it needs to follow every student so as to make sure it was getting all the state money that is tried to attendance.

But there are genuine reasons to be concerned about breaches of civil liberties.

This affair is but one more evidence of intrusive practices that technology makes possible.

When we go online, someone somewhere is tracking whatever we do, whatever we purchase, which websites we visit, and this information is then sold to other companies.

Our personal information is being marketed without our knowledge or permission.

What is it that seems so objectionable about asking all students to wear a barcode?

Well, to begin with, they are human beings, not products on a grocery shelf.

People should not be treated as inventory.

When I think about tracking people, I think of the anklets that people are required to wear by judges, because they might be a risk to flee the country or go into hiding.

But students are not prisoners or suspects.

This matter is reminiscent of the kerfuffle over the galvanic skin response bracelets, which students are supposed to wear so that evaluators can measure students’ excitement or engagement and simultaneously (perhaps) evaluate the teachers’ ability to get them excited or engaged.

You have to wonder, first, who dreams up these ideas, and second, who reviews and approves them.

Categories Students, Texas

Are Teachers Unions Bad for Education?

By dianeravitch
November 18, 2012 //
40

After several consecutive years of hearing that teachers’ unions are terrible, teachers’ unions are an obstacle to reform, teachers’ unions are greedy, it’s easy to cringe when the subject of unions comes up. I personally have gotten over that. I have come to realize that the war on unions is part of the larger war on public education. The unions are the strongest political ally for the public schools, which are the workplaces of their members, and they need make no apology to the far-right that wants to reduce all working people to atomized individuals, lacking representation.

Bruce Baker decided to explore the recent attacks on teachers’ unions after reading a comment in The Economist magazine saying that the unions are a “scourge.”

Baker looked at the effect of unions overall and found that they tend to be associated with higher pay for teachers (which attracts better candidates into the profession) and with greater funding fairness. No, unions are not a scourge. Unions give teachers a voice in determining the conditions in which they teach and children learn. Why should that be left to the politicians and policymakers, who know little or nothing about education?

Categories Budget Cuts, Students, Teachers and Teaching, Unions, US Education

The Boston Globe’s Mad Love Crush on Charters

By dianeravitch
November 16, 2012 //
4

EduShyster has done it again.

This time she nails the Boston Globe.

This is the Boston Globe’s dream as expressed by its lead education writer:

“There’s a lot at stake in the takeover of the Gavin by UP Academy. If it succeeds at raising student achievement with an identical student population, then the main complaint of charter school critics will lose its resonance. If relatively inexperienced teachers can do what veterans can’t — namely turn around a school where only one out of four students performs at grade level — then the public cry for longer school days, merit pay, and stricter teacher evaluations will grow louder.”

How great would that be? If the test scores go up at Gavin, now taken over by UP Academy, every inner-city school could have teachers with high expectations but no professional training. All that is needed is a four-year degree, preferably from an Ivy League college or university. Every teacher could be judged by the rise or fall of student test scores. All unions would be abolished. No tenure, no seniority, just test scores. That solves all problems, right?

EduShyster explains the secret of UP’s success.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Humor, Privatization, Race to the Top, Students, Teach for America TFA, Testing, Unions

How to Avoid Hurting Kids and Schools in Fiscal Crisis

By dianeravitch
November 15, 2012 //
3

Leonie Haimson has some excellent ideas about where to make budget cuts and how to raise revenues to protect children in the looming fiscal crisis.

Haimson is executive director of Class Size Matters in New York City and has long been the city’s leading parent activist. Her ability to analyze research and budgets is astounding. Her courage in fighting for students and parents is unmatched.

Leonie Haimson was among the first people to be placed on the honor roll as a champion of public education. She was one of the original founders of Parents Across America.

She is a tireless and effective advocate who makes a difference in improving the lives of children.

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Industry, Education Reform, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Merit pay, Parent Groups, Parents, Race to the Top, Students, Washington State

Sirota Exposes the Big Lie Technique

By dianeravitch
November 13, 2012 //
6

David Sirota, an author and talk-show host, here analyzes the election results and says they exposed the Big Lie of the corporate reform movement.

The public is not hankering to privatize their public schools.

The corporate leaders and rightwing establishment dropped millions of dollars to push their agenda of privatization, teacher-bashing and anti-unionism. They lost some major contests.

I will be posting more about some important local races they lost.

We have to do two things to beat them: get the word out to the public about who they are and what they want (read Sirota).

Two: never lose hope.

Those who fight to defend the commons against corporate raiders are on the right side of history.

Nothing they demand is right for children, nor does it improve education.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Colorado, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Idaho, Indiana, Merit pay, Parents, Privatization, Stand for Children, Students, Technology, Computers, Testing, Unions, US Education, Vouchers

A Superintendent’s Advice to President Obama

By dianeravitch
November 12, 2012 //
11

Jere Hochman runs an exemplary school district in Bedford, New York.

Before the election, he wrote an eloquent letter (which I posted though I may not have used his name) on why everyone should support President Obama.

He convinced me.

He also promised me that after the election, he would speak out about the need to change the punitive testing and accountability policies of this administration.

He is speaking out. 

The biggest problem in education today is the politicians, who are interfering in matters they do not understand, he says.

He offers excellent advice to the President, and this is only part 1.

Thank you, Jere.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Obama, Privatization, Students, Teachers and Teaching, Testing
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