Can we be honest now about the war on public education?

[madfloridian]

I think it is time. Arne Duncan played basketball with President Obama on election day. That sounds to me like he's around to stay in spite of the harm done to public schools already.

I am quoting from an open letter to President Obama from Bill Ayers. He says it better than I can.

An Open Letter to President Obama from Bill Ayers

First he congratulates the president on his win. Then he says:

The landscape of “educational reform” is currently littered with rubble and ruin and wreckage on all sides. Sadly, your administration has contributed significantly to the mounting catastrophe. You’re not alone: The toxic materials have been assembled as a bipartisan endeavor over many years, and the efforts of the last several administrations are now organized into a coherent push mobilized and led by a merry band of billionaires including Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Sam Walton, and Eli Broad.

..."You and Secretary Arne Duncan—endorsed in your efforts by Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, and a host of reactionary politicians and pundits—now bear a major responsibility for that agenda.

The three most trumpeted and simultaneously most destructive aspects of the united “school reform” agenda are these: turning over public assets and spaces to private management; dismantling and opposing any independent, collective voice of teachers; and reducing education to a single narrow metric that claims to recognize an educated person through a test score. While there’s absolutely no substantive proof that this approach improves schooling for children, it chugs along unfazed—fact-free, faith-based reform at its core, resting firmly on rank ideology rather than any evidence whatsoever.

Recent events in Florida show just how extreme we have already become in the giving away public assets.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/03/1154823/-FL-failed-charter-school-did-without-computers-library-or-cafeteria-Principal-got-824-000

The principal in question not only received a $519,000 severance check, but she took home her $305,000 annual salary for a grand total of $824,000 during the 2010-2011 school year. The Orlando Sentinel also reported last week the school only spent $366,000 on teacher salaries and instruction during that school year. Nothing can justify that imbalance, especially for the leader of a charter that failed.

Public school district superintendents don't even make that kind of unconcionalble salary. School boards would face public rage for even proposing such pay.

.."Last week the Miami Herald reported that Charter Schools USA handed out in excess of $205,000 in contributions to political organizations and candidates for this election, three times the amount the Fort Lauderdale-based company spent two years ago.

That money must come from the profits the company earns at taxpayer expense; in effect, the public is paying that political price so charter schools can leverage even greater profits from the Legislature.

It's time to listen to those who believe that public education is vital to our country's future.

It's time for Arne Duncan to reconsider his embrace of the anti-teacher, anti-union pundits, or it's time for him to go.

Twittering about education

[Iris]

1. Yes, please.

Something has got to give.

[liberal_at_heart]

2. I've never considered myself a single issue voter

but the more my son struggles in school the more and more I lean towards being a single issue voter and that issue is education.

[madfloridian]

6. I think more parents will be aware..

when there are no public schools ready and waiting to take back the low performers rejected by charter schools. When a child goes to a charter school, the management of that school gets the taxpayer money...the public school loses it.

That can not go on much longer without serious consequences. Add private religious school vouchers to the mix, and the process accelerates.

[liberal_at_heart]

14. I agree that charters are not the answer but

Obama and other democrats cannot simply say well at least we didn't cut funding. That's not enough anymore. Democrats need to figure out what their plan is for fixing our failing public school system.

[LWolf]

38. Neither have I,

but education has driven my vote for at least a decade.

[MrYikes]

3. I thought it was the Koch brothers that were behind the privatization.

[madfloridian]

5. They are also behind it.

And here's an interesting article about Georgia's charter school amendment that passed yesterday, all the big money behind it....including the Koch brothers.

http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/interspire/news/2012/11/05/out-of-state-corporate-interests-fund-charter-school-amendment-push.html
Out-of-State Corporate Interests Fund Charter School Amendment Push

Note all the big money behind it, then near the end notice the ones who opposed it...those who really know about real education.

"Meanwhile, there are many Georgia groups who have opposed the amendment, including the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), Georgia School Superintendents Association (GSSA), Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA), Georgia Retired Educators Association (GREA), Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), Georgia Parent Teachers Association (GPTA), Cobb County Association of Educators (CCAE), Educators First, and Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL).

One of the largest groups against the ballot amendment is a committee called Vote SMART! No to State-Controlled Schools. Vote SMART consists mainly of public school superintendents and teachers in a coalition with many of the groups listed above.

Vote SMART has received donations from many school superintendents, like Marietta Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck, who donated 250 dollars, telling the Marietta Daily Journal, “Since 2003, Marietta City Schools has lost over $30 million in revenue due to state austerity cuts... Parents should be asking why a new funding stream for schools is being opened when their child’s school has suffered state funding reductions.”

[We People]

4. K&R

[Horse with no Name]

7. Madfloridian

I've missed you.

Glad to see you here.

[madfloridian]

9. Thanks.

Waited until after the election. Posting mostly at Daily Kos and Twitter now.

[MadHound]

8. Hey You! Good to see you here, we've missed you.

I hope that we can be honest about the war on public education, there are a number of very honest, wonderful people around here who are fighting for public education.

[madfloridian]

10. Thanks, good to be here. I agree with you on the good people.

It's just that they are not being heard.

[sabrina 1]

11. It's time to get rid of Arne Duncan who is an enemy of the Public School system

and of teachers.

And yes, it is way past time to stop this rolling train that is wrecking the Public System and handing over education funds to the worst of the worst of greedy, selfish ignorant profiteers who are mostly Republicans.

If it's not time, I would like to know when we start doing the work to stop these policies from being implemented if not now.

[madfloridian]

12. Hey, Sabrina, and I so agree.

I have never seen teachers in our area so disheartened, always waiting on the next shoe to drop. Glad I am retired.

[OriginalGeek]

13. Happy to K&R

Education is one of the single most important things we can do. We need to stop fucking it up. I wish I was smart enough to know what to do and how to do it but getting rid of FCAT and school vouchers is a good start.

[ibegurpard]

15. Happy to rec this

I feel like we dodged a bullet by re-electing President Obama but he's just wrong on this policy.

[madfloridian]

16. I thought a fav twitterer said it well..

That there are many good reasons to vote for and support Obama, but education is not one of them.

I hope that changes this term.

[We People]

18. Well said, and Welcome Back!

We need your thoughts and support for Public Education!!

[madfloridian]

26. Thanks.

But I think most aren't ready to hear about it yet, and many believe it would be better off privatized. They just don't want to say so.

[We People]

27. That's disheartening, but they still need reminding that Dems have always supported public schools

even if they were sold a load of BS during the Bush II years. It doesn't have to be that way.

This School "Reform" has been played out with Republican ideas and was trumpeted by GWB as the "Texas Miracle". All it did was set our school systems in motion for ultimate ruin and/or privatization.

That's nothing you don't already know, I'm just repeating something that needs to be said to others until it sinks in.

Thanks again, madfloridian.

[madfloridian]

34. Yes. You are right.

Democrats have always supported public education. They need to be reminded often.

[liberal_at_heart]

22. I agree whole heartily

so far education is not a reason to support Obama but I do also hope that changes this term. He says he wants to hire more math and science teachers and that is great. But there is a lot more wrong with the public school system than just our global competitiveness in math and science. Curriculums need to be tailored more to the individual student. Not all students learn the same. We can't keep treating our kids like they're all the exact same. They're not. I don't support charter schools but something does need to be done so that our public schools can be more flexible.

[madfloridian]

23. Our public schools here had programs for all....many self-contained on regular campuses.

I don't know the whole situation now, but I gather it is not the same. I remember that most of the classes for gifted, SLD, etc were all available on the same campus or nearby.

None of us ever treated kids the same, we always had to individualize our teaching. We had personalized teaching since I remember.

I think the fact that so many funds have been depleted that public schools are having to do more with far less while being blamed for everything.

[liberal_at_heart]

24. exactly it is the lack of funds that Obama needs to address

He speaks of investing in science and math teachers. That is great. We need funding for all of our teachers. Also, it is not just the teachers. The public school districts themselves are too inflexible. My son who was at a 3rd grade math level in 5th grade moved to the 6th grade, we were told that it was district policy that all 6th graders take 6th grade math. Well you can imagine what that did to my son's grades. He is in 8th grade now and still has a D average in math. When he struggled in 6th grade we asked if he could be moved to a special ed program that offered more support. We were told his IQ was too high and were told no. Now, that he is about to move into high school I have been informed that the district is more flexible at the high school level. They will change how they grade him and they will have more flexibility in which classes he can go to. My question is why did they make him feel inferior for 3 yrs by putting him in classes he did not belong in. We need more flexibility in our schools.

[madfloridian]

25. I despise when they do that to kids.

Most of the inflexibility is being forced on the teachers and their schools. We never used to have to force students who were struggling to take tests without accommodations for them. Extra time, having it read to them, etc.

This is part of the punitive zero tolerance campaign that started around the time of the Bushes. When Jeb became governor here, things changed drastically.

We used to be able to teach with flexibility, kindness, and love. Now the test is god. And it is Arne Duncan's policy, no matter what his words.

[liberal_at_heart]

30. I agree

I think that inadequate funding and increased pressure to perform have led to a toxic learning environment. I definitely got the feeling that my district couldn't pay to put him in the proper special ed class. They use IQ as a cut off point. That's how they keep from having to pay more for special ed. If you have a high enough IQ it doesn't matter if you're struggling. They cannot afford to put you in the proper class. We need more funding and not just for science and math. And I think we need to be using portfolios to evaluate performance instead of standardized tests.

[senseandsensibility]

17. Welcome back to DU, mad floridian!

Don't do twitter, so I'm glad to see you here. I hope you stick around.

[madfloridian]

36. It's different here now.

Thought I would give it a try at least. Thanks for the welcome. I thought I saw you at twitter, but went back and looked and guess I was wrong.

[madfloridian]

19. WP calls for Obama to change course on education. Powerful paragraph.

A call for President Obama to change course on education

Arthur H. Camins is director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.

This really hit home to me.

During the Vietnam War many people used evidence to show that the United States government did not understand its declared “enemy” and that the war was counterproductive though Johnson, McNamara and those in the defense industry who profited from the war were not persuaded. Listening to McNamara’s telling of the tale, it is not clear whether their failure to change course was because no one inside the decision circle was willing to challenge the conventional thinking, or because there was an unwillingness to admit defeat and cede power or influence to their perceived internal enemies. By the time McNamara voiced any doubts, the course of action was too deeply set.

Similarly, I have been trying to understand the persistence of education reformers, especially those in federal and state government, in the light of so much contrary, well-articulated evidence. I have been trying to understand how teachers who oppose charter schools and merit pay, or who make the case that schools alone can’t undo the effects of poverty, have come to be defined by education reformers as the enemy – supporters of and apologists for the status quo. Somehow, educators who do not support the reformers’ ill-conceived version of disruptive innovation, but who have proposed myriad significant improvement, have been cast as defenders of bad teachers who supposedly believe poverty is destiny. Reformers have become so enamored by their own ideology and so invested in their own course of action that they are unable to recognize the evidence that challenges their policies and unable to recognize the damage it is causing to students

..." I hope it will not take decades to see our way out of the fog of the education war. I hope some inside government official will not wait as long as McNamara to speak up. However, reasoned argument is not enough. Without massive organized opposition these policies are unlikely to change.

[We People]

28. YES - thank you! Teachers started being villified when Reagan's "A Nation at Risk" was published

with implications that ALL success or failure hinges on teachers. Since the entire premise was built on the idea that America's schools are "failing," the origins of laying blame on teachers was begun with this. The right wing think tanks were already at it and their sights were aimed at teachers and public schools, which was honed down 20 years later to abolishing teachers' unions (which don't even exist in a lot of states), replacing veteran teachers with newer ones at drastically lower pay, and privatizing public schools by whatever means.

Anyone Dems who have been paying attention to this since the 80's should not have been fooled by any of it.

Thank God for the fair and honest coverage that The Washington Post has given to this issue.

[Starry Messenger]

20. k&r

I've never been happier to see anyone in my life. (Hug)

[madfloridian]

21. Hugs back.

I won't forget those of you who helped me get brave enough to start twittering. I am really enjoying it, don't feel much need for other forums like I did before.

[Luminous Animal]

29. So, so happy to see you here. And thanks ofr the post.

[madfloridian]

31. Good to see you.

I had been trying to remember your twtter page, and when I saw your post here I found it. I am starting to write down people there now, better that way for me. So easily I forget now.

[leftstreet]

32. DURec

[hay rick]

33. Madfloridian back in town!

Back here where we need you...

&feature=related

[madfloridian]

35. Oh, I love that song. We never missed one of those shows.

What a nice welcome!

[LWolf]

37. I've been honest all along,

and that honesty has not been appreciated by many.

Ayers hits this one out of the park.

Good to see you here. I've missed your contributions.

[madfloridian]

39. I agree. He did hit it out of the park.

Ayers hit the pertinent points clearly and strongly.

And you are right, honesty on this issue is not popular.