We are "in the midst of a bold maneuver by wealthy ideological foes"

[madfloridian]

Deborah Meier is the co-blogger with Diane Ravitch at Education Week's blog called Bridging Differences. She is more of the "reformer" type than Ravitch. I was surprised to see this at her homepage. Maybe she is becoming disillusioned with the "reforms" that really aren't "reforms" at all.

She covers other problems going on in our country right now. I agree with her. Her comment at the start about the ideologues is so very true.

She points out that we are "in the midst of a bold maneuver by wealthy ideological foes to roll back as much if not all of the New Deal/Fair Deal victories: enough so that even if they lose badly two years from now it will have been worth it. We would at best have to spend fulltime just undoing damages."

The billionaire boys club is doing so much damage to public schools so quickly...it may never be undone.

Here is more from her blog.

Looking at the Truth without Flinching

They have essentially created a new rightwing political party with a revolutionary agenda led by a wealthy vanguard. Curtailing democracy and misinformation are often essential parts of revolutionary ideology as they intend to undertake reforms that would not be possible under ordinary democratic procedures.

In short: Public schooling may not in my lifetime be preservable. Something I was sure was untouchable, at the core of our nation. I am prone to short-term thinking these days. It is hard not to at 80. While I am not sure I will live long enough to see the undoing of 80 years of progress I do not regret having been on the other side of the barricades (so to speak). But… it hurts. Of course, actually the reform era I am remembering lasted "merely" 50 years.

She points out how the reforms are supposedly based on civil rights but that they are leading to increased segregation.

Despite Brown vs the Board of Education, we have more segregated schools in the North (at least) than we did in 1954! And if there ever was a reform designed to segregate schools—and not just by race—the charter school movement has the patent on niche schools for aspiring poor non-Whites—note that in NYC at least they may take a lot of the poor—but the target audience are the "reduced" not the "free" lunchers. We are seeing a flourishing new K-12 market for the smart/gifted/mostly White kids in the public sector. (Data from NYC and NYS "Separate and Unequal," from the UFT.)

Matter of fact the very same segregation trend is openly happening in Florida right now. Florida charter schools are are much less diverse than traditional public schools.

She speaks about the great advantages of money and power in undoing what we have had for so long in this country.

But with enough money you can skip slow persuasion and fairly rapidly overwhelm what were once the norms of middle class American ideology. And it can last for longer than I would like to think given the lopsided media, and the enormous cost of running for "public" office.

She also makes a point about what charter schools could have meant before they were taken over by corporations. She is right about the original intent which was put forward by real educators, not just rich people who have no background in teaching and educating.

The promise that charter schools offered us at their start was quickly abandoned as they morphed into large undifferentiated chain stores, ruled not by independent-minded "moms and pops" the way we imagined, but by the most powerful billionaires on earth..

Meier has a very powerful comment at the blog at Education Week this week. It's about Democracy.

I'm worried because democracy is one of those subjects that produce ho-hums; we may be willing to die to support it overseas, but what about at home? It lies behind my distrust of "common core standards," too, Diane, regardless of whether it goes hand in hand with high-stakes testing.

Bridging Differences.

And speaking of the new common core standards...Meier's co-blogger had a lot to say about who is trying to exert control in this area.

From the WP:

Ravitch..way past time to get mad.

Dear Deborah,

It is way past time to get mad. Each week, it is hard to know which of the latest outrages against American public education is the worst.

Perhaps it was the agreement between the Gates Foundation and the Pearson Foundation to write the nation's curriculum. When did we vote to hand over American education to them? Why would we outsource the nation's curriculum to a for-profit publishing and test-making corporation based in London? Does Bill Gates get to write the national curriculum because he is the richest man in America?

Good question. Why would we outsource our education? I doubt we will be hearing an answer.

Of course Meier was speaking of more than just education reform. I noticed Paul Krugman in his post this week called The Unwisdom of Elites has a similarly discouraging view of all that is going on in the country right now.

The fact is that what we’re experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren’t responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people — in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes.

I feel their discouragement.

[nonperson]

1. I posted this in another thread but it deserves to be included here, IMO

THIS is an example of what American education is facing in the name of "Charter Schools" in which public funds are being funneled into the hands of politically connected cronies of people like Chris Christie who are hell bent on destroying our once world class public education system:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/05/capital_preparatory_under_inve.html

Trenton charter high school is under State Police investigation over financial problems

Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 11:55 AM Updated: Tuesday, May 10, 2011, 12:16 PM

By Carmen Cusido/The Times The Times, Trenton

"TRENTON — Capital Preparatory Charter High School has surrendered its charter and is under investigation for financial mismanagement and a range of violations by the New Jersey State Police, a state Department of Education spokesman said yesterday.

The Grand Street school had been placed on two consecutive 90-day probationary periods before it gave up its charter May 2. It will close at the end of the school year. Because Capital Prep chose to surrender its charter rather than have it revoked, it cannot appeal, DOE spokesman Alan Guenther said.

In addition to the financial problems, visits to the 329-student school by DOE staff “revealed a weak educational program, lacking in rigor and not meeting the goals set forth in the school’s charter,” Guenther said.

The school is separate from Trenton Community Charter School, which was placed on probation in March and ordered to submit a plan for corrective action. The school repeatedly failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress, a measurement of academic performance under federal testing standards."


Read the rest of the article at the link above.

Edit to include missing link. :)

[madfloridian]

4. You forgot the link....I want to read all of it.

Very upsetting this stuff continues to go on so much.

[nonperson]

5. Oops! Link now included

Sorry!

[nonperson]

8. Here's another NJ charter school disaster story I posted in the other thread

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/03/schundler_cr...

Schundler: CREATE Charter School in Jersey City will be closed June 30

Published: Tuesday, March 02, 2010, 2:33 PM Updated: Tuesday, March 02, 2010, 4:24 PM

By Ken Thorbourne/The Jersey Journal The Jersey Journal

"Acting state education commissioner and former Jersey City mayor Bret Schundler has confirmed the state is not renewing the charter for CREATE Charter School in Jersey City and the school will cease operations by June 30.

"The school is run by former Jersey City Councilman Steve Lipski, who didn't run for re-election last year following an incident in November 2008 in which he urinated on concert-goers at a Grateful Dead Tribute Band concert in Washington, DC."

"The state Department of Education sent school officials a letter Monday. The letter gives the school's failure to meet goals outlined in its charter; not reporting incidences of violence and low scores on state tests as reasons for not renewing the charter.

According to the letter, only 4.8 percent of 12th graders were proficient in Language Arts and just 2.7 percent were proficient in math."

The rest is at the link.

[madfloridian]

9. Thanks for both links. Bookmarking.

:hi:

[nonperson]

14. You're so welcome, Madfloridian. AND READ THESE STORIES FROM FIREDOGLAKE.

Thanks for everything you do.

:hi:

ANYONE THAT CARES ABOUT OUR CHILDREN AND PUBLIC EDUCATION, THESE WILL MAKE YOUR HEAD EXPLODE!

http://my.firedoglake.com/dswright/2011/04/18/cerfs-up-how-privatization-will-wipe-out-public-education-in-new-jersey-part-1/

http://my.firedoglake.com/dswright/2011/04/19/cerfs-up-how-privatization-will-wipe-out-public-education-in-new-jersey-part-2/

THIS IS IN A SUPPOSED ENLIGHTENED NORTHERN LIBERAL STATE!!!

[madfloridian]

16. Cerf and Christie are doing to NJ what Rick Scott is doing to Florida.

And I fear it will be irreversible.

[nonperson]

29. This is a concerted effort on the part of Republican governors

If they are successful I hope it is reversible but even if it is reversible it will take years to rebuild public education in America.

[madfloridian]

36. Also Christie called the teachers union there "fat, rich, and entitled."

NJEA fat rich, entitled.

He should watch using the word fat against others.

[nonperson]

13. Here's yet another story that should make everyone's blood boil

How corrupt can you get and still get away with it? This is simply disgraceful criminal behavior. Cerf was acting commissioner but now Chris Christie has appointed this guy, Cerf, as New Jersey's EDUCATION COMMISSIONER!

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/secret_plan_to_close_newark_sc.html

Acting N.J. education chief founded consulting firm hired to overhaul failing Newark schools

Published: Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 7:00 AM Updated: Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 2:51 PM

By Star-Ledger Staff The Star-Ledger

"NEWARK — A consulting firm hired by Newark’s mayor to overhaul the city’s failing schools was founded a few months ago by Christopher D. Cerf, the state’s acting education commissioner, and still lists his Montclair home as its New Jersey address.

The firm, Global Education Advisors, is at the heart of a controversial proposal to open nearly a dozen new charter schools — a move that would reshuffle thousands of city kids and one that has already drawn angry response from parents.

Cerf acknowledged Tuesday that he had a hand in the creation of the firm, but said he was no longer connected with it. He said he is now merely lending his address to the consulting firm because it needed a New Jersey mailing address. "When this little consulting company was formed, I was part of the creation of it," he said. "I severed my relationship to it literally right after its formation. I have never received any compensation from it."

He said he never did anything with the company. "I have no presence or association with it. I have never taken a nickel from it," he said. "I never actually did anything with it, so I’m not in any way, shape or form related to it."

He asked The Star-Ledger not to publish this story because he said he did not think it was very important."

[Hannah Bell]

50. christopher cerf son of the publisher bennett cerf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Cerf

Bennett Cerf was born and brought up in New York City in a Jewish family<1> of Alsatian and German descent. His father, Gustave Cerf, was a lithographer; and his mother, Frederika Wise, was an heiress to a tobacco-distribution fortune.

Cerf married actress Sylvia Sidney on October 1, 1935; but the couple divorced on April 9, 1936. He was married to former Hollywood actress Phyllis Fraser, a cousin of Ginger Rogers, from September 17, 1940, until his death. They had two sons, Christopher and Jonathan.

[The Backlash Cometh]

41. Exactly. They're going to indoctrinate our children with their lies.

[leveymg]

2. This is all about cutting and privatizing every last pocket of the public purse. That's why the

billionaires have all lined up behind this - they see public education as just another sector that's ripe for looting and outsourcing, like razor blades manufacturers and laptop computer makers, before it.

Cut costs, cash cows, and maximized profits.

[nonperson]

6. YES! Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, you name it

The rich want to pay NO TAXES and have access to every penny in taxes we pay in their privatize everything scheme.

[leveymg]

10. And, (many) Obama Cabinet & Congress are onboard with this. Neoliberals in ascendance

everywhere one looks. Their only serious rivals for power are paleo-conservatives.

This country is screwed.

[nonperson]

15. WE NEED TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK!

Not the billionaire financed idiot teabaggers. It wasn't "their" country to begin with.

WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

If we can't do it at the polls voting for Democrats then we need to start a TRUE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY if that's what it takes. Or send a CLEAR message to those in office that "we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!"

[leveymg]

17. Ideas? I'm rather fond of General Strikes and occupations, myself. '37 Ford Strike and '79 Occup-

ation of the Seabrook, NH nuclear plant site come to mind.

[nonperson]

18. YES! EXACTLY! GENERAL STRIKE AND TAX STRIKE!

We need to organize and stick together, help each other through it, but a general strike and a general tax strike are the best methods to get this nation back on the right track!

[leveymg]

20. Problems with tax strikes are that they're not public and involve a felony.

Mass occupations and work stoppages seem to work worldwide. Why not here?

[socialist_n_TN]

28. Don't forget a "Repayment Strike"........

One advantage to the high debt load of the working class is that their into us for a lot of money. If we're withholding labor, we might as well withhold repayment of debt.

[WinkyDink]

21. And leave the ashes behind. CORPORATE AMERICA LEARNED FROM THE MAFIA.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. K&R!

[Fire1]

7. Is she ever on point! K&R

[socialist_n_TN]

11. Well, I'm tempted to be snarky and say "DUH!", but

I guess it's good that more and more people in media (even if it's just bloggers) are coming around to this view.

[AC_Mem]

12. We need to do something!

When we get back total power in 2012 - which we will - there needs to be a push from middle class America to get our congressmen to undo this terrible damage that the billioinaires have done to the education of our future generations.

My grandchildren are in elementary school. It breaks my heart what is happening. We will be involved in their education to make sure they do not suffer, but there will be so many children who will suffer over this.

This is America. Every child should have the opportunity to be educated in 2011 no matter if they are rich or poor!

For God's sake - this is AMERICA.

Annette

[madfloridian]

22. Trouble is we gave our party that control in 2008.

And they lost it.

There were too many Democrats setting forth these same corporate ideas. We had a chance, a slim one. I worry we failed to take the opportunity.

[hootinholler]

25. They lost it because they didn't use it...

I thought we gave it to them in 2006?

-Hoot

[madfloridian]

26. Didn't have the presidency in 2006.

So that was the excuse then.

[hootinholler]

27. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit if they trot it out now.

They should have made life miserable for * and his administration.

-Hoot

[crikkett]

35. * had too much to blackmail them on

is what I speculate

even if that's so, it's still bullshit...

[Jakes Progress]

44. The problem really started in 2008.

Before this president, none of these things would have gotten through a congress or been funded by the government. If a republican administration tried these things, the mass Democratic outrage would have melted the halls of congress. But we elected a president who completely agrees with the republican agenda for education and his popularity is driving it home because the party faithful won't buck his actions. It is a cliche but true that it took nixon to go to China. Now it has taken Obama to hand over schools to the neocons.

It saddens me. It infuriates me. It makes a mockery of what Democrats have fought for for decades. But the sorry truth is that, for all the other bad things that could have happened if the republicans had won in 2008, education would be better off. Not because the corpse and the tart would have wanted to make schools better, but because without Obama leading this battle for them, the neocons would not have stood a chance of getting it done. Now is almost a fait accompli. In two years, this administration has undone the promise to children that Democrats have fought for for decades.

I supported his election with money and time. I campaigned for him and voted for him. I caucused for him. But whether it was because of ignorance or because of political gamesmanship or because he actually agrees with grover norquist, he has screwed our children's future. That's not something I can forgive, let alone forget. He'll probably win the next election. Just like the bankers caused the meltdown and came out winners. But he won't do it with my help.

[WinkyDink]

19. These would be good questions for the next press conference.

[madfloridian]

31. Good questions, but no one to ask them.

:hi:

[hootinholler]

23. The only thing I disagree with is

That I think it's more like wealthy cowboys stampeding cattle through a town that a wealthy vanguard leading them.

-Hoot

[pscot]

24. There are probably a lot of well-meaning

people out there who think school reform is needed, but don't understand the extent to which the corporations are driving the process. They don't see where this is leading or how destructive the final result will be. The disinformation campaign is working.

[madfloridian]

30. That's because the reformers have the money and the media behind them.

Teachers don't even have the Democratic party behind them anymore.

There is not a single leader in either party speaking out about what is going on.

Just a few bloggers are speaking out for public schools. That's it.

[chervilant]

32. You know,

Most of the teachers I know have long been advocating for more funding, smaller class sizes, and any other changes that would improve our much maligned system of public education. Bill Gates and his ilk are the 'Johnny-Come-Latelies' in this effort, and they are putting a lot of their time and money into vilifying the REAL advocates for an improved system of public education--our public school teachers. How ironic.

So, now, is it time to help parents and students understand the corporatists' agenda, so we can work together to stop them?

[madfloridian]

33. It's time, past time.

:hi:

[erodriguez]

34. K & R

[highplainsdem]

37. K&R

[bertman]

38. My right-wing friend went to his daughters' college graduation last weekend.

Last weekend I attended the graduation party for my business partner's daughter who just graduated with a degree in elementary education. The new graduate was excited but she said that it was 'discouraging' that just as many Masters in Education graduations received their degrees as did those earning B.A.'s.

On Monday when I asked my right-wing friend if his daughter was excited about her new career as (hopefully) a teacher in elementary education, he said that he wasn't sure if she could get a job because there were so many experienced teachers with Masters Degrees who had no work that it was going to be tough for his daughter to get in ahead of them--because they 'DON'T HAVE TO PAY ANY MORE FOR THE MASTERS TEACHERS'. Then, before I could comment, he said "It seems like they're trying to turn everything over to these private school companies now and the public schools teachers can't even make a living or get benefits any more".

I just about had a stroke but I managed to stammer "You do realize that this is the goal--to turn all education over to private corporations--right?" He said that it sure seems like it.

About that time we were interrupted and could not finish our conversation.

What's amazing is this guy is a bible-thumping Republican who never saw a liberal policy he didn't hate. Now I have to figure out how to convince him that it's not just Obama, but Jeb Bush and Bill Gates and all of those other rich assholes who are trying to use our tax dollars for their FOR-PROFIT schools.

Thanks for posting this, madflo.

[madfloridian]

39. Interesting post, thanks.

Here's some info to share about Jeb and Obama:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5046

Jeb praises Obama.

[KamaAina]

40. Excellent point about charters

They were originally intended to supplement, not supplant, traditional public education. In some places, it still works that way, notably Hawai'i, where about half of the state's 25 charters offer a native Hawaiian language and cultural curriculum not available elsewhere.

But more and more, charters are simply a means to create McSchools. "Always the low test scores. Always."

[Quantess]

42. Too late to recommend.

[bucolic_frolic]

43. Limbaugh Railed at Democratic ELITES in the 1990s

The conservative elites use finger pointing to take the focus off their own activities.

It's a recurring tactic.

[Jakes Progress]

45. Kick

[Snoutport]

46. Thank you Madfloridian!

Terrific info, as usual.

[midnight]

47. Thank you madfloridian for another informative post... Sorry I was not on time to recommend this...

Would this wealthy vanguard be following the agenda of ALEC? This group has been hitting hard in Wisconsin and the midwest.... And I read earlier this week that Koch had a huge donation to a florida college hoping to appoint teachers...

[Quantess]

48. K & R

[Hannah Bell]

49. great article. more:

They have distracted us by a fight over school reform in the name of equity and civil rights while they have destroyed the playing field that might over time have produced such equity. For example, "Chicago's unemployment rate for African Americas is triple the rate for whites—at 21.4%, and for every dollar the employed black Chicagoan earns, an African American makes 45 cents (Don Rose, Post Racial or Racially Dead Last? The Observer, 3/22/11). The financial bust we lived through has undermined, above all, the last Americans who made it into the middle class: Black Americans.

"If New York City were a nation it's level of income concentration would rank 13th worst among 134 countries, between Chile and Honduras." Lower than Egypt. Nor do we rank high regarding social class mobility anymore. Odd, isn't it, that what we all have nostalgia for is the America we knew between the 40s and 70s—"when the upper strata did just fine, enjoying a robust 10 percent of the pot" Versus 50% today (quotes from Tom Robbins, Village Voice, 2/02/11). And I used to think 10% of the pot was an outrage.

In 20 years we have tripled the number of people behind bars at a cost of billions—mostly non-Whites for non-violent crimes; a rise not due to more crime, but a policy shift.

Despite Brown vs the Board of Education, we have more segregated schools in the North (at least) than we did in 1954! And if there ever was a reform designed to segregate schools—and not just by race—the charter school movement has the patent on niche schools for aspiring poor non-Whites—note that in NYC at least they may take a lot of the poor—but the target audience are the "reduced" not the "free" lunchers. We are seeing a flourishing new K-12 market for the smart/gifted/mostly White kids in the public sector. (Data from NYC and NYS "Separate and Unequal," from the UFT.)

[mmonk]

51. They were once named segregation academies for a reason (charters).

I did a piece on this titled "Suffer The Children". In my research, the same excuses were given when they were created at the beginning of desegregation as given today, "choice".

[blindpig]

52. no surprise

They are doing what capitalists do, seeking to maximize profit. It is not a matter of a cabal of evil doers, if not them then someone else if the opportunity exists, the problem is systemic.