Glimmers of hope
Hundreds of Chicago Public School students walked out of the their schools and made their way to protest in front of CPS headquarters.
Last week at a Diane Ravitch book event in Chicago, someone in the audience asked if there was a "glimmer of hope in the midst of the current educational tsunami striking public education?" I would have answered yes.Arne Duncan's "reforms" combined with the worst economic crisis in my lifetime, threaten the very existence of public education and public space in general. But the tsunami also seems to have awakened a resistance movement and open demonstrations of anger on the part of teachers and students not seen in 40 years.
Some glimmers:
- A 300-mile trek by teachers and students from Bakersfield to Sacramento yesterday, to protest school cuts.
- Thousands of students walking out of classrooms in protest of the firings of their teachers and cuts in academic, after-school and sports programs.
- The outpouring of anger over the passage of Senate Bill 6 in Florida which convinced a besieged Gov.