Can You Hear Me Now? � InterACT

Can You Hear Me Now? � InterACT

Can You Hear Me Now?

by David B. Cohen

Original image by David B. Cohen

On Monday, May 24, 2010, a number of teachers I know, some personally and some through online networks, had a chance to speak with Arne Duncan. The conference call came about through the efforts of ACT member Anthony Cody, whose disillusionment with the federal education agenda led him to start a Facebook group called Teachers’ Letters to Obama. That grassroots organizing involved a letter writing campaign, and also led teacher Marsha Ratzel to help push the conference call idea into the consciousness of some people at the Department of Education.
The conversation, if we can call it that, turned out to be rather disappointing to the teacher participants. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’ve had my own negative experience with a DOE conference call, and the descriptions I’ve seen suggest that yesterday’s events were more of the same. The bottom line is that the so-called experts on education go through the motions of hearing teachers, but not really listening. Our expertise is discounted or ignored, and our criticisms are held against us like so much self-interested complaining. If an