An Open Letter to the Anti-Corporate Reform Community
Dear Fighters of Educational Corporate Reform,
I think we can all agree that it's in all of our best interest, in fighting corporate reform, to point out the many inaccuracies in the CR argument. However, there is something to be said for doing it gracefully, with dignity. On the other hand, there is something destructively polarizing about doing it with vitriol. Demonizing those who disagree with us, to the point where anyone standing on middle ground would look at the debate and be disgusted or unimpressed with our side, is not a useful technique for demonstrating the merits of our argument. I sincerely doubt the utility of anger and hate as a method for advocating for the best interest of public education and children. To that end, I think it's incredibly important that those who are used to debating in this manner rethink the way they choose to address the ideas and people they disagree with. I also think it's in all of our best interest to stop promoting those people until they do. Their rhetoric only provides fodder for anyone out there looking to prove that teachers and parents resisting corporate reform are a bunch of crackpots uninterested in listening to the other side because we're only interested in self-preservation or some sort of arthritically misguided ideology. Furthermore, the treatment of anyone, regardless of whether they're rich, privileged, idealistic, or TFA corps members as if anything they say or think is worth less than a pile of shit
I think we can all agree that it's in all of our best interest, in fighting corporate reform, to point out the many inaccuracies in the CR argument. However, there is something to be said for doing it gracefully, with dignity. On the other hand, there is something destructively polarizing about doing it with vitriol. Demonizing those who disagree with us, to the point where anyone standing on middle ground would look at the debate and be disgusted or unimpressed with our side, is not a useful technique for demonstrating the merits of our argument. I sincerely doubt the utility of anger and hate as a method for advocating for the best interest of public education and children. To that end, I think it's incredibly important that those who are used to debating in this manner rethink the way they choose to address the ideas and people they disagree with. I also think it's in all of our best interest to stop promoting those people until they do. Their rhetoric only provides fodder for anyone out there looking to prove that teachers and parents resisting corporate reform are a bunch of crackpots uninterested in listening to the other side because we're only interested in self-preservation or some sort of arthritically misguided ideology. Furthermore, the treatment of anyone, regardless of whether they're rich, privileged, idealistic, or TFA corps members as if anything they say or think is worth less than a pile of shit
