The most important speech on education in years
was given yesterday at the National Opportunity to Learn Education Summit by Diane Ravitch.
You can read the entire text here (pdf).
You should.
You should pass it on.
For example, how about this paragraph:
So today we see Wall Street hedge funders and billionaires saying that they are leading the civil rights movement of our time. I have trouble imagining Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., walking arm in arm with billionaires in a crusade to privatize control of public education. Dr. King understood that social movements need a mass base, and that they are not based in Wall Street. He knew that
January 7: National Opt Out Day
Posting for your information a message that is being widely distributed among some educational lists and Facebook groups:
United Opt Out National has declared January 7th as National Opt Out Day. On this day we are encouraging Occupy movements everywhere to endorse this action. We are asking parents, students and community members to write letters/postcards to their school districts stating how they will OPT OUT. We have created a postcard that allows for multiple ways to opt out and it can be purchased in bulk to share. Of course, the slam dunk is opting out of the state test as this will shut down corporate education reform. If everyone opts out in mass they will have NO test data to punish students, teachers and communities. Our postcards can be found athttp://www.zazzle.com/.... For more information visit out website www.unitedoptout.com.Peace.