Will California Start a National Revolt Against Bad Ideas?
Dear Deborah,
Your trip to Japan sounds exciting and exhausting. Your summary reminded me that you must protect your energy and continue to share your wisdom about children for many years.
While you were traveling in Japan, I was barnstorming across California. I spoke to several hundred teachers in Los Angeles, then to nearly 1,000 in San Francisco, on to Berkeley to speak to a packed house. My tour, punctuated by interviews on NPR stations, concluded in Sacramento, where the local teachers' unions, principals, district leaders, school board members, parent groups, and universities hired the Sacramento Convention Center for the most stupendous event I have ever seen: Some 3,500 people showed up in a driving rain on a Friday night to hear state Superintendent Tom Torlakson, our fellow Education Week blogger Anthony Cody, the great Linda Darling-Hammond, and me. (The event, by the way, was organized by the remarkable Erik Knudson of the Sacramento City teachers' union.)
The highlight of the week was Gov. Jerry Brown's State of the State message, in which he announced his
