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Sunday, September 9, 2012

Diane in the Afternoon 9-9-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Diane in the Afternoon 9-9-12


I Can Determine the Winner of the Presidency

Good grief.
It just occurred to me that I can swing the election.
Not with my vote. My personal vote doesn’t count.
I live in New York, a state so blue that Romney won’t bother to campaign here, although he will surely come here to raise money on Wall Street and in the Hamptons, where the super-rich gather to play and ride horses and sail.
New York will give Obama a huge majority, so I am free to vote my conscience.
The election, I hear, will be decided in Ohio and Michigan.
As it happens, I have a very large following of teachers


Tomorrow, Wear Red for ED to Support Chicago Teachers

I will be wearing red in solidarity with the Chicago Teachers Union tomorrow, in support of whatever decision they make. If they should strike, they have my support. If they don’t, they also have my support. I am not giving my support unthinkingly or blindly. I support their right to bargain collectively. Knowing Karen Lewis, I believe she has the best interests of the children of Chicago in her heart. I believe in her and I believe in the teachers of Chicago.

One of our readers, GatorbonBC, posted the following comment.

If you know me well, you know I hold our WEAR RED FOR ED close to my heart. I also hold my CHICAGO teacher friends very close to my heart. They have taught me so much over the years. So, please… wear RED tomorrow. Show SOLIDARITY with Chicago teachers. They are fighting the same fight we are all fighting for our KIDS. They are fighting against high stakes testing, against the closing of public schools, against privatization via charter schools and virtual learning, against funneling public tax dollars to corporations … and against blaming teachers for everything wrong with our schools. FAIR CONTRACTS… please stand with Chicago. ~Wear Red for Public Ed !

NSBA Says: Stop the Budget Cuts!

The National School Boards Association has sent out an urgent bulletin to school boards across the nation warning about pending budget cuts by Congress.
If these cuts are not rescinded, every public school will see a new round of budget cuts, with fewer teachers and loss of vital services to children.
Please read this and do what you can to help.

NSBA Call to Action:  Urge Congress to Rescind Across-the-Board Cuts to Education (Sequestration)

A Teacher at Central Falls HS Will Not Vote for Obama

I have not decided how I will vote.
I will not vote for Romney.
How I cast my vote will be decided in the next few weeks.
This teacher has decided:
I am one of the thousands of stunned teachers, and life long Democrats who was amazed by the actions taken by the current Democratic leadership in the war against teachers. I was one of the teachers who was fired, then 



A Parent Reviews the Parent Trigger Movie

It seems as though all the really big publicity for the anti-union, anti-public school film “Won’t Back Down” is coming from parents and teachers. Here is a review by a parent.
But that really isn’t so, as NBC’s Education Nation is making a big deal of it, and will have a private screening at the New York Public Library for the upper crust. And you can bet that all the corporate funded activists who want to privatize public education will try to turn this into the fiction version of “Waiting for Superman.” Well, same producer, same goal.
This writer, who was president of her school’s PTA, says the movie demonizes the union. She wonders how the actors–who all belong to the Screen Actors Guild–feel about making a movie that attacks another 


Do You Happen to Know a Billionaire?

Do you happen to know a billionaire? Or maybe someone with lots of millions?
Not just any old billionaire, but one who cares about supporting public education. One who thinks it is wrong to hand out children over to entrepreneurs. One who knows the difference between the free market and the commons.
I ask because of this comment that I received from a teacher in a northeastern state. I have edited it to obscure the identities of all involved, which was the condition for using it:
As part of research for my master’s degree, I interviewed [XX], whom I had gotten to “know”