Google and the Death of Privacy
There is good reason to be worried about the effort by the federal Department of Education to create a massive database. Doing so is part of Race to the Top.
There is reason to be concerned about inBloom, the project funded by Gates and managed by Rupert Murdoch.
There is reason to be concerned about inBloom, the project funded by Gates and managed by Rupert Murdoch.
Sharp Increase in Homeless Kids in NYC
Yoav Gonen and Frank Rosario in the New York Post report a spike in the number of homeless students in the New York City public schools.
They write:
“More than 53,000 city public-school students lack a permanent home — a fivefold increase over 2008, figures
They write:
“More than 53,000 city public-school students lack a permanent home — a fivefold increase over 2008, figures
“Mrs. Ratliff” Lives
I received a letter from a veteran teacher who recognized herself as my teacher Mrs. Ratliff, whom I wrote about in chapter 9 of my recent book The Death and Life of the Great American School System. When I read about all the schemes to measure the worth of students by the test scores of their students, I thought about Mrs. Ratliff, who was both my homeroom teacher and my literature teacher. She had high standards, she was no-nonsense, she demanded the best of her students, and students lined up to get into her classes. I wondered if there would be more Mrs. Ratliffs, in light of the new demand that everything and everyone be measured by standardized tests. Mrs. Ratliff didn’t give any standardized tests. I wondered what she would think of the autocratic, mindless
Wisconsin: Vouchers Will Go Statewide
Governor Scott Walker is a hard-right conservative who wants a market-based school system–or no system at all, just a free market where consumers go to any provider theyy want. Despite the failure of vouchers in Milwaukee, Walker is pushing for statewide vouchers. He is getting his way, step by step. I wonder if he knows that Wisconsin public schools–which he deplores–have the HIGHEST
graduation rate in the nation?
graduation rate in the nation?
Professors at San Jose State: No Thanks to Online Courses
Faculty at San Jose State University have signed a letter opposing the administration’s decision to use online courses developed by faculty at Harvard, MIT, and other eastern universities. The San Jose professors see the adoption of online courses as a deliberate strategy to replace them and downsize their departments. The professors of the humanities are especially incensed.
Their letter was addressed to Harvard professor Michael Sandel, whose course on social justice was offered
Their letter was addressed to Harvard professor Michael Sandel, whose course on social justice was offered
A Gift for You This Sunday
I love this poem, and I want to share it with you. It was written by W. H. Auden. It is like a song to me.
In Memory of W. B. Yeats | ||
| by W. H. Auden | ||
IHe disappeared in the dead of winter: The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted, And snow disfigured the public statues; The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day. What instruments we have agree The day of his death was a dark cold day. Far from his illness The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests, The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays; By mourning tongues The death of the poet was kept from his poems. But for him it was his last afternoon as himself, An afternoon of nurses and rumours; The provinces of his body revolted, The squares of his mind were empty, Silence invaded the suburbs, The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers. Now he is scattered among a hundred cities And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections, To find his happiness in another kind of wood And be punished under a foreign code of conscience. The words of a dead man Are modified in the guts of the living. But in the importance and noise of to-morrow When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the Bourse, And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly accustomed, And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom, A few thousand will think of this day As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual. What instruments we have agree The day of his death was a dark cold day. II You were silly like us; your gift survived it all:
The parish of rich women, physical decay,
Yourself. Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry.
Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still,
For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives
In the valley of its making where executives
Would never want to tamper, flows on south
From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs,
Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,
A way of happening, a mouth.
IIIEarth, receive an honoured guest:
William Yeats is laid to rest.
Let the Irish vessel lie
Emptied of its poetry.
In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate;
Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face,
And the seas of pity lie
Locked and frozen in each eye.
Follow, poet, follow right
To the bottom of the night,
With your unconstraining voice
Still persuade us to rejoice;
With the farming of a verse
Make a vineyard of the curse,
Sing of human unsuccess
In a rapture of distress;
In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.
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Diane in the Evening 6-1-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Why Other Nations Fear Race to the Top by dianerav A reader writes about his experience at an international conference: *Last May I had the privilege to be invited to the Van Leer Education conference in Jerusalem with outstanding educational leaders from across the globe. Award winning Teachers, Principals, University Professors and Director Generals/Heads of State were there to discuss the topic “Regulation and Trust”.* As the receipient of the “New York State Outstanding Educator Award” from the School Admin... more »