The MLK Test for Corporate Reformers, via the Schneider Standards
Mercedes Schneider has created a test question for corporate reformers. She proposes a compare and contrast between Martin Luther King’s original “I Have a Dream” speech and the vision of “reformers” who claim that their tactics to leave no child untested and no public school undisturbed is “the civil rights issue of our time.”
Julian Vasquez Heilig on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Extremist
On his blog “Cloaking Inequity,” Julian Vasquez Heilig remembers Dr. King as an extremist and quotes his words. Heilig writes: So if you are a supporter of union busting via mayoral control, parent trigger, vouchers, and charters you are at odds with MLK, and you will find yourself on the wrong side of history. Says Heilig: Be inspired to be a creative extremist for unions and living wages. Hono
EduShyster Imagines Dr. MLK & Today’s “Reform” Movement
EduShyster has a dream, but it is not the one that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke about in 1963 at the March on Washington. She has a dream of Dr. King returning today to see the new “reform” movement which so often claims that it is the “civil rights movement” of our time. He tours the “no excuses” school and sees that it is segregated. He discovers that the new “civil rights movement” is fun
Naison on Dr. King’s Legacy
I am going to violate the unwritten rule of blogging here by reprinting the entire post, plus adding the link. Typically, I post only a summary and the link, to drive traffic to other bloggers. But in this case, I think Mark Naison has written such a valuable summary of Dr. King’s legacy that I want to share it with you, crediting him. He writes: http://bknation.org/2014/01/troubled-legacy-dr-mart
Bob Braun: More on the Outrage in Newark
Bob Braun covered politics and education in New Jersey for the Star-Ledger for 50 years until his recent retirement. He now has his own blog, which is an invaluable source of information and insight into New Jersey political doings. Here he writes about the ouster of five Newark principals by state-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson. Four of them spoke at a public hearing about the pending clo
The Sorry Condition of Civil Rights in New Jersey
Social activist Jan Resseger points us to a sobering article by civil rights attorney Paul Trachtenberg of Rutgers University in New Jersey. Trachtenberg describes the two school systems in New Jersey, one overwhelmingly white and successful, the other highly segregated and poor. One controls its schools, the other is controlled by the state. She writes: “One, the predominantly white, well-to-do a
Are You Sick of Highly Paid Teachers?
Thanks to Jennie Shanker for tweeting this to me. It appeared in the Daily Kos. It shows how to adjust the wages of teachers.
Edward Johnson: What Does Dr. King’s Legacy Mean Today?
Edward Johnson is a community activist in Atlanta who fights tirelessly for a wiser approach to education than the current ideology of competition. He is a devotee of Dr. Edward Deming, who taught that when things go wrong, it is because systems fail, and the systems must be fixed. He also taught that teamwork and collaboration produce better results for everyone than incentives, threats, and com
A Critique of David Coleman’s Reading of ”Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Daniel E. Ferguson, who taught in his native Birmingham, is now a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University. Here he reviews David Coleman’s “close reading” of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Coleman wants the reader to interpret the text without reference to his or her personal views. He demonstrates that this technique is designed to serve the needs
Paul Thomas: Ending Poverty Requires Community, Not War
Paul Thomas has written a post to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in which Paul explains that it is a great mistake to think that we can end poverty by making “war” on it. War always leaves victims and collateral damage. He writes: A big picture message offered in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is that the war on drugs, a key part of the larger era of mass incarceration, has devas
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: When Breaking the Law Is Just
In Newark, several principals spoke out against closing schools. They were “indefinitely suspended.” Should they have spoken out? Should they have kept their views to themselves? Dr. King had some advice to those who feel that what was done to their community was unjust. The principals did not “break a law.” They were, in some people’s eyes, insubordinate. Is that akin to law-breaking? Most of us
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 1-19-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Paul Horton: Why We Need to Tell Stories About Our LivesPaul Horton, who teaches history at the University of Chicago Lab School, here ponders a famous remark by David Coleman, architect of the Common Core standards. Coleman said, while giving a speech in New York that was taped, that students need to learn that no one gives a s— a