Protesters to Gates Foundation: "Divest from Corporate Education Reform"
On Thursday, June 26, I joined several hundred educators, parents and students who marched and rallied in Seattle, Washington, in protest of the Gates Foundation's agenda for public education. The Educating the Gates Foundation event was completely grassroots, organized by local teachers active in the Washington Bad Ass Teachers association. We rallied in downtown Seattle, where we heard from education professor Wayne Au and city councilperson Kshama Sawant. Then we marched through the streets to Gates Foundation headquarters, where we heard from United OptOut activist Morna McDermott. Seattle area teacher Susan DuFresne delivered several hundred teacher letters and a petition with hundreds more signatures to a Gates Foundation representative, from the Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates project. Then, on the sidewalk in front of Gates Foundation headquarters, I spoke. You can watch the video here.
Two years ago, in July of 2012, I came here and spent the day with members of the Gates Foundation education team. I did my best to convey the wisdom of classroom teachers, who understand that learning cannot be reduced to test scores, who understand that equity is not going to arrive as a result of standardized tests. [see the Dialogue with the Gates Foundation here.]
There is a growing understanding around the country of what the Gates Foundation has done to education. Just a couple of weeks ago an interview with Bill Gates was published in the Washington Post. A lot of us have been saying that the Common Core was really a Gates Protesters to Gates Foundation: "Divest from Corporate Education Reform" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:
