Listen to Diane Ravitch: Garrison Keillor: Did God Intend Trump to Be President? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Garrison Keillor: Did God Intend Trump to Be President? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Garrison Keillor: Did God Intend Trump to Be President?

Garrison Keillor is in fine form as he asks whether God intended for Trump to be elected president. He seems to have been inspired by some of the mail landing in his mailbox or email..

So many Trumpists have written in since the election, and I am grateful for their interest and also impressed by the sheer variety of their profanity. I never learned to swear that well because by the time my mother died, at 97, it was too late for me to learn. I gather from the letters that these people’s lives were devastated by the advent of gay marriage, political correctness, the threat of gun control and the arrogance of liberals, and now a champion rises from Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and East 56th Street, and God forbid that any dog should bark when he speaks or any pigeon drop white matter on his limousine.

What the letter-writers don’t grasp is that cursing is highly effective in person — someone kicks his car in rage, forgetting he’s wearing flip-flops, and flames pour from his mouth, and it’s impressive. But you see it in print, and it’s just ugly. It makes you pity the writer’s wife.

It’s not good form to curse at someone you’ve just defeated. That is why the president-elect made it clear he would not be waterboarding Hillary Clinton or sending her back to Mexico. He was gracious in victory and said the Clintons are “good people.” Several of his biggest applause lines seem to have been put back in the box. And his base is faced with the possibility that they may have elected a Manchurian. They know that he was a Democrat for most of his life and that the sight of Adam and Steve holding hands does not fill him with loathing. He is, after all, a New Yorker; he’s not from Tulsa. He likes drama. Maybe he’ll appoint his sister to the Supreme Court. Maybe he would rather row than wade. Maybe the Republicans will privatize the Pentagon, and maybe the Chinese will be the low bidder. Why not run the Marines like a business? Put the “deal” back into “idealism.”Garrison Keillor: Did God Intend Trump to Be President? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Edd Doerr: The Great School Voucher Fraud

10by dianeravitch / 1h

Edd Doerr is the president of Americans for Religious Liberty and a strong proponent of separation of church and state . In this paper , he gives a brief overview of the history of this infra, explains why vouchers are a very bad idea, and reviews the 27 state referenda on vouchers or variant on public funds for religious schools. Since his paper was written in 2012, a proposal to amend the Flori

YESTERDAY

Time to Focus on Trump and Stop Demonizing Hillary

48by dianeravitch / 10h

I planned to post this as a comment but it grew into a full-blown post. One of our daily readers, named Joe, voted for Bernie in the primaries but then supported Hillary in the general election. He wrote a comment a few hours ago urging other readers to stop criticizing and demonizing Hillary and to recognize the present danger to our nation. I responded to Joe as follows: Thanks, Joe. I too am t

Trump’s Tax Plan: Tax Cuts for All But Especially the Richest

10by dianeravitch / 17h

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Trump plans tax cuts for everyone but the biggest cuts go to those in the 1%. To see the graphs, buy today’s WSJ. “Nearly half the benefits of the plan, and a higher proportion of savings, would go to the top 1% Steven Mnuchin, the likely next Treasury secretary, this week said rich U.S. taxpayers won’t get “an absolute tax cut” under President-elect Don

NC: Teacher Suspended for Stepping on the Flag While Teaching about First Amendment

3by dianeravitch / 19h

I don’t approve of stepping on the flag or burning it, but my understanding is that the Supreme Court ruled that burning the flag is a form of speech and is protected under the First Amendment. There are many things and many kinds of speech I don’t like, but the First Amendment protects the speech I don’t like, even the speech I hate. A history teacher in North Carolina tried to illustrate his le

Pete Tucker: Thank the Koch Brothers for Trump’s Election

22by dianeravitch / 20h

Pete Tucker, D.C. journalist, says that the power behind the Trump candidacy were the infamous rightwing billionaire Koch brothers. If you need documentation, read Jane Mayer’s investigative book, Dark Money, which Tucker cites in his article. David Koch ran for vice-president on the Libertarian Party ticket. It received 1% of the vote. Since then, the Koch brothers have used their money to chang

Politico: Voters Consistently Turn Down Vouchers But Legislatures Can Be Bought

25by dianeravitch / 21h

Politico reports on vouchers this morning. Vouchers have never won a popular vote. Public opinion polls are mixed, but the response depends on how the question is worded. DeVos and her allies have found her way around the problem: go to the legislature and give strategically to key legislators. In other words, buy their support. It works. VOUCHERS HAVE BEEN A TOUGH SELL – AT LEAST WHEN PUT TO A V

Julie Vassilatos: Betsy DeVos and the Zombie Apocalypse

8by dianeravitch / 22h

Julie Vassilatos, an activist parent of children in the Chicago public schools, writes here about Betsy DeVos. She begins by offering a round up of some of the best posts about DeVos. We all must get up to speed on who she is. In addition to being a fervent advocate for vouchers and charters, she has given generously to anti-gay organizations and organizations that promote creationism. I am tryin

Peter Greene: What if We Let All Children Have Vouchers?

8by dianeravitch / 23h

Peter Greene wrote this column a year ago, but it remains pertinent as ever. Reformers like to say that the student should have “a backpack full of cash” (there is a terrific new documentary with that title, exposing the harm that school choice does to children and public schools). Peter takes that canard on: One of the foundational assertions of the charter movement is that public school tax dol

Jeff Bryant: Big Money Consolidates Its Grip on the Nation’s Public Schools

6by dianeravitch / 23h

Jeff Bryant sees Betsy DeVos as a continuation of the policies of Arne Duncan, which were a continuation of the policies of NCLB. Duncan started the mass school closings, teacher bashing, and privatization. DeVos will carry school choice to the next step by tying federal aid to vouchers, if she can. Jeff writes: As a recent article by L.S. Hall for Inside Philanthropy recounts, the DeVoses rank r

Sanders: Trump Folded on the Carrier Deal

29by dianeravitch / 1d

Donald Trump has boasted about saving 1,000 jobs that Carrier planned to send to Mexico. But Senator Bernie Sanders says the deal is a sham because Trump gave Carrier tax breaks instead of insisting it pay its taxes. Carrier is owned by United Rechnolgies, a major defense contractor. “In exchange for allowing United Technologies to continue to offshore more than 1,000 jobs, Trump will reportedly

Republican Dominance of States Put Public Education at Risk in New Era

30by dianeravitch / 1d

The Education Commission of the States posted a lineup of the partisan divide among the states. Republicans have a commanding lead over Democrats. Of 50 states, 33 have Republican governors. Republicans control 66 partisan chambers, compared to 30 held by Democrats. Republicans pick up three legislative chambers. The Kentucky House, Iowa Senate and Minnesota Senate switched from Democratic to Rep

DEC 01

Democracy Now! A Discussion of Betsy DeVos

17by dianeravitch / 1d

This segment on Democracy Now! is about 12 minutes of discussion involving me, Lisa Graves of the Center for Media and Democracy, and Tawanna Simpson of the Detroit Board of Education. The topic is Betsy DeVos. Please watch!

California Charter Leader Leaves with $215,000 Settlement After Credit Card Scandal

15by dianeravitch / 1d

As noted on this blog , the leader of the El Camino Real Charter High School in Los Angeles used the school’s credit card to charge exorbitant personal expenses while moonlighting as a scout for a professional basketball team. First class air tickets, luxury hotels, fabulous meals. He repaid $6,000, which must have been a fraction of what he spent. And he agreed to resign, reluctantly. He leaves

New Chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee Wants to Get the Feds Out of Education

9by dianeravitch / 1d

Politico reports on the new chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee: FOXX IN THE HOUSE: Virginia Foxx wants to dismantle the Education Department and erase Barack Obama’s education legacy – and she’s poised to become one of the Hill’s power players with the authority to do that. The 73-year-old GOP lawmaker and former community college president is poised to assume the leadership of

John Thompson on the Reformers’ Dilemma: To Trump or Not to Trump

49by dianeravitch / 1d

For the past eight years, we collectively have had to figure out how to cope with lovers of privatization who claimed that they were reformers. They wanted to “save poor kids from failing schools” by opening privately managed charters 

Garrison Keillor: Did God Intend Trump to Be President? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

A Cry of Disgust over the appointment of Betsy DeVos - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:

A  Cry of Disgust over the appointment of Betsy DeVos

By:  Sandra Parker 

Hello everyone! My name is Sandra Parker. I am a public school teacher. I am highly educated in my field holding five degrees from the University of Michigan; all education degrees. I am writing this open letter of thanks to the president elect to show my appreciation for appointing me as the overseer of all medical institutions in this country! I believe this nomination is partly due to the fact that I donated $245,000 to his campaign fund, but hey, that is how the American political scene plays!

I have always been fascinated by the medical field. Hospitals and health care have interested me very much since I was a young girl. I care deeply about our national health and am thrilled that now I will be put in a position to oversee their daily operations and to make sure that the best medical care is available to all of you. I have been outspoken about my feelings on traditional health care. Never mind that the likes of me (and my family and friends) have never stepped foot inside a public hospital or a traditional doctor’s office.

You see, I believe deeply in alternative medicines to fix what ails you. I firmly believe in holistic medicines, herbal medications and have a personal shaman who I visit whenever an ailment plagues me. But, I want you to know that I am passionate about public health care, mainly public hospitals and physicians who earn degrees from traditional public colleges. I will take good care of the public health system even if I don’t personally honor any of their practices, I will take good care of them (wink, wink). 

I know some of you are concerned about my lack of qualifications to take on such a position…after all, my degrees are all in the education field. Hey, I am asking you to throw caution to the wind once again as you did on November 8^th and pick someone who has no qualifications for the job and help me and our president elect “make America great again!”

Of course, the above is a satire. 

Yes, I am referring to Betsy DeVos.

Mrs. DeVos comes from privilege. Her father owned and employed one quarter of Holland Michigan’s residents. She attended parochial schools and then moved on to Calvin College, a product of the Christian Reformed Church. Mrs. DeVos has a degree in Political Science and Business Administration. One degree in a field that is not related to the education field at all. One degree only. She came from money and married into money. Her husband ran for governor in our state and lost. Her own children also attended private schools. Not public. Yet, this woman has said (self-acclaimed) to have a strong passion for public education. She has never worked for a public school, for that matter, she has never worked for or in any school. She does not believe in or supports public education. She believes that public school teachers are overpaid (heck yeah, I laugh all the way to the bank every two weeks and take vacations in my private villa in the coast of Monaco). She is a strong for profit education proponent. She Badass Teachers Association:

The Palimpsest of Progressive Schooling (Part 4)* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Palimpsest of Progressive Schooling (Part 4)* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

The Palimpsest of Progressive Schooling (Part 4)*

Palimpsest: “A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fourth edition, 2000, p. 1265).

Personalized learning, i.e.,tailoring knowledge and skills to the individual student, has been the dream of Progressive educators since the early 20th century and put into partial practice then, in the 1960s, and in the second decade of the 21st century.

Recent posts on the AltSchool (Parts 2 and 3) and different contemporary versions of online and teacher-student interactions–-a sub-set of what many call “blended learning“–-have written over the original Progressive rhetoric and actions of a half-century and century ago. Knowing that Progressive under-textabout past efforts to educate Americans–the “earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible”–could bring a sharper perspective (and deeper understanding) to the contemporary claims that champions of personalized learning–however defined–bring to policymakers, parents, and teachers. That resurrecting of the under-text highlights  the pedagogical and efficiency-driven wings of the Progressive movement then and today.

Earlier Progressive movement, 1890s-1940s

In these decades “progressive education” was the reigning political ideology in U.S. schooling. There were two main ideas, anchored in what was then emerging as a “science of education,” that spurred and divided U.S. progressives. First, student-centered instruction, small group and individualized learning (adherents were sometimes called “pedagogical progressives“) and, second, business-oriented advocates of “scientific management” (sometimes called “administrative progressives”) who sought to prepare children and youth to fit into work and society far more efficiently than the traditional schooling of the day. Both wings of the progressive movement drew from the writings of John Dewey and Edward Thorndike and their embrace of a science of education.

School boards, superintendents, and researchers of the day glommed on to “scientific management.” Proud to be called “educational engineers” during these years, these “administrative progressives” created lists of behaviors that superintendents should follow to strengthen district performance and principals could use to evaluate teachers. They measured buildings, teacher performance, and student achievement. These efficiency-minded progressives triumphed politically in shaping schools in the early decades of the 20th century. “Pedagogical progressives” and their yearning for student-centered, individualized learning figured large in the words and imagination of advocates but made a small dent in school practice.

Neo-Progressive Reforms, 1960s 

Revival of Progressive educational ideas occurred during the 1960s amid desegregation struggles, the war in Vietnam, and The Palimpsest of Progressive Schooling (Part 4)* | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Stop blaming teachers for falling results and give them the trust and time to actually teach | BustED Pencils

Stop blaming teachers for falling results and give them the trust and time to actually teach | BustED Pencils:

Stop blaming teachers for falling results and give them the trust and time to actually teach

I am so sick of this shit.

I don’t really understand, I guess, how hard it is to understand: the more stupid crap I have to do to prove that I’m a good teacher takes away from my time to actually be one. I know, I know- it’s a political thing meant to frame the discussion around “accountability” and “bad teachers”. It’s absolutely fucking ridiculous.

Two things came across my screen today. The first was a release from the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction that shows 96% of teachers in my state are rated as either Proficient or Distinguished. (See Report to the Legislature: Teacher and Principal Evaluation Program) Seriously. We’ve spent tens of millions of dollars and lost countless hours to show that we damn well know what we’re doing. Money, time, and energy that could have been better spent with students were wasted in the name of bureaucracy.

The second was a story out of Australia (Stop blaming teachers for falling results and give them the trust and time to actually teach) that says, shockingly, the same damn thing: “Our Stop blaming teachers for falling results and give them the trust and time to actually teach | BustED Pencils: