Tuesday, November 6, 2012

It’s NOT Paranoia « Deborah Meier on Education

It’s NOT Paranoia « Deborah Meier on Education:


It’s NOT Paranoia

When you read this I’ll be enjoying the Coalition of Essential School’s Fall Forum in Providence (8th/9th). By the time I return (Nov 17th) I’ll have been many places where I’ll get feedback on the elections and on teaching this side of the Mississippi–including breakfast with Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago AFT. But will it cure my “paranoia”?
Thanks to Ann Cook for reminding me that my “paranoia” about teachers holding a special place in the hearts of the corporate establishment is well-founded. Has anyone asked the policemen or firemen or sanitation workers (not to mention …) to work extra hours because there’s a “crisis” in NYC? They may, like teachers, do so without even being asked. Why then are teachers expected to solve the crisis facing the entire nation? Maybe even the rich need the goodwill of cops and firemen? Of course, it may not be long before they have created a truly separate world for themselves with their own cops and firemen–as they have in education, with their own schools.
The claim that our schools are in crisis goes back… actually, to every time there’s a dip in the financial well-being of America–a time when ordinary folks are looking around for someone to blame. I have a collection of