July 4: A Day to Celebrate Our Heroes | Diane Ravitch's blog

July 4: A Day to Celebrate Our Heroes | Diane Ravitch's blog:

July 4: A Day to Celebrate Our Heroes 

Diane Ravitch's blog

Paul Horton: The Real Meaning of July 4

2by dianeravitch / 2h

Paul Horton teaches history at the University of Chicago Lab School. He writes: Creating a Commonwealth: July 4th as a Concept For most Americans July 4th is a celebration of American Independence. It is a day of music, fireworks, and 

Three of the Founding Fathers Died on July 4

1by dianeravitch / 55min

This is a wonderful bit of trivia about American history. Three of the nation’s Founding Fathers died on July 4. All three were former presidents. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day in 1826. James Monroe died on 

Nancy Bailey: Celebrate This Day By Celebrating Our Public Schools, a Mainstay of Democracy

by dianeravitch / 0min

Nancy Bailey dedicates her post to the late, beloved Joan Kramer. “On this 4th of July, when we celebrate America’s freedoms, it’s a perfect time to discuss our free public schools, and where we are with them when it comes to school 

Bill Phillis: We Need The Separation of Church and State

by dianeravitch / 0min

Bill Phillis retired years ago as a Deputy Commission of Education in Ohio. He is passionate about equitable funding for the public schools. He has been relentless in exposing the raids on the state treasury by private profiteers like ECOT and 

Melissa Heckler Learned About Education for Democracy in Namibia

1by dianeravitch / 36min

What a curiously interconnected world this is! Melissa Heckler read Paul Thomas’s post about his terrible Father’s Day and his reflections on our “gladiator culture.” She is in Namibia. She was moved by it and sent me the speech she gave at Bank Street College in New York City when she received an alumni award. She said: Good Evening. Thank you to the Alumni Board for this award. I am honored. To

A Poem to Honor a Warrior for Children, for Intellectual Freedom, for Public Schools

12by dianeravitch / 1h

An admirer of the late Joan Kramer wrote this poem in her honor: In memory of our friend and dearest warrior Joan Kramer – may we all fight the good fight till the very end. Tribute to the Warriors Dark, deceitful, dreadful The war continues. Hidden from the public Children succumb to oblivion. Masses are found naked In the valley of corporate reform. Masses of children Stripped of their humanity

July 4: A Day to Celebrate Our Heroes

33by dianeravitch / 2h

I always enjoyed July 4 as a day to celebrate our nation and to honor its heroes. With an ignorant bully in the White House, it is hard to feel good about what is happening today. Trump seems eager to demolish the First Amendment and that’s bad for our nation and our future. He wants to remove environmental protection and allow the pillaging of our air, water, and lands. He wants to defund every

YESTERDAY

Chris Christie Closed the State Beaches for the Holiday Weekend, but Not for Him and His Family

8by dianeravitch / 20h

Soon we can forget about Chris Christie. He is term limited. He will be gone. But here is typical Christie. All state beaches are closed because of a stalemate on the state budget. But Chris Christie went to a state beach with his family because the state owns a beach house. The beach was gloriously empty. Just for him and his family. He said if you want the use of the beach house, run for govern

KIPP-Houston Rips Off Poor Parents

68by dianeravitch / 22h

Charter schools lain they are public schools. They are not. What public school is part of a corporate chain? What public school operates for profit? What public schools charges fees for service? The KIPP schools in Houston have been charging fees to poor parents. Now that the scam has been exposed, KIPP refuses to refund the money to parents who need the money far more than the multi-million doll

Charles Pierce: “Education Is Not A Damn Marketplace!”

16by dianeravitch / 23h

There is one super-smart columnist writing in Esquire, and his name is Charles P. Pierce. He gets it. Unlike the editorial boards of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, he understands that schools don’t get “better” by competing. He understands that what is called “reform” these days is a massive failure. He knows that charter schools, despite the boasting, despite

This High School Adopted (De)personalized Education for All, Thanks to Laurene Powell Jobs

11by dianeravitch / 1d

A California public high school received a grant of $10 million from Laurene Powell Jobs to redesign itself. Guess what? They have gone whole hog for “ personalized learning. ” Known on this Blog as Depersonalized Learning. This is where the computer mines your data all day long and you develop a close relationship with the computer. Meanwhile the giants of Silicon Valley send their own children

“Democracy”: What Does Research Say About AP Courses?

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

We have had an interesting conversation on the blog about the value of AP courses. It was tied to Jay Mathews’ use of AP courses to rank the quality of high schools: the more AP courses, the better the high school. I have made clear two points: One, when I was in high school in the 1950s, there were no AP courses, so I have had no experience with them; and my children graduated high school withou

Roy Turrentine: The Trouble with AP

9by dianeravitch / 1d

I often hear AP lauded because it enables students to get through college in only three years, thus saving a year of tuition. What if college were free? Would there be such a rush to get it over with? What’s the purpose of college? Why four years? 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all 

Teacher Tom: Interdependence Day

Teacher Tom: Interdependence Day:

Interdependence Day

We must hang together gentlemen . . . else we shall most assuredly hang separately. ~Benjamin Franklin

Happy Independence Day! And “happy” is the appropriate greeting for today. The Declaration of Independence was the first historical instance of the word "happiness" appearing in the founding documents of any nation.

Today in 1776, 56 men signed their names to this radical document. As a result they were, without trial, proclaimed traitors by the government and sentenced to death. These were middle class people. John Hancock was the wealthiest among them and he was not even a millionaire by today's standards. The wealthy sided with the king. Most of the signers were working people -- farmers and tradesmen primarily. None of them left behind a family fortune, or a foundation, or any other kind of financial memorial of their lives. Our nation is their legacy.

Their average age was 33 (Thomas Jefferson's age at the time). The youngest was only 20-years-old. The oldest was Benjamin Franklin, who was 83.

As a result of having signed the Declaration of Independence, Teacher Tom: Interdependence Day:

Public Education: Born on the Fourth of July – Live Long and Prosper

Public Education: Born on the Fourth of July – Live Long and Prosper:

Public Education: Born on the Fourth of July

[This post is from July 4, 2013. I’ve updated it to reflect the current year, updated some links, and made a few other minor changes.]

“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.” — John Adams

JOHN ADAMS

The quote above from John Adams, who began his adult life as a school teacher in Massachusetts, is a clear indication of his belief in the importance of a public education system which would educate everyone…by “the whole people” for the benefit of “the whole people.” He also specifically declares that it is to be done at public expense — public funding for public schools.

On the 241st anniversary of the declaration of our nation’s independence it’s worth noting that public education is not something new. It’s one of the basic foundational institutions of our democracy supported by the authors of the nation.

Adams himself was well educated and cared about public education. He made two assertions which would likely dismay “reformers” in their quest to privatize public education. First, as the quote above makes clear…

…the federal government has a clear responsibility for education that includes paying for it.

Second…

That a primary purpose of education is to “raise the lower ranks of society nearer to the higher.”

The public pays for it. The public supports it. The purpose is to equalize the education of the citizenry.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

The education of the citizenry was so important that even Adams’ political rival, Thomas Jefferson, declared in his 1806 State of the Union address that the government should support public education.

…a public institution can alone supply those sciences which though rarely called for are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of the country and some of them to its preservation.

Jefferson proposed a constitutional amendment to fund public education. When that never materialized he directed his attention…

…to his beloved state of Virginia. He developed a comprehensive plan for education which encompassed elementary, secondary, and university levels.

Jefferson believed the elementary school was more important than the university in the plan because, as he said, it was “safer to have the whole people respectfully enlightened 

Public Education: Born on the Fourth of July – Live Long and Prosper:

glen brown: History Is a Weapon: The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Fredrick Douglass

glen brown: History Is a Weapon: The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Fredrick Douglass:

History Is a Weapon: The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Fredrick Douglass

A speech given at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852

“…I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn…

“I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. 

“America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery - the great sin and shame of America! ‘I will not equivocate; I will not excuse’; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just…

“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns; your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour…

“Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the glen brown: History Is a Weapon: The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro by Fredrick Douglass:

 

Illinois State Representative Jeanne Ives hates teachers and our union. | Fred Klonsky

Illinois State Representative Jeanne Ives hates teachers and our union. | Fred Klonsky:

Illinois State Representative Jeanne Ives hates teachers and our union.

-By John Dillon at Pension Vocabulary.

The 72-45 vote to hike the income tax in Illinois included 15 downstate Republicans who have had enough of punishing the marginalized and sabotaging the universities in Illinois.  They began thinking of the long=term impact.

Rauner later threatened a veto, complaining that there should be no additional funds taken from the people if the legislators have not done their jobs.  That would be – swallowing his non-financial, turnaround agenda.

Representative Jeanne Ives was one of 35 Republican House members who stood behind Rauner and his (their) refusal to raise any income tax whatsoever.

Emotions ran high in the Capitol, that’s for sure. Even one of the gentleman class of Naperville – Representative Wehrli – flung a disdainful epithet at Madigan just the afternoon before: “Speaker Junk.”

“Pistols at dawn, sir.”

But you couldn’t really have expected Representative Ives to have voted any differently.  Representative Ives is often tagged or favorably noted by the Illinois Policy Institute in its press and publications (see Compass), and is often also provided column space in the Chicago Tribune along with other I.P.I. notables like Diana Sroka Rickert.

The Illinois Policy Institute is a “liberty-based,” free-market think tank which bills itself as non-partisan while accepting money from Governor Bruce Rauner and espousing Illinois State Representative Jeanne Ives hates teachers and our union. | Fred Klonsky:

Freedom, Choice, and the Death of Us | radical eyes for equity

Freedom, Choice, and the Death of Us | radical eyes for equity:

Freedom, Choice, and the Death of Us

“they did not stop to think they died instead”

“‘next to of course god america i,'” e.e. cummings

Over the course of a couple hours after my mother was discovered comatose, the ER doctor offered us a choice: airlift my mother to a larger hospital for surgery to remove the clot in her brain that caused her stroke or leave her comatose, each moment destroying more of her brain.

Just twelve days later, in front of my mother then in a rehabilitation facility after responding well to the high-risk surgery,  my father became unresponsive; the EMS team summoned by a 911 call were frantically trying to resuscitate my father, kept alive by his pacemaker/defibrillator. Since my father had resisted switching off the defibrillator and choosing a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order, the lead EMS responder asked me where I wanted him to be transported.

Because of the proceeding days when we all scrambled against my parents’ health insurance, my first thought was how was I to know where his insurance would cover this event (ultimately the last moments of his life).

While cycling on the local rail trail near my university and where my mother now remains in a single room—the building in which she witnessed my father’s death—a friend and I pedaled up to a road crossing where a father sat on his bicycle with a trailer attached for children to ride along.

This intersection has decorative circles of brickwork on each side of the road. As this man crossed, he steered poorly around the brickwork—the Freedom, Choice, and the Death of Us | radical eyes for equity:

Two heavyweight U.S. presidents died on July 4, 1826. Who were they? - The Washington Post

Two heavyweight U.S. presidents died on July 4, 1826. Who were they? - The Washington Post:

Two heavyweight U.S. presidents died on July 4, 1826. Who were they?

In this 1894 rendering, John Adams, Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson sit at a table during the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. (Augustus Tholey)

Here’s a little Fourth of July history to mark the Fourth of July 2017:

Did you know that three U.S. presidents died on July 4? And that two of them, the last of the living Founding Fathers, passed away within hours of each other on the 50th anniversary of the birth of the United States, and one is said to have uttered the other man’s name on his deathbed?

James Monroe, the fifth American president, died on July 4, 1831, at the age of 83, the last of the Founding Fathers to be president.

But the bigger coincidence is what happened five years earlier, on July 4, 1826, exactly five decades after the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, approved the Declaration of Independence.

John Adams, the second president, and Thomas Jefferson, the third, died within hours of each other and, the story goes, the last words uttered by Adams were “Thomas Jefferson survives.”

But did that really happen?

Jefferson and Adams came from different worlds — the former an aristocrat from Virginia, the latter a New Englander — and had different philosophies about the size and power of the federal government as well as the shape of the economy. Still, according to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, they became close friends in 1775 at the Continental Congress and Two heavyweight U.S. presidents died on July 4, 1826. Who were they? - The Washington Post:

Happy Independence Day 2017 | deutsch29

Happy Independence Day 2017 | deutsch29:

Happy Independence Day 2017

I have been having a marvelous summer.

The very necessary home renovations that I postponed until the summer are almost completely finished. Only one more coat of paint needed on my new back door.

The three hours per week during which I am tutoring one nephew in English is running smoothly despite his work schedule, physical therapy, basketball practice, and numerous vacations. On some weeks, we meet at odd times to make it happen. But happening it is, and what’s more is that my nephew is eager for the tutoring as he sees the value in it.

It is always fine to teach someone who values the experience.

Also this summer, I have been enjoying reading numerous works of British literature in preparation for teaching English IV for the first time since I student taught it in 1991.

Too, I have been able to take some short trips. Just as the school year ended, I traveled to Georgia to attend the high school graduation of the daughter of a childhood friend. Last weekend, I traveled to Baton Rouge to hear bible teacher, Beth Moore, who is easily one of the top three funniest people I have ever encountered.  This week, I will head to Tennessee to visit a college roommate who can be a festival of Happy Independence Day 2017 | deutsch29:

Badass Teachers Association: Charter School Lotteries – Why Most Families Don’t Even Apply by Steven Singer

Badass Teachers Association: Charter School Lotteries – Why Most Families Don’t Even Apply by Steven Singer:

Charter School Lotteries – Why Most Families Don’t Even Apply by Steven Singer

Originally posted at: https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/03/charter-school-lotteries-why-most-families-dont-even-apply/

Who gets to enroll in your school?

This question is at the heart of the charter school debate.

While traditional public schools have to accept any student who meets residency requirements, charter schools can be entirely more selective.

They don’t have to take just any student. They can pick and choose based on pretty much whatever criteria they want.

Despite the fact that charters are publicly funded and privately run, transparency requirements are so low in most states that regulators aren’t even allowed to check up on their enrollment practices

It’s a situation rife with the potential for fraud and abuse with America’s most vulnerable students often being victimized and huge corporations raking in record profits

Critics say that charter schools routinely accept only the easiest students to educate. They take those with the best academic records, without disciplinary problems or special education needs. This allows them to spend less money to run their schools and claim all their students are doing well because of artificially inflated test scores.
But when critics level such charges against the charter school industry, the most common reply is an appeal to charter school Badass Teachers Association: Charter School Lotteries – Why Most Families Don’t Even Apply by Steven Singer:

Happy the 4th of July - The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

Happy the 4th of July - The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

"But the educated citizen knows how much more there is to know. He knows that "knowledge is power," more so today than ever before. He knows that only an educated and informed people will be a free people, that the ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all, and that if we can, as Jefferson put it, "enlighten the people generally ... tyranny and the oppressions of mind and body will vanish, like evil spirits at the dawn of day." And, therefore, the educated citizen has a special obligation to encourage the pursuit of learning, to promote exploration of the unknown, to preserve the freedom of inquiry, to support the advancement of research, and to assist at every level of government the improvement of education for all Americans, from grade school to graduate school." John F. Kennedy