Ravitch: Let's all push back as hard as we can

A few weeks ago, I sent a letter to Representative Posey asking about his position on the proposed FERPA regulations and his position on sidestepping parent consent on the sharing of student information. A reply came in the mail today thanking me for my question about Medicare and a two page letter on the Ryan Plan and what I didn't have to worry about. The letter came after sitting patiently for 70 minutes waiting to ask my question on a recent telephone townhall.

I find Diane Ravitch a brave voice and one that has spoken facts that the advocates for current and past education reform have not been able to shut out or ignore. She is not the only voice, but has been able to get attention in a sea of no reporting. The public can form no opinion, up or down, unless all the information is presented in a way that can be understood. Read her words:

A LETTER TO MY FRIENDS AND READERS

Many people have asked what they can do to try to change the conditions and misguided policies that I describe in my book. Wherever I go, the same question comes up: What can we do? How do we stop these bad policies and programs? Whether they are parents, teachers, administrators, school board members or citizens concerned about the future of our children and our society, they want ideas about how to persuade our elected officials to change course.

Education used to be a state and local function. Unfortunately, since the passage of No Child Left Behind in 2001–02, the levers of power now are in the hands of federal officials. With Republicans and Democrats both advocating policies that endanger the future of public education, the situation seems dire indeed. Unfortunately, many of our nation’s wealthiest philanthropies and individuals embrace the misuse of testing and accountability and the advance of privatization.

The odds against us seem overwhelming, but we cannot afford to do nothing. We must take action. At present, the Obama administration is embarked on a course of action that many find repugnant. The Race to the Top is built on the foundation of No Child Left Behind. It emphasizes high-stakes testing, judging teachers by their students’ test scores, closing low-performing schools instead of helping them improve, and promoting a huge increase in private management of public schools. These approaches will narrow the curriculum and promote teaching to the test, which will rob children of the opportunity for a good education. Furthermore, none of these strategies has a solid research base, none has been proven effective in practice, all have the potential to disrupt students’ education, demoralize teachers, and shatter communities. The burden of these policies will fall heavily on low-income, minority communities, but many other communities will be affected as well.

What we need to improve education in this country is a strong, highly respected education profession; a rich curriculum in the arts and sciences, available in every school for every child; assessments that gauge what students know and can do, instead of mindless test prepping for bubble tests. And a government that is prepared to change the economic and social conditions that interfere with children’s readiness to learn.

We cannot improve education by quick fixes. We will not fix education by turning public schools over to entrepreneurs. We will not improve it by driving out experienced professionals and replacing them with enthusiastic amateurs. We will not make our schools better by closing them and firing teachers and entire staffs. No high-performing nation in the world follows such strategies. We cannot be satisfied with the status quo, which is not good enough for our children, nor can we satisfied with the Bush-Obama-Duncan “reforms” that have never been proven to work anywhere.

This is what I suggest:

Join the Save Our Schools organization created by outstanding teachers. Their website is www.saveourschoolsmarch.org. Whether you are a teacher or a parent, join the march on Washington, D.C., from July 28 - 30, 2011. I will be there, supporting the dignity of the teaching profession and our public schools.

Join Parents Across America. Their website is www.parentsacrossamerica.org. This is a group of parents who want to work together to strengthen public education and restore common sense reforms.

Write your elected officials. Find out whether any Congressmen or Senators from your state are on the education committee in their House of Congress. Write the members of the education committees even if you don’t live in their state. Ask your colleagues to write letters to them. Write letters to the editor. Comment on education blogs. Call in to talk shows. Speak up at school and community meetings. Speak up, speak out.

As the great Southern writer Flannery O’Connor wrote in a letter to a friend, “You have to push as hard as the age that pushes against you.”

This age is pushing mighty hard against children, against educators, and against the very concept of good education.

Let’s all push back as hard as we can.


Diane Ravitch

http://www.dianeravitch.com/action.html