User:Jon Awbrey/EDWEEK

Jun 14, 2011 — Frustrated Educators Aim To Build Grassroots Movement

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EW -- Frustrated Educators Aim To Build Grassroots Movement

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Frustrated Educators Aim To Build Grassroots Movement (June 14, 2011)

• http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/15/35activists_ep.h30.html

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Comment 1

The following Facebook page is a good resource for learning how communities across the nation are dealing with the ongoing degradation of their public education systems.

Wear Red For Public Ed

• https://www.facebook.com/wearredforpubliced

Many people across the country are beginning to realize that there is a coordinated campaign by corporate-dominated State governments to turn back the clock on American education to something more like the systems of private privilege we once had the good sense to revolt against.

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3a91d6a4cc-91ea-403d-a8cf-ed4f5fa3774c

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Comment 2

It took them a while, but I think the East India Teaching Company 2.0 has finally worked out a business plan that is pretty much independent of whoever happens to occupy the Oval Office.

I’ve been focused on the retrograde developments in education policy over the past decade or so, and I have not seen even so much as a ripple of forward progress from Bush to Obama. Indeed, with J.E.B. and Gates now being welcomed with hugs and kisses, the prospects for universal free public education are looking more Bush-Wacked day by day.

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3a167089bc-aa13-4383-ad44-5b641bf84a9a

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Comment 3

Anyone with a working long-term memory knows where this agenda to “Starve Public Schools Out Of Existence” came from.

Good thing there's web search for the rest of us —

Richard DeVos Advocates “Stealth” Strategy Against Public Education

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-fTAhc4QC4

Blackwater In-Law DeVos Outlines “Stealth” Plot Against Public Education

• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/04/972949/-Blackwater-In-Law-DeVos-outlines-stealth-plot-against-Public-Education

Strategy for Privatizing Public Schools Spelled out by Dick DeVos in 2002 Heritage Foundation Speech

• http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/5/3/12515/58655/Front_Page/Strategy_for_Privatizing_Public_Schools_Spelled_out_by_Dick_D

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3a136a2f3f-c3de-4e96-8752-9d809f337fdf

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Comment 4

And just in case anyone thinks these Educational Privateers are relics of bygone days, here's a couple of recent stories that show us what they have in mind for one of democracy's most precious resources.

The United Gates Of America

• http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/22/978218/-The-United-Gates-of-America

Rupert Murdoch, Who Bought 90% Of An Education Software Provider, Launches Initiative “To Make Education A Top Issue In 2012 Presidential Campaign”

• http://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-murdoch-news-corp-education-2012-presidential-campaign-2011-5

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3a801a8f9c-5c87-4e40-9407-5f07600c8b9b

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Comment 5

We have been discussing the Administration's curiously Bush-Wacked approach to education off and on at “The Wikipedia Review”, an independent forum for social media criticism. See, for example, the following thread —

Will Wikipedia Replace Your Kid's Teacher?
The “Blue Screen Of Death” For Education

• http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=33212

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3ad353d2d6-1775-459c-8908-7b092f0f6e04

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Comment 6

We are going to have to make renewed efforts to educate the public about the difference between Agenda-Driven Statistification (ADS) and Actual Research Studies (ARS), the kinds of studies that peer-reviewed journal editors wouldn't toss in the trash at first sight.

The way things have gotten over the past couple of decades, many super-tanker shiploads of cash are going into confusing the public about that very difference.

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3a0fd28500-7fa5-4d3e-b273-5d57310c567a

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Jun 21, 2011 — Diane Ravitch • Why I Am Marching On July 30

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EW -- Why I Am Marching On July 30

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Diane Ravitch • Why I Am Marching On July 30 (June 21, 2011)

• http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2011/06/why_i_am_marching_on_july_30.html

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Comment 1

Public rallies are good — it gives you hope for the future of the country to find out that a whole lot of other people still care about democracy and the crucial role that equal opportunity education plays in keeping democracy alive. And a good-sized rally tells our so-called Leaders that they need to clean the private interest buzz-whiz out of their ears and start listening to the people again.

That may work a while as a wake-up call, but our Hear-Less Leaders will just punch the snooze button as soon as we go home, and they will just keep punching it every time we raise the alarm again.

It was probably a mistake to think that anyone would ever do the work of democracy for us. And it was sure a mistake to think that the Struggle for Independence, or Emancipation, or a New Deal, or Civil Rights, or all the rest would ever be finished, a one-off deal. The ideas that enslaved us before 1776 still permeate our society, they flare up time and again like some virus that won't be cured, and we have to keep returning to our core values if we want to live out another day.

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3a16bd0107-8664-48fe-8740-7e599e431544

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Comment 2 (Reply)

FYSMI (Funny You Should Mention It) —

I recently compared Michigan's new and improved, industrial strength Emergency Mangler Act to the One Ring To Rule Them All.

<quote>
The Emergency Mangler Act is an Open Invitation to Corruption.

It's a lot like that One Ring To Rule Them All …

Maybe we'll get lucky and find one or two nice elves who can pass the test, do the job honestly, diminish, and ride off into the sunset, all without taking our hides with them.

And if you believe that, I can get you a really fantastic deal on a Bridge to Mordor …

http://www.freep.com/comments/article/20110624/NEWS01/106240443/Under-Bobb-consultants-got-raises-perks
</quote>

http://sitelife.edweek.org/ver1.0/gocomm?ck=CommentKey%3a9504136c-9376-47d2-865e-8b9252c49c13

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