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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 like the systems of private privilege we once had the good sense to revolt against.
 
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 like the systems of private privilege we once had the good sense to revolt against.
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</pre>
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==Jun 22, 2011 &mdash; Michigan Groups Sue Governor Snyder Over Emergency Manager Law==
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<pre>
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HUPO -- Michigan Groups Sue Governor Snyder
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Michigan Groups Sue Governor Snyder Over Emergency Manager Law, Calling It A Power Grab (June 22, 2011)
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• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/michigan-groups-sue-gov-s_n_882442.html
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Comment 1
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Here's a good update on some of the things that educators, parent activists, and others will be doing over the Summer to protect our system of democratic education from hostile takeover by corporations, ideologues, and other private interests.
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Education Week • “Frustrated Educators Aim To Build Grassroots Movement”
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• http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/15/35activists_ep.h30.html
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<quote>
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Thousands of educators, parent activists, and others are expected to convene in the heat and humidity of Washington next month for a march protesting the current thrust of education policy in the United States, especially the strong emphasis on test-based accountability.
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Organizers say the effort aims to galvanize and give voice to those who believe policymakers, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and state governors, have gone astray in their remedies for improving American schools.
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</quote>
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Comment 2
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Comment 3
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See —
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Ann Arbor Dems Who Supported Governor Rick Snyder Get Some Recognition
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• http://www.a2politico.com/?p=7761
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Snyder Tied For Title of Most Unpopular Governor in the United States
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• http://www.a2politico.com/?p=8408
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Influential Right-Leaning Political Analyst Declares Snyder’s Governorship A “Failure” In Washington Post Op-Ed
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• http://www.a2politico.com/?p=8596
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Comment 4
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If the Teadious Party ever figures out who the Real Redcoats are, they might become a coherent and even positive force. But it's kinda like getting the victims of a con to admit they've been conned. It's not unusual for stubborn pride to keep them throwing good money after bad.
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Comment 5
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In a related story …
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Gov. Snyder: Your Child Can Be Educated For $6K Per Year, But $20K Per Year Not Enough To Educate My Kid
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• http://www.a2politico.com/?p=8684
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Comment 6
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When democracie­s run into problems,
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They solve them by democratic means,
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Or else they cease to be democracie­s.
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Comment 7
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A Little Bit Of History Acid-Refluxing …
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Linda Darling-Hammond • “The Service of Democratic Education”
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• http://www.thenation.com/article/160850/service-democratic-education
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Precisely 100 years ago, nationally distributed tests of arithmetic, handwriting and English were put into use. Their results were used to compare students, teachers and schools; to report to the public; and even to award merit pay — a short-lived innovation due to the many problems it caused.
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In the view of these brilliant managerial engineers, professionally trained teachers were considered troublesome, because they had their own ideas about education and frequently didn’t go along meekly with the plan.
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As one such teacher wrote in “The American Teacher” in 1912:
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We have yielded to the arrogance of “big business men” and have accepted their criteria of efficiency at their own valuation, without question. We have consented to measure the results of educational efforts in terms of price and product — the terms that prevail in the factory and the department store. But education, since it deals in the first place with human organisms, and in the second place with individualities, is not analogous to a standardizable manufacturing process. Education must measure its efficiency not in terms of so many promotions per dollar of expenditure, nor even in terms of so many student-hours per dollar of salary; it must measure its efficiency in terms of increased humanism, increased power to do, increased capacity to appreciate.
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</quote>
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Comment 8 (Reply)
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Mostly, they have “been there done that”.
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Most professional educators know enough about the history of education in the U.S. — or managed to survive enough rounds of Revolution, Reformation, and Restoration themselves — to know that the latest rage of bean-counter approaches to quality has occurred periodically throughout the last century, and they know what it always comes to in the end.  Pretty much nada.
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I posted a hint of that history above, and a link to a very good discussion of what we can learn from that history.
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Comment 9
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The Emergency Mangler Act is an Open Invitation to Corruption.
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It's a lot like that One Ring To Rule Them All …
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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.
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And if you believe that, I can get you a really fantastic deal on a Bridge to Mordor …
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Comment 10
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Related Stories —
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Rick Snyder to announce sweeping DPS reforms Monday (June 19, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110619/NEWS01/110619015/Rick-Snyder-announce-sweeping-DPS-reforms-Monday
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Governor Rick Snyder to announce sweeping DPS reforms today (June 20, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110620/NEWS06/106200359/Gov-Rick-Snyder-announce-sweeping-DPS-reforms-today
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Sweeping reform plan empowers principals, teachers in low-performing Michigan schools (June 20, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110620/NEWS01/110620027/Sweeping-reform-plan-empowers-principals-teachers-low-performing-Michigan-schools
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How new Michigan school district for low-performing schools would work (June 20, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110620/NEWS01/110620033/How-new-Michigan-school-district-low-performing-schools-would-work
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Snyder had idea for changing DPS even before he was governor (June 21, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/NEWS01/106210388/Snyder-had-idea-changing-DPS-even-before-he-governor
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DPS's scholarship promise is short on details and resources (June 21, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/NEWS06/106210390/DPS-s-scholarship-promise-short-details-resources
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New start for Detroit's worst schools (June 21, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/NEWS01/106210383/New-start-Detroit-s-worst-schools
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Comment 11
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Related Stories —
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Editorial • Stronger medicine for sick schools (June 21, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110621/OPINION01/106210320/Editorial-Stronger-medicine-sick-schools
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Eastern Michigan faculty side with teachers' unions, refuse to work in Detroit schools (June 22, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220413/Eastern-Michigan-faculty-side-teachers-unions-refuse-work-Detroit-schools
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Art dealer's trial to begin in DPS corruption case (June 22, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220383/Art-dealer-s-trial-begin-DPS-corruption-case
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Roy Roberts to cut non-teaching jobs, cancel supplier contracts in effort to transform DPS (June 22, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/110622024/Roy-Roberts-cut-non-teaching-jobs-cancel-supplier-contracts-effort-transform-DPS
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Eastern Michigan faculty side with teachers' unions, says they weren't consulted about plan (June 22, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220413/Eastern-Michigan-faculty-side-teachers-unions-says-they-weren-t-consulted-about-plan
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DPS spent $1.6M on travel, gave raises to consultants (June 24, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110624/NEWS01/106240431/DPS-spent-1-6M-consultants-travel
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Under Bobb, consultants got raises, perks (June 24, 2011)
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• http://www.freep.com/article/20110624/NEWS01/106240443/Under-Bobb-consultants-got-raises-perks
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Comment 12
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The new and depraved, industrial strength Emergency Mangler Act goes way beyond anything any of us has ever seen before in this country, beyond Abuse of Power, Eminent Domain, and Martial Law put together.
    
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