Was that an attempt to have us believe the states still have sovereignty regarding education decisions? What about the fact that states have to compete for federal Race to the Top monies and fulfill many criteria set by the federal government?
The real concern is that the government is not taking action against the influence on education from wealthy billionaires such as Bill Gates, the Walton family and Eli and Edythe Broad. Below is an example. Note the part in bold and then think again of what Obama said about the governors making education decisions. Ask yourself if education reforms should even be determined by a group of governors without input from their states' legislators, and even more importantly, from "Us, the People"?
"..In its “advocacy and public policy” work, the [Bill and Melinda] Gates Foundation also funnels money to elected officials through their national associations. They have given grants to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, National Conference of State Legislatures, United States Conference of Mayors, National Association of Latino Elected Officials Education Fund, and National Association of State Boards of Education. They’ve also funded associations of high nonelected officials, such as the Council of Chief State School Officers."
Read about the billionaires' influence in this long, but enlightening excerpt of the article "Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools". Click here - It clearly shows that public education has been hi-jacked by the wealthy and we should wonder to what end? What is in it for them?
Also read this insightful response to the president's address by Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "Obama's faulty logic: What he said and failed to say" .
6 comments:
Thanks for posting this! The Got Dough article is long but everyone needs to read it. Why are our elected officials allowing this to happen? This is much worse than I thought. Who the heck are they to decide what's best for the "little people"? Newspapers everywhere should be reporting on this and school officials at all levels should be encouraging citizens to take a stand against it! Why the silence?
Why don't these billionaires and Obama use the $30,000 a year schools they send their kids to as a model for public schools? I'm sure over at Sidwell Friends kids get to enjoy recess, leisurely lunches, and a varied and interesting curriculum. Those are all things that public school kids are being forced to do without as districts scramble to meet the national standards and state testing requirements that private schools aren't accountable to. Or Obama could give me a voucher so my kids can go to Sidwell. Yeah, right!
It's interesting to note that Gates and other billionaires are pretty choosy about the organizations they support. No teachers' unions, no professional education associations, no schools of education on their lists. That might accidentally enable some people who actually know what's needed to improve public schools to get their ideas implemented. In the Gates' view only business people and government officials know what's needed. After all, they went to school once, didn't they?
There is a csap myth that has been added to schools since I was in school. Testing is a measurement and then it got really muddy after that as it was looked as a corporation tool to get more money from the feds.
I know it is hard to break the gaze of the zombies we have allowed ourselves to become when it comes to these issues or be overwhelmed by people that don't understand nor want to . I have run into parents and asked them to look into not making their kids participate. I do have a question. Why the gallelo (Sp) test? I don't want my kids wasting time on unnecessary tests and I am not sure of all the tests. Melissa would you list what tests that they currently have to be subjected to and could we get the dates of these tests and how they are linked. I am confused on this. That would be informative to other parents as well I believe and it would clear my head as I am needing this information and you brought this to light.
Chris, I do have a copy of the district assessment schedule. I can write up a post relaying that info. I know that there is a group of teachers working to add up the number of hours spent on assessments at the elementary level. I'm waiting for their results as I'd like to include that. From what I gather, and I might be totally wrong, is that all the assessments teachers are made to give are all preliminary indicators of how studetns will do on CSAP. So teachers can see where the gaps are that need to be worked on to ensure a proficient CSAP score. Again, I might be wrong, but that's my impression.
A couple of years ago in Richmond, VA, the mayor tried to get rid of the elected school board and appoint one. They failed. Mayors who want to go that route typically want total control of the school system. This leave no accountability for the mayor. The corporations love this because they can come in unopposed to try to further the privitization movement. The local business leaders even teamed up and wrote a long letter supporting the mayor (Doug Wilder). They even threw in some shoddy statistics to boot. Luckily the community stood up against the movement and it failed.
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