Glen Ford: Corporate Assault on Public Education + Dr. Ravitch's Comments

Barack Obama has far exceeded George Bush in corporatization of education in the United States. — Glen Ford

Master dialectician Glen Ford's speech "Corporate Assault on Public Education" draws out all of the historical and material conditions that have created the current crop of African Americans who serve the most reactionary sectors of the corporate education cabal. His peerless voice matched with his uncanny ability to narrate compelling facts like Cory Booker's deep ties to the arch-reactionary The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation make for a powerful and informative speech. This is required viewing for every social justice advocate engaged in the desperate struggle to keep the remaining public commons out of the clutches of corporate coffers.

H/T to Big Education APE.

In the space of less than 20 years, the public school privatization movement has emerged from the narrow, right wing fringes to dominate both major political parties. From vouchers to school choice to charter schools, the issue has divided even Black Americans, who were once public education's most fervent supporters. Glen Ford explains how this came about by wealthy individuals buying black politicians and promoting their careers, particularly Corey Booker.

Glen Ford is a veteran of more than 40 years in broadcast, print and Internet journalism. A former Washington Bureau Chief and White House, Capitol Hill, and State Department correspondent, he is currently Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report (BlackAgendaReport.com), a weekly magazine of news, commentary and analysis from the Black Left. Along with co-host Nellie Hester Bailey, Ford hosts and produces the weekly, one-hour Black Agenda Radio program on the Progressive Radio Network.

Sponsored by LifeLines and Peace and Justice Task Force of All Souls Church. Event May 9, 2012 Camera, sound Joe Friendly

Professor Ravitch posted the following commentary on her blog today regarding the video that is extremely apropos:

Several people sent me a video of Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report skewering Corey Booker, the mayor of Newark, and Howard Fuller of Black Alliance for Educational Options as sell-outs for a rightwing agenda. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdPACwRgw04

I must say there was nothing in the video that surprised me. Back in the late 1990s, when I was involved in three different conservative organizations, there was a concerted effort to find and promote black advocates for choice. The leaders on the right wanted to promote charters as a boon to minorities and the poor. The pitch was, "We are saving poor kids from failing schools." After all, they couldn't very well go to state capitols and say, "Please pass charter legislation so that we can get government off our backs." Or, "please pass charter legislation because we can't get vouchers."

So the strategists on the right devised a clever campaign that was irresistible to liberals and conservatives alike: Create privately-managed schools to save poor black and Hispanic kids. Republicans would like the privatization aspect and liberals would fall for the "save poor minorities" part.

It worked.

Glen Ford, Bruce Dixon, and all the other contributors to Black Agenda Report have consistently been the most principled and acerbic critics of the corporate education reform agenda. Please donate to their site to keep it going, and share their site far and wide.

Aaron Krager begins Petitioning Progressive Sites to Stop Promoting Michelle Rhee

After I signed the petition, other petitions popped up for me to consider as a member of Change.Org.  One of them was from nation's leading teacher foe, the venomous Michelle Rhee, under the name of her corporate reform schooler astroturf group called Students First. — Dr. James Horn


Schools Matter was the first place I read about the vile and venomous Michelle Rhee and her plutocratic backers scamboozling unsuspecting activists into unwittingly signing petitions supporting reactionary causes dear to the furthest right-wing think-thanks in existence.

Rhee is a favorite among teabaggers and other disciples of Ayn Rand. Rhee collaborates with, and has even worked on the transition teams of the most reactionary right-wing Governors from Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio. All of the ideas Rhee champions have come straight out of the most vile right wing think tanks including Hoover Institution, Hudson Institute, The Cato Institute, The American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, The Heartland Institute, Manhattan Institute, and other John Birch Society derivatives.

I'd be curious as to why anyone outside of the deplorable reactionaries mentioned above would support Rhee in any fashion. After all, supporting her is tantamount to supporting the fringe right, whose end goal is not only the destruction of the public commons, but the privatization of our entire education system. So I found the idea that tricking people leaning left of center a little more than nefarious.

Yesterday I received an email from a person who decided to set up petitions on those very same sites, petitioning them to stop supporting Rhee and her astroturf union busting organization. I reproduce it here with the author's permission. Please follow the last two links in his email to sign the petitions against Rhee's deceptive tactics.

Hi,

As an avid user of petition sites such as Change.org and Care2.com I was shocked to see Michelle Rhee's Students First organization utilizing this platform. These sites promote progressive values and push for progressive change. Rhee's organization is anything but progressive. Students First advocates against collective bargaining, teacher unions and contrary to its name, does not put students first. 

I unknowingly signed a petition on Change.org's site from Students First... as a result of this deception I am asking both Change.org and Care2.com to stop promoting Rhee's pro-corporate agenda. Below are the links to my post announcing the actions as well as the links to the petitions themselves.

• Hold Progressive Change Agents Accountable
• Stop tricking progressives into signing Michelle Rhee’s union busting petitions (care2.com petition)
• Stop tricking progressives into signing Michelle Rhee’s union busting petitions (moveon.org petition)

Feel free to contact me at this email if you have any questions.

--
Peace
Aaron Krager

In a Tizzy in Tennessee

The California Senate recently approved a bill that would require schools to teach LGBT history. That's a big win in most books, but not if you're Tennessee State Representative Stacey Campfield. Since the California Senate passed this pro-gay bill, it's only a matter of time before the fine state of Tennessee follow suit - sort of like how there are certain Middle Eastern countries that follow Sharia Law, which logically means it's only a matter of time before Sharia Law comes to the United States (obvious sarcasm pointing out the absurdity of Rep. Campfield's actions).

Actually, Tennessee already blazed some trails by being the first state to effectively ban Sharia Law in 2010.

Well, Rep. Campfield is carrying that torch and standing up against even the threat future pro-gay legislation (or any teachers currently teaching about homosexuality). Below is the video of discussion of the bill:

Rep. Campfield makes it pretty darn obvious that this is about prohibiting the teaching of homosexuality - you can skip to the 1:30 mark to see his line of questioning that makes this abundantly clear.

But here's where this starts to get even wackier: the legal counsel of the TN Organization of School Superintendents, Chuck Cagel, testifies just after the 1:32:00 mark. He cites the case of Garcetti vs. Ceballos and explained that teachers do not have first amendment rights when it comes to curriculum issues. On top of that, TN state law already puts limits on what can be taught through curriculum adoptions, and both the state board of education and local boards have to approve of that curriculum. From counsel Cagel:

"The theory that a teacher can just walk in and address any subject that they wish is not supported either in federal law or in our state law. In fact, our state law says that if you wander off that curriculum and address the subjects Senator Campfield makes reference here today, then you are subject criminal prosecution. And you are also subject to dismissal as a teacher in a local school system. So I don't know what bigger hammers we can have in the code..."

So there's nothing about homosexuality in the curriculum; TN teachers cannot wander from that homosexual-free curriculum; and, if they do wander from that homosexual-free curriculum, teachers (even tenured teachers) can lose their job. When asked by Rep Campfield about any specific bans on teaching homosexuality, Cagel makes it clear that teachers cannot teach about homosexuality given the current law. But keep in mind this bill would also potentially cause problems for school employees looking to curb anti-gay bullying and students looking to form LGBT clubs (see the ACLU link below).

The TN branch of the ACLU wrote about the bill here. Current TN standards for K-8 health education are available here. You can read the actual bill and an amendment here.