This on NPR's Talk of the Nation show today.
http://www.npr.org/...
I don't have a transcript of the show but will do my best to recap the points which came up, including listener calls. And add very few thoughts of my own.
First up, let me say what Ravitch talked was nothing new. Especially if you have been following the diaries by teacherken and other educators here at Dailykos. But what is significant and refreshing is to have someone - with real credibility in education reform - saying those on the media and defending the noble profession of teaching and the teachers strongly, and unapologetically. Too often, it is all the concern-trolling education deformers like Michelle Rhee, Bill Gates and their sycophants with none from educators or those connected to the profession.
Host Mary Louise Kelly's introduction started with a reference to Ravitch's CNN Op-ed piece on the same topic :
http://articles.cnn.com/...
Kelly mentioned about the tons of comments it invited and asked Ravitch her thoughts about the attacks on the teaching profession. Kelly also tried to push the MSM narrative regarding the concern-trolling docutrash "Waiting for Superman"(WfS) as "popular". Ravitch pulled no punches back and pushed back saying that only in the MSM world it is considered "popular" and actually had poor box office receipts. (My note : Gates foundation had allotted 2 million $ for marketing it, not to mention shilling by NPR - I had to listen to the crap during "All things Considered". Pretty good return for 2 million $ uh ?, including a royal snub by the Oscars). She called out Gates foundation and deformers and their media shills like NBC and Oprah for promoting the same. And how poverty, lack of resources etc are dismissed by the elites as reasons for the sad state of public education, and teachers being dishonestly blamed for everything that is wrong with our schools. I felt she made an error , a omission rather - teachers are not only unfairly blamed for schools, but also for our bad economy. Like Arne Duncan's blather - "we need to educate our way to a better economy". Or President Obama telling that students need to out-educate Indians & Chinese to "compete" in the global economy.
Kelly asked if parents are to blame for the bad performance of schools. Ravitch avoided the trap and refused to blame parents alone. She talked about the growing homelessness and the effect it has on kids. And called out the dishonest narrative of the deformers awestruck at Finland, while conveniently overlooking the fact that Finland has very less children in poverty (hardly 3%) while our own stands at around a whopping 20% , a shame for a rich country. Here I wished she had taken it to a higher level and mentioned our screwed up economic system and the high levels of inequality as major factors.
She did a good job of reclaiming the narrative by saying she is against "Status quo", and those who are for status quo are those shilling for the decade old "Most , errr....No Child Left Behind" and its latest reincarnation "Race to the Bottom err.... Top".
Now some recap on the listener calls :
The guy whose family is full of teachers called into say that adjusted for inflation , he should be earning something like 75K but nowhere close to it really. And he mentioned about the distorted economic system where Wall street execs rake in huge pots of money while teachers are paid low.
There was a caller (looking into public/private schools for his kids) saying the teachers unions shielding bad teachers gives him pause about public schools. This, having heard from his friends etc. Ravitch replied that it is not the job of teachers unions to hire & fire teachers. It is the job of school principals who need to be trained properly. Unions make sure their members get due process before they are fired. Here I wished she had mentioned the bizarro ponzi scheme masquerading as training program for principals , courtesy Geroge W & Laura Bush. GW Bush should give pause to all those who are concerned about public schools & education right, if not anything else? As for the accusation that unions stand in the way of innovation, she pushed back and pointed to "No Child Left Behind" as the culprit - it prevents a well-rounded education by crowding out arts, science, etc and promoting rote learning through teaching to the test .
I missed the part where a young lady relatively new to the profession and non-union called in.
Overall, Ravitch was fabulous and very spot on. A lot better than Randi Weingarten, the AFT chief, who appears the most in the media on behalf of teachers. Randi, to me , sounds defensive for a union leader whose members are under vicious attack from the oligarchy. And that made Ravitch all the more appealing. I want to be cautiously optimistic that the tide is turning towards the teachers in the MSM, even if only a little bit. I am not naive to think the media will all of a sudden stop genuflecting to Rhee and her cohorts or stop paying attention to their misdeeds.
Let me end with a quote from Molly Ivins which is humorous, yet spot on :
Whenever you hear a politician carry on about what a mess the schools are, be aware that you are looking at the culprit. I will include oligarchs/deformers along with politicians.
The floor is yours.