consists of 378 Letters to President Obama From educators, parents, students and citizens. It was organized and promoted by Diane Ravitch with the assistance of Anthony Cody (who coordinated the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action in 2011, having previously organized a national Teachers Letters to President Obama effort).
It begins with a letter by Ravitch, from which I quote the following:
Public school educators are demoralized these days. Many worked very hard to elect Barack
Obama in 2008, believing that he meant to scrap No Child Left Behind and chart a new course. It was thus very disappointing when the Obama administration announced its Race to the Top plan, which is closely aligned with the punitive strategy of NCLB.
As Race to the Top was rolled out, educators realized that the philosophy of the program was rooted in the belief that test scores are the ultimate measure of education and that state and federal policy should incentivize teachers to strive for higher scores while threatening them with job loss if they could not get higher scores. This was not the change that teachers worked for.
As the Presidential campaign heated up, I realized that teachers were extremely frustrated that their views about their work were ignored by the candidates and the media.
I decided that it would be valuable to invite teachers, parents, students and concerned citizens to express their views. Being in the midst of a Presidential campaign, it seemed like an opportune time to invite people to write a letter to the President, offering their ideas.
Ravitch decided to use
her widely followed blog on education, and the more than 35,000 followers of @dianeravitch to promote the idea of such letters.
Please keep reading.
For many who responded, this is not the first time they have spoken out against the approach of the past two presidential administrations. Ravitch does not think a single one of the letters supports Race to the Top. As she also writes in the introduction:
I will raise one important question that no one in the media has asked: why should a "race to the top" replace equality of educational opportunity? Races never produce equity. Isn't equity the fundamental mission of the U.S. Department of Education?
As perhaps the nation's preeminent current historian of education, on this Ravitch is on firm ground. The development of what became the separate Department of Education under Jimmy Carter in 1979 realistically begins with the passing of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act under Lyndon Johnson in 1965. This Title directed funds to schools with a high percentage of families in poverty. It also addresses the needs of students from families that have migrated to the United States, and those students in intervention programs or at risk of abuse. Even in
the current "What We Do" page of the webpage of the US Department of Education, the fourth of the four key points below involves matters of equity:
1. Establishes policies related to federal education funding, administers distribution of funds and monitors their use.
2. Collects data and oversees research on America's schools.
3. Identifies major issues in education and focuses national attention on them.
4. Enforces federal laws prohibiting discrimination in programs that receive federal funds.
Ravitch's introduction concludes as follows:
Not a penny was spent to collect them, nor was anyone paid in
any part of the process. This was a grass roots effort, top to bottom. We hope you will take the time after the election to review these letters. We believe that if you do, you will hear the voices of America's parents and teachers. They are not inherently political actors. They want to take care of the children. They invite you to stop the punitive policies of the Race to the Top and join with them in a joint endeavor to make our nation's public schools centers of leaning (not testing) and places that emphasize the joy of learning.
Mr. President, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and to discuss the concerns expressed in this compilation of letters. We both want what is best for our children.
I have read many of the letters. They are from the heart, often from people who have dedicated their lives to the education of children. For example, Elizabeth Grutzmacher who teaches at a Philadelphia Elementary School writes
One size does not fit all. If we want our children to know that they matter, cutting funding to our educational system is NOT the way to go. We need to put the money where it needs to be, not just blindly throw it into the wind. The playing field needs to be leveled.
Jacqueline Wright has taught for 6 years in a high poverty school. She informs the President:
The students I have come in unwashed, unfed, clothed improperly, with parents sometimes in jail, homeless, and more. I take in each and every one of these students and do what
I can for them at school. But I can only be there during the school day. I cannot be there when bullets are flying later that night, fights are being heard, inappropriate language and drugs are being used in front of them, or they are not fed. Some of my students come from homes where they are well taken care of and you can tell a big difference. The difference between these children is the care that they receive at home. Nothing I do at school can rival being taken care of at home. Sure, I give extra attention to those in need when they are at school. But, I have a full class and the class sizes are rising every year. These kids are being set up for failure. Then to go and make testing the main way they and the teacher are evaluated is wrong.
I recently had a writing prompt asking the students what they were busy doing in
Kindergarten. Three of my students answered that in Kindergarten they were busy testing. My heart broke. Kindergarten should be a time to explore, to learn about the world around you, and develop a sense of character. Testing has trickled down and made it stressful on the kids and the teachers. Please take time to reevaluate your stance and think about how we are robbing our children of their childhoods.
These are just a sample of the heartfelt letters offered.
Take the time.
Read through a few now. Then some more.
Pass on the link for the letters to others -
- your friends
- educators
- school board members
- state legislators and governors
- Senators and Members of the House of Representatives
Our approach to education should recognize that our children ARE different from one another, that we should NOT be taking an approach of "one size fits all" and that we need to "think about how we are robbing our children of their childhoods."
Thanks for reading this.
Now even as we continue to focus on the remaining two weeks of the election, let us not forget the importance of this issue.
Peace.