What Teachers Do

deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

This week, I mended school uniform pants for three students.

I fed a student who missed the opportunity to buy breakfast.

I shuffled an already hectic weekend schedule to make time to attend the senior play because it mattered so much to one particular student.

I bought a little congratulatory treat for each of my seniors who participated in what was a wonderful production of Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz.

And I used part of my weekend to do school work.

______________________________________________

View original post

There are Lies and Then There are Breitbart Lies

Uncommon Sense

The Breitbart internet “news” site ran a story claiming a Virginia boy committed suicide because of COVID mandates and critical race theory.

They left out a few things, for example, that the boy had graduated from high school the year before the pandemic broke out and that his school doesn’t teach Critical Race Theory.

Here are the details: Breitbart Claim: Boy Kills himself due to Critical Race Theory and COVID Mandates

If the freedom of the press shall not be infringed, what about the freedom to lie through the press? Is that protected, too?

View original post

Peter Greene: The Panic Comes for Dolly Parton

Diane Ravitch's blog

You won’t believe this. Peter Greene sums it up in a hilarious/sad post.

Dolly Parton created a foundation to give free books to children 0-5. A committee of the Kentucky State Senate was discussing whether to partner with Dolly’s Imagination Library. One of the senators —Stephen Meredith—expressed concern with the term “age appropriate.” He thought it might be code for something bad, like indoctrinating little children.

Then the uproar started, including an outraged tweet from Dolly’s sister, demanding to know Sen. Meredith’s IQ score. That shut down Sen. Meredith. You can’t beat Dolly Parton and her sister.

View original post

Texas: Pastors Fight for Public Schools Against Heartless Privatizers

I’ve sent them some cash for them to continue their gneiss work.

Diane Ravitch's blog

The well-organized Pastors for Texas Children is engaged in rhetorical battles with the well-funded privatizers. Whether by Tweet, in the media, or on the lecture platform, Pastor Charles Foster Johnson and his colleagues lead the battle on behalf of public schools, taking on the rich and powerful and their political lackeys.

After Congressman Chip Roy attacked Pastors for Texas children and classroom teachers on Twitter, Pastor Johnson responded forcefully:

On Twitter, the group responded to Congressman Roy: “Congressman @chiproytx, your repeated lies about our [public school] teachers & the pastors who support them, are shameful, embarrassing, and shockingly immoral. You may mock them and us with your political lies against these servants. But you cannot mock God.”

Pastors For Texas Children, a Fort Worth-based organization, says it is an independent organization that advocates for public schools…

Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused “left-wing educators” of showing children “explicit…

View original post 321 more words

Dana Milbank: How Are Anti-Vaxxers Like ‘60s Radicals?

Diane Ravitch's blog

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post compares the anti-vaxxers (those who fight for the right to get sick and die) to ‘60s radicals in this article.

The times, they are a-changin’.

Last month, when antiabortion activists and anti-vaccine protesters staged mass protests in the capital, speakers at both rallies quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “Today, we are going to reclaim Martin’s dream!” the first speaker at the anti-vaccine rally, Kevin Jenkins, declared from the Lincoln Memorial, the site of King’s immortal speech. “Are we ready to reclaim the dream?”
“Yeah!” shouted back the overwhelmingly White crowd.

“Martin is alive!” Jenkins told them. “We are here today fighting for the same thing he fought for.”
The crowd rejoiced at this discovery that King, like them, had battled for the right to take deworming medication instead of highly effective vaccines.
We shall overcome … mask mandates?

At the same…

View original post 667 more words

Florida: “Don’t Say Gay” Bill Gets Worse

Diane Ravitch's blog

Robert Hubbell again: The Florida bill to ban teaching about gender and sexuality just went from reprehensible to depraved. Now Republicans propose that school administrators must inform parents if they think a student is gay or face civil lawsuits.

He writes:

Florida Republicans proposed a bill that would prohibit school districts from “encourag[ing] classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” As originally crafted, the bill singles out sexual orientation as a prohibited topic for discussion—creating an implicit stigma for LGBTQ students. That reprehensible bill is about to get worse.

GOP Rep. Joe Harding proposed an amendment requiringschool administrators to disclose “personal information” about students to parents within six weeks of learning that information or face lawsuits for civil damages. State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat and LGBTQ…

View original post 211 more words

Texas: Dan Patrick Threatens to Take Tenure Away from Professors Who Defy Anti-CRT Law

Another nutter in Texas working to kill the truth.

Diane Ravitch's blog

Kate McGee of the Texas Tribune writes that Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has threatened to kill tenure in Texas universities to compel compliance with his wish to stop any teaching about race or racism, which he calls “critical race theory.”

Dan Patrick is a phony Texan. He wears boots, but he was born and raised in Baltimore. His birth name was Dannie Scott Goeb. He was the little Rush Limbaugh of Texas until he entered politics. He has never abandoned the politics of hatred and division that have made him successful. He has advocated for teaching creationism in the schools and backed legislation last year to prevent public schools from requiring that students read writings by prominent civil rights figures, such as Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King Jr., when covering women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement in social studies classes.” He is a…

View original post 668 more words

You Thought the Scopes Trial Was Something? Well, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

Rachel Levy: If We Value Our Schools, We Must Value Our Teachers

Diane Ravitch's blog

Rachel Levy is a public school parent and teacher in Virginia. She wrote this article as part of the series created by the Network for Public Education called “Public Voices for Public Schools.” Rachel recently ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. She learned about politics at the ground-level. And she saw how much the public appreciates its public schools.

She wrote:

I was proud to tell voters that I was a teacher. I am proud to be part of a profession of smart, resourceful, responsible, and caring people who do socially useful, meaningful, and intellectual work. Unfortunately, that same sense of ease people felt when I told them I was a teacher, the same sense that I am a responsible and reliable member of the community may be tied to the sense right now in this pandemic that teachers are expected to take care of everyone…

View original post 180 more words

Reader: Should the Holy Bible Be Banned for Its Dangerous Content?

Diane Ravitch's blog

A reader, Nancy Papat, read Pastor Chartes Foster Johnson’s article about Governor Gregg Abbott’s campaign against pornography in the schools and school libraries. She concluded that the Bible is a dangerous book because it contains sexual innuendoes, violence, and even anti-capitalist propaganda (like driving the money-changers from the Temple).

She posted this comment:

By this standard, schools will have to remove the Holy Bible from school libraries.

* There is much too much sex – that story of David and Bathsheba is for mature audiences only

*There are stories of slavery and abuse which might make some children feel bad because that could be interpreted as Critical Race Theory.

*Then there is the story about Mary and Joseph fleeing Bethlehem for Egypt to protect baby Jesus after the King ordered the killing of male babies. Doesn’t that glorify and even deify refugees?

*Jesus threw moneychangers out of the Temple which…

View original post 110 more words