Jon Stewart and Diane Ravitch on $$ "school reform" movement.

[Smarmie Doofus]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-3-2011/diane-ravitch




Stumbled across this this a.m. It's from March 2011 but I don't believe it was posted here. 8 minute segment.

Lots of folks ( even here) don't really "get" the objections to the $$$"reform" movement. ( "What's the problem? It even says 'reform' right on the label"!)

Maybe they need to hear the argument in just the *right* way.

[tomg]

1. Thanks. I am going to make sure my wife

sees this. She is a 7th grade teacher ( and union rep in a district working without a contract) who went back to school this week. She needs it. John Stewart - hey, his mom's a teacher. Ravitch rocks.

[Bozita]

7. She might be interested in seeing Ravitch destroy Stephen Brill on BOOK-TV - link

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/300570-1

C-SPAN | BookTV

The founder of The American Lawyer magazine and Court TV tells the story of a coalition of unlikely allies in the fight to change a school system that many parents believe is failing the nation's children. He debated education solutions with former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch.

59 minutes | 3,300 Views

[tomg]

11. Thanks for the link. She will. So will I. Nt

[seabeyond]

2. she was lovely. she stated the obvious. we all know or should all know this

we pretend, ignore and work for an agenda tht does not have to do with the best for the child.

[bbgrunt]

3. she makes powerful arguments but

I think that union busting and private sector profit motives need also to be exposed as part of the impetus to disparage teachers and public education.

[Starry Messenger]

4. Yes. This is crucial.

:thumbsup:

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. Agree. There's a lot more to it. But she did ok in connecting....

... the dots for people who aren't following at all.

And Stewart helps on this issue by being eminently user-friendly.

[Bozita]

6. The "Shock Doctrine" comes to your neighborhood classroom - David Sirota, Salon

This is MUST READ stuff, imho.



TUESDAY, SEP 6, 2011 14:01 ET
The "Shock Doctrine" comes to your neighborhood classroom
Corporate reformers use the fiscal crisis and campaign contributions to hype an unproven school agenda
BY DAVID SIROTA


"Let's hope the fiscal crisis doesn't get better too soon. It'll slow down reform." -- Tom Watkins, a consultant, summarizes the corporate education reform movement's current strategy to the Sunday New York Times.

The Shock Doctrine, as articulated by journalist Naomi Klein, describes the process by which corporate interests use catastrophes as instruments to maximize their profit. Sometimes the events they use are natural (earthquakes), sometimes they are human-created (the 9/11 attacks) and sometimes they are a bit of both (hurricanes made stronger by human-intensified global climate change). Regardless of the particular cataclysm, though, the Shock Doctrine suggests that in the aftermath of a calamity, there is always corporate method in the smoldering madness - a method based in Disaster Capitalism.

Though Klein's book provides much evidence of the Shock Doctrine, the Disaster Capitalists rarely come out and acknowledge their strategy. That's why Watkins' outburst of candor, buried in this front-page New York Times article yesterday, is so important: It shows that the recession and its corresponding shock to school budgets is being used by corporations to maximize revenues, all under the gauzy banner of "reform."

Some background: The Times piece follows a recent Education Week report showing that as U.S. school systems are laying off teachers, letting schoolhouses crumble, and increasing class sizes, high-tech firms are hitting the public-subsidy jackpot thanks to corporate "reformers'" successful push for more "data-driven" standardized tests (more on that in a second) and more technology in the classrooms. Essentially, as the overall spending pie for public schools is shrinking, the piece of the pie for high-tech companies -- who make big campaign contributions to education policymakers -- is getting much bigger, while the piece of the pie for traditional education (teachers, school infrastructure, text books, etc.) is getting smaller.

more...
http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/politics/feature/2011/09/06/shockreform

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. Thanks, Bozita. One of the best things about DU....

..... is getting the chance to connect stuff that I knew a LONG time ago( but might have forgotten) to the #$$%%^^ we're dealing with now.

"Naomi Klein" has... til now... been a name I see here and there... without much context. You've fixed that.


>>>Klein spent much of her teenage years in shopping malls, obsessed with designer logos.<7> As a child and teenager, she found it "very oppressive to have a very public feminist mother" and she rejected politics, instead embracing "full-on consumerism."
She has attributed her change in worldview to two events. One was when she was 17 and preparing for the University of Toronto, her mother had a stroke and became severely disabled.<8> Naomi, her father and brother took care of Bonnie through the period in hospital and at home, making educational sacrifices to do so.<8> That year off prevented her "from being such a brat."<7> The next year, after beginning her studies at the University of Toronto, the second event occurred: the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre of female engineering students, which proved to be a wake-up call to feminism.<9>>>>>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein

[Bozita]

9. You can view her complete documentary at this link...

The Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Around the world in Britain, the United States, Asia and the Middle East, there are people with power who are cashing in on chaos; exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally remake our world in their image. They are the shock doctors. Thrilling and revelatory, The Shock Doctrine cracks open the secret history of our era. Exposing these global profiteers, Naomi Klein discovered information and connections that shocked even her about how comprehensively the shock doctors’ beliefs now dominate our world – and how this domination has been achieved. Raking in billions out of the tsunami, plundering Russia, exploiting Iraq – this is the chilling tale of how a few are making a killing while more are getting killed.

http://loveinformation.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/the-shock-doctrine-the-rise-of-disaster-capitalism-naomi-klein/



I think you'll find it to be a good investment of your time.

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. I'm getting my feet wet by looking at some youtube stuff....

... interviews , debates, etc. Her appearances on Maher's show are particularly good.

She's really good. I don't quite get how she flew under my radar all these years.

And... I will get to the film.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Read the book, Smarmie

I read it when it first came out and the hair on the back of my neck went BOING.

I've reread it several times.

Our kids are so screwed.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Bingo

New Orleans is Shock Doctrine Exhibit A. Next up, New York City.

[Smarmie Doofus]

16. Boy , you *really* want me to read that book. Dontcha? n/t

[Quantess]

10. Thanks for posting it.

:)

[xchrom]

13. recommend