Yay! It's Education Nation time again. NBC invited Scott Walker this year.

[madfloridian]

Here's an open letter to Brian Williams from a "Wisconsin parent, educator, PTO member, state employee and public education advocate".

Scott Walker vs. education...An open letter to NBC News anchor Brian Williams

Not surprised to see it is from someone in Wisconsin. My first thought upon reading he was invited was how it would look to teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin who have been through so much this year.

I was shocked to learn that you are featuring Gov. Scott "Teachers Are Thugs" Walker on your program The State of Education, streaming online via the NBC News initiative Education Nation, at 1 p.m. on Monday, September 26.

Being familiar with some of your work on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, I'm aware you not only know that Scott Walker is an enemy of teachers, but have in fact slow-jammed that news yourself on at least one occasion.

..."Walker does not speak for the people of Wisconsin, who see his power grab for exactly what it was: a purely partisan bait-and-switch that led us down a path of abuses of power. It has produced painfully divisive policies that pit the erstwhile friendly and accommodating people of Wisconsin against each other.

When bragging about being part of your summit, Walker said, "I believe we have a great story to tell about our reforms and our bipartisan collaborations to further improve our schools." This from the man who famously said "There's nothing to negotiate" when revoking teachers' rights and lying about how doing so would help "balance the budget."

I have not yet checked to see what teachers and their advocates are invited. Last year there was almost no one representing them. In fact one education blogger wrote about how he was banned and unbanned.

First of all, yesterday I posted about the Education Nation Facebook page. After taking a public relations beating for blocking me and a number of other parents and teachers from the site, the administrator has now allowed us all to post, and the site is full of lively discussion. Very refreshing! It is a model for what the Education Nation programming could have been, had NBC actually had some guts.

Here is what NBC News President Steve Capus had to say yesterday at his press conference defending their Education Nation programming from criticism that it is one-sided and lacking in the participation of classroom teachers;

"NBC News (personnel) are not the experts in this place. ...the role of a news organization is to put a spotlight on these issues/challenges, and on the people who are doing incredibly strong work to try to affect change. The news division's involvement begins and ends with that spotlight. We're not coming at this from a policy angle."

Truly flabbergasting. NBC News has no experts on education policy. According to the material on their Education Nation website, "Education is key to the success of our country..." Education is "one of the most pressing national issues of our time." Yet this multi-million dollar news organization has nobody on their staff they consider to be expert in this crucial field? If this issue is indeed key to our success, shouldn't they have some expertise - especially if they are going to sponsor a week of programming on the subject?

I did find the list of sponsors for this year. Pretty much like the list of sponsors for last year. Microsoft and Bill and Melinda Gates...redundant.

Education Nation sponsors

Among them are State Farm, Microsoft, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Bezos Family Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

Here is the ending paragraph of the letter to Brian Williams protesting Scott Walker's inclusion.

Walker continues to this day to suggest that the educators who gathered by the thousands to protest his cuts to education and his abuse of power in taking away their rights were "a handful of out-of-state protesters." He is perhaps the most deceitful and divisive governor in America, and a staggering example of how to destroy public education. I trust you will expose him as such.

Yours sincerely,

Heather DuBois Bourenane
Wisconsin parent, educator, PTO member, state employee and public education advocate

Amen to that, but I am not holding my breath.

[LWolf]

1. Good letter.

I agree about not holding our collective breath.

[teacher gal]

2. Ah yes, and Melinda Gates is part of that "discussion"

See my very much related post here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2001692

[madfloridian]

3. Thanks for the link.

I missed it. I gave it a rec. The Gates are too much now.

[hlthe2b]

5. Bill and Melinda Gates are doing good things in global health...

It is so depressing to see how they have become a major part of the problem with respect to education.

But, I have to say, it is Michelle Rhee who continues to be the focus of my wrath. It has become visceral now... I can't see a photo, a interview or read an article on her without wanting to reach out and just throttle her. And, I pride myself on being a pacifist. Despicable opportunist (and that's the nicest thing I can say about her)...

[teacher gal]

6. Hey, to be honest, I feel the same way and then

feel guilty about having such hostile feelings. It's a tough thing.

[DrunkenBoat]

9. You see what they're doing with education. Maybe you should dig deeper into what they're doing

in 'global health'.

[MedicalAdmin]

27. Good point.

One thing I know for sure is that if Gates is involved it is for the good of Gates first, last, and always. Keep in mind that his new charity took his fortune and moved it to a tax free status.

I wonder, does he or his friends benefit from his global health initiative, perhaps not directly, but rather in control of markets or access?

On the other hand maybe he is a crappy at figuring out what need to be done in education as he was at OS.

[madfloridian]

10. When he said teachers did not improve after 3 years....I lost all respect.

Gates says teachers don't improve after 3 years.

"Garrulous Mr. Gates

Teachers have intrinsic motivation Gates can neither measure nor (apparently) conceive of. I appreciate money, and I’ll say thanks to praise from almost anyone. But I especially treasure it from kids. Last month I told my class I’d miss them. They shouted, “We’ll miss you too!” They asked me if I’d teach them next year. I was honored, far more than by anything Gates could do or say.

But Gates proves things with charts, one of which says:

"Once somebody has taught for three years, their teaching quality does not improve thereafter."

[Frustratedlady]

11. Gee, I guess I'd better tell the teachers in my family that their Master's degrees

aren't worth the paper they're written on.

I'm sure each of them could have a little discussion with him on that subject.

Even if that's the way he feels, it is an ignorant statement.

[madfloridian]

13. It's a statement of intent to turn teaching into a temp job.

And that is most surely one of the goals of the "reformers."

[MedicalAdmin]

28. If memory serves most drones at MS where temps and they led the way...

in using foreign labor instead of american programers.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Last education summit had a panel with about 14 CEO's, ZERO teachers ...

ZERO students ... ONE representative from PTA.

This is a business conference, whose purpose is to promote the aims of the corporations involved. The window dressing is too skimpy to fool anyone.

[Scuba]

7. Very good letter; thanks for posting. n/t

[badhair77]

8. Seriously, I had to turn it off.

Early on they had to show the mandatory clip from Waiting for Superman. Why do they think that film reflects all of education?

My blood pressure could not handle Melissa Gates as an education expert. Was Rhee on there, too? There is no way she will ever appear in my home again, Brian Williams loses a lot of points for his role in this.

[madfloridian]

14. I am still trying to find a list of those appearing.

:shrug:

Can't seem to find a list like they had last year.

[badhair77]

15. Thanks for all you do for the cause.

I did 36 years in the trenches but I would be a terrible debater. My strength was with troubled kids.

[madfloridian]

16. ...

33 for me. I was given problems because I was told I could handle them...dubious honor there.

I am very angry at how the corporate propaganda toward schools has worked so well. It used to be a proud thing to say you were a teacher.

[badhair77]

17. I'm well-versed with that line.

By the time I retired half my schedule was filled with students no one else wanted. I have to admit there were a few times I didn't want them either but basically I felt for them and took them under my wing. It made for an interesting but exhausting day and consequent bad health.

No one cared about us when we were making four figures. Add a little money to those wages and suddenly everyone wants in on the action, and now everyone is a critic. I'm glad I'm gone although I miss working with the kids. However, now I have a life - nothing to grade and nothing to plan.

[madfloridian]

19. The class I had the year I retired...

left me no qualms that it was time to retire. I loved the kids still, but though I could handle them I could not get them capable of passing the be all end all tests.

They had so many problems, their parents had so many problems, drugs, abuse, etc. It was all many of them could do to get through the day without hurting.

It just tired me out. I had seen the handwriting on the wall when Jeb became governor, and I stuck it out as long as I could.

[Gabi Hayes]

21. today in class the students were to complete this sentence frame:

"This year my goal in first grade is to......."

one of kids' answers, just one word:

''eat.''

[madfloridian]

23. Love it.

That's an excellent goal for a first grader. :) I taught 1st just one year, more often 2nd and 3rd and up to 6th.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. One year at Christmas I asked the kids to write about one thing they wanted.

One of my kids wrote: "Electricity".

[LuckyLib]

12. The voices of students, teachers, and teacher educators are always tragically missing

from these national forum settings. There are many many fine experts on educational policy and practice out there, many at your taxpayer-funded local college or university. They work with teachers and students, are in classrooms, talk with parents and administrators, and have a handle on the big picture. Let's see if a national news organization can find them.

[madfloridian]

18. I think Scott Walker is on at 1 pm tomorrow with a governors' panel

I won't be watching any of it at all.

They may have changed the rhetoric not to be so hateful toward teachers, but their actions have not changed at all.

[madrchsod]

20. union thugs?

or

[rpannier]

22. In honor of this event I'm sure they're also hosting the following

The State of the Technology in America.
Invited: 4 hobos, 3 Car wash workers, 6 rock musicians, 1 neurosurgeon

Followed by Medicine and Research in America.
Invited: 2 lawyers, 3 professional athletes, 1 prison warden and a dog trainer

[Jakes Progress]

25. This may be the kind of straw that kills a second term.

Sure some teachers will buy the scare tactics (Oh look at the bogey man over there). And some are just not really politically aware. (Here in Texas a large number of teachers voted for perry.)

But the majority of those teacher that know how learning and education take place, the kind of teacher that parents want for their children, looked to Obama to fix the neocon assault on education. That he doubled down on grover norquist's dream will cost him votes. It's going to happen.

[madfloridian]

26. I just saw a video of Scott Walker on Morning Joe yesterday.

By inviting him to Education Nation he is being given a chance to make himself sound teacher friendly.

The interview was sickening, he sounded so perfect...and not one soul debunked a word he said. Softball all the way.

I think many teachers are learning the hard way what is happening.

[Starry Messenger]

29. Hmm, lots of *crickets* on this thread.

Where are all the accusations of "having an agenda", etc.? The weasels sure stay in their hidey-holes when the right-wing nature of this crap is all out in the sunshine!

[Hoosier Daddy]

30. What a Joke

Might as well have invited Chuck Norris: Walker, Texas Ranger