SOS March: What People Are Saying

Here are some of the best / most eye-catching comments on the upcoming #sosmarch - feel free to add more: 

Advocating for a Public that Often Disagrees With You EdSector: The American public—that they claim to champion—disagrees with much, if not most, of the K-12 education vision outlined by SOS’s organizers.

Schools march won’t unite us, but so what?   Jay Mathews:   If I were at the "Save Our Schools" march around the White House, my sign would say “Bring Us Together.”  

If dogs became kings And the Pope chewed gum Sara Mead:  How do we [bridge] the gap between systemic changes we seek and the emotional realities of what parents want in the most concrete of terms everyday for their children?  

Coverage of the Reform Rishawn Biddle:  The Baby Boomer teachers who oppose school reform are looking out for their retirements; like their colleagues outside of education, they are also dealing with tremendous debt burdens, and low levels of savings, so they may have to work longer than they want. 

 

Why I Won't Be Marching Last Stand For Children First:  Frequently, I hear teachers from urban schools talk about the difficulties their students face on a daily basis and immediately feel sorry for these kids being saddled with teachers who have low expectations for them.

 

Comments

[Sandra]

Looks like some still view this as a March of teachers. That's a misinformed view. Parents, community members, and taxpayers have serious concerns about education reform initiatives that are ignored. I support the SOS March and hope it will cause a realistic analysis of federal initiatives.

[CarolineSF]

If you asked most parents if they want their children given more standardized tests and the curriculum increasingly limited to "what's tested is what's taught," would they really say yes?

If you asked most parents if their kids' teachers and schools should be rewarded and punished based on how the kids do on the tests, most parents would say the kids should bear the consequences, not the teachers.

For that matter, if you asked most parents if they thought untold millions of dollars should be spent maintaining organizations like Ed Sector, which exist for -- hmm, what do they exist for again? -- or would be better spent creating smaller classes like the reformers' kids have in their private schools; providing updated school materials; restoring art and music to schools; maintaining and improving school facilities; bringing better food to school cafeterias; and so on -- what would they say?

It's nice thought by Mathews that would should all join hands, but maybe he should mention it to his peeps, like Whitney Tilson, who (just to name one example) calls respected author/educator Jonathan Kozol a "serial liar," "dangerous crackpot" and "stooge for the unions" -- and Jay Greene, who said angry teachers will remind the public of longshoremen beating their victims with lead pipes.

And I do hope you're not one of the humorless legions (on both sides of the ed reform debate) who don't get that "Last Stand for Children First" is satire.

It's interesting to see the concerted, collaborative effort from the reformistas to sneer at and malign the SOS march. I guess we've gotten past the "first they ignore you" phase.

[WilliamB]

Alex, you need to present a bit of both sides here, your bias, which is natural considering you are a pundit and do not work in the classroom, is warping your ability to present this march in a fair manner.

Maybe you and Jay M. and Matt Y. can make your own march next summer: Save our middle of the road neoliberal Education Pundits who simultaneously claim to believe in testing, teachers, reform, students, unions and M. Rhee!