Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Operatives backed by the Koch Brothers are attempting to destroy public education in America.
Make no mistake, be it the voucher system, charter schools, or the promoting of home schooling, the underlying purpose is to undermine, and eventually do away with, the public school system.
The video shows what happened in just one county, but tactics like this are being used all over the country.
Just like recognizing Dominionism when it rears its ugly head we also have to recognize the agenda of those who are attacking our public schools and fight them at every turn. (Different tactics, with a similar agenda, are currently being used right here in Anchorage, Alaska.)
Make no mistake my friends, we are in a battle. And we have to first recognize our enemies, and then be prepared to stop them before they can gain a foothold and begin to deconstruct the very foundation on which this great nation was built. Our public education system.
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The good people of Anchorage must wake up and stand against Mayor Sullivan and his cronies.
ReplyDeleteThere is no excuse for anyone - with or without children - to allow his deplorable policies to get any further.
Education is the foundation of a city, county, state or nation. Business is attracted to areas where public schools are strong, vibrant and offer opportunity to all students. Supporting schools is a basic duty of citizens if they want their communities, states or the nation to lead, not follow.
The Koch brothers and their bought-and-paid-for politicians as well as as the far-right fundamentalists benefit from poorly educated citizens, easily manipulated and poorly paid.
Wake up Anchorage. Wake up America. It will take generations to recover if these folks win the day. Time to fight for our children and for adult education. Otherwise, we will become a third-rate country dominated by countries smart enough to value education.
OT but Rick Perry pulled a Bachmann. He ate a corndog at the fair. SMH.
ReplyDeleteMakes no sense why he'd do that, but at least he's not squinting like Markus. He's taking that corndog like an unapologetic pro.
OK, I am a parent with children in the school district mentioned in this video. Thanks to the ones who spoke up, we have a new superintendent (Tata) who is implementing a plan called controlled choice which seems, on the surface, to help with diversification. Also, I believe they are redrawing school district lines so that the poorer districts are not isolated to their own schools. Wake county is a complicated school system...we have magnet schools, charter schools, year-round schools, and traditional calendar schools. We have a lot of options for elementary schools. The middle and high school districts are huge and my kids aren't that age yet so I can't tell you if the end result will be segregation but I will tell you there is a loud and vocal contingent that wants a fair education for all.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have used busing to achieve diversity in the past, but it is burdensome to the kids that have to ride so far to school. They cannot take advantage of after school activities or tutoring because they have to go home on the bus. And many young elementary kids are going home to empty houses because both parents are at work. It is a very complex issue and I am not for segregation at all but I am for neighborhood schools because I see how busing takes a toll and how kids miss out on making connections and friends when that school friend lives across town.
Also pay attention to "Americans for Prosperity," a Koch-funded astroturf group that best I can figure out is just basically against people. This group funded efforts in North Carolina to legalize "pay day lenders" charging rates as high as 40%. Is that not beyond fucked up? In the worst recession in a generation, in a state with high unemployment, this despicable group is siding with loan sharks who exploit people's financial desperation.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, ATF also funded Sarah Palin's union-busting speech in Wisconsin, and they are sponsors of her upcoming hatefe$t with Glenn Beck in Missouri: http://www.971talk.com/palinbeck/
The war against the poor and minorities has been waged as long as this country has been around. Other recent developments are harsh laws and private prisons which results in overincarceration and blacks are a large percentage. They don't want the poor educated, how will they be able to lie to them if they can reason? If they took the money the KKKoch brothers spend trying to destroy the schools and invested it in schools and college scholarships this country could do amazing things.
ReplyDeleteI do wish that some enterprising and brave investigative reporter (is there such a creature today?) would dig into the background of the Koch brothers (current generation) and their family. The American people need to know who these spinmeisters are and what their real purpose is. I doubt if any of us would want to support them.
ReplyDeleteIt kills me that buying Dixie Cups, Northern Quilted tissue paper and Bounty paper towels are financing Koch attorney's to fight women's access to healthcare and get rid of public schools.
ReplyDeleteThese guys own Teflon for god's sake, no wonder they have the dollars to step on the necks of women and families in this country - and we pay them to do it.
Wake county again here...do you remember when Obama gave his speech to encourage the children during the school day. At the school my child was attending at the time, the principal refused to show the speech because of complaints from parents. A lot of parents here have bought into the meme that schools are indoctrinating kids into socialism. A lot of parents here are homeschooling because of that. Or they are scraping together money to send their children to private school. There is one private school chain here, Thales Academy, that seems to be a Teabagger school. On their "about us" page you will find this statement "curriculum infused with the values of our Founding Fathers" so there you go. The other private schools in this area are Christian based and one refuses to teach the non-biblically supported evolution. God knows what else they are not teaching. My children have moved to a different school that did show Obama's speech this year, and I have been very happy with their education so far.
ReplyDeletePublic schools began in the mid 1800's. They were not set up by the founding fathers...
ReplyDeleteI'm all for public schools, but not what we have right now. We need to revert to what we had before the 1970's.
Teaching to the test (NCLB) is memorization, not learning. Kids today are graduating dumber than pokes. They don't have the ability to study, to learn or to question. They are automatons that can recite memorized lines.
I looove this. Kathy mentions it in her latest special as well. Priceless.
ReplyDelete~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Appearing on "Conan" Monday night, Griffin recalled the time she met Bachmann in Washington while researching for her rally to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Perhaps mistaking Griffin for someone else, one of Bachmann's staffers pulled out a video camera to capture their interaction for her website. First, Griffin says she asked the Congresswoman if she'd support an effort to repeal the law that banned homosexuals from the military. When Bachmann declined, Griffin got personal.
"Congresswoman Bachmann, were you born a bigot or did you, like, grow into it?" she asked -- on tape.
As for Bachmann's answer?
"That's a good question. I'm gonna have to get back to ya," she said, perhaps not creating the best of campaign slogans.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone calls you a BIGOT and you say GOOD QUESTION?!?!?1?1?
There is NO. WAY. this woman is in this campaign for the long haul.
No way.
It's me from Wake County...Gryphen you did not approve my first longer comment...hopefully it was just an oversight and not because it disagreed (slightly) with your take on this video. I live here and I know what's up, and it is important to consider all angles when deciding between busing and neighborhood schools. Just for some perspective, kids can be on the bus an hour each way to/from school when they are being sent to a school for diversity reasons.
ReplyDeleteHere's the comment again:
OK, I am a parent with children in the school district mentioned in this video. Thanks to the ones who spoke up, we have a new superintendent (Tata) who is implementing a plan called controlled choice which seems, on the surface, to help with diversification. Also, I believe they are redrawing school district lines so that the poorer districts are not isolated to their own schools. Wake county is a complicated school system...we have magnet schools, charter schools, year-round schools, and traditional calendar schools. We have a lot of options for elementary schools. The middle and high school districts are huge and my kids aren't that age yet so I can't tell you if the end result will be segregation but I will tell you there is a loud and vocal contingent that wants a fair education for all.
Yes, we have used busing to achieve diversity in the past, but it is burdensome to the kids that have to ride so far to school. They cannot take advantage of after school activities or tutoring because they have to go home on the bus. And many young elementary kids are going home to empty houses because both parents are at work. It is a very complex issue and I am not for segregation at all but I am for neighborhood schools because I see how busing takes a toll and how kids miss out on making connections and friends when that school friend lives across town.
Thanks for posting that Gryphen. The right wing is obsessed with involving themselves in people's lives, in places where they do not live. Whether it's Prop 8 in California or the schools in Wake County, it is a complete assault. I hope North Carolina woke up from this.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, they are trying to refight the Civil War.
It might be time to air again The REv Murthee, blessing Sarah and his cry for Dominionists in every part of our Government.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the treatment by Evangelists over the Witch Children in Africa. That on turned me away from Religion completely.
Not only are they trying deficit the Civil War, they are trying
ReplyDeleteto overturn Roe, the Civil Rights Act, all social safety nets even though workers have paid into the funds with their sweat and blood, and anything else that benefits huge middle class, it appears that by gutting public education they will achieve their goals. Only far right, white, wealthy approved by the theocracy Christians will vote, and women need not worry about working outside the home ever again.
I just don't understand. What do the Kochs stand to gain? Meddlesome assholes.
ReplyDeleteAmazing the difference between these yahoos and Warren Buffet who claims Washington needs to quit being so billionaire friendly. As well as the Starbucks CEO that is calling for others to halt campaign contributions until our pols start acting more like grown-ups. If we could limit contributions these guys would do a lot less harm.
ReplyDeletewhen ppl realize these koch bros and republican groups do not care about them , or making this country a good place for commom ppl and their children to live and grow up in.It is scheme to get rid of public schools for charter schools or online schools. Then they can choose who and when and what to educate ( anyone that they do not think should get an education will not)those unlucky will be in jails for profit or in some kind of slave labor ( sex or labor camps.) For these self rightous job makers. Desperate ppl do desperate things. When there is no hope for your children getting an education or job training ppl will sign children to work in child labor or children will end up in the sex trade. This must be the jobs they are talking about. It sure isn't any that pay decent or have any benefits. GREED GREED Could this be why they are so interested in women having every pregnancy more children they can't afford but bodies for war and slave labor. GREED GREED
ReplyDelete"I just don't understand. What do the Kochs stand to gain?"
ReplyDeleteIt's part of a larger aim that includes making money off educational textbooks and, more often now, educational software, and probably hardware as well. Get rid of the public school and any yahoo is free to peddle his/her crackpot "online" class.
I'm researching the FL situation which is spearheaded by Jeb Bush. The only direct Koch connection I have right now is their money to Rick Scott - but that's enough to start.
That video was chilling.
ReplyDeletePeople are so uninformed and it's obvious that racism is the emotional bait. For most of the red meat populace, public school is their saving grace. Even if I were to get reimbursement for the property taxes I pay to the school district (and I live in a nice area), there is no way I could use that money to pay for a good private school. Heck, it's barely 10% of the tuition.
Yeah, we could do with even less critical thinking among those folks!
The Republican (Koch Bros.) Plan for Educational Reform
ReplyDelete1. Slowly reduce State funding for schools
2. Force local taxpayers to makeup the difference.
3. Once local taxpayers are over burdened from local school taxes, offer school vouchers as an attractive alternative to help the local taxpayers.
4. Keep the voulchers payment equal to the school costs for several years.
5. Slowly allow voulcher payments to creep below school costs by not raising the vouchers to keep up with inflation, and by the legislators saying there is not enough money in the State budgets to increase the voulchers.
6. Once the States burden for education slowly decreases, businesses taxes will be lowered.
It isn't about money for the Kochs anymore, they have more than they can ever spend. It is all about POWER.
ReplyDeleteHow many kids and grandkids do they have? Exactly what are they doing this for if not for future generations of Kochs? They are old, and not very long for this world.
"It kills me that buying Dixie Cups, Northern Quilted tissue paper and Bounty paper towels are financing Koch attorney's … These guys own Teflon for god's sake"
ReplyDeleteSo get used to washing glasses, get a bidet or use 7th generation recycled TP. Buy a wad of cotton dishtowels and a cast-iron frying pan.
In many ways, these people only rule our lives to the degree that we let them.
@11:21 AM Republican/och plan…
ReplyDeleteYou forgot:
7.) When you have driven the high schools into the ground, profit by selling semi-worthless post-graduate and remedial "training courses".
8.) Profit in another dimension by getting people to sign up for FINANCING of worthless"training courses"
9.) When people default or turn to crime, profit in yet a further dimension by getting the gov. to pay you for housing them in private prisons.
It's not just win-win… it's win-win-win-win-win…
Dis Gusted:
ReplyDeleteBoston Public Schools were founded in the 1600's. By the time this country was founded, 7 of the original 13 colonies/states had provisions in their founding documents concerning public schools.
Public education is a vital part of this country's history and our future depends on it. What will become of the "American Dream" without it?
As for the time lost by children on buses going to and from school, I had read about a year or two about a school that has their buses wired with wifi, etc., so the kids can work on their lessons on computers going to and from school. It helped quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could remember whether it was in the NY Times or Wash. Post.
M from MD
now, not every person who homeschools is a Christian Dominionst lunatic. Some of the people who homeschool are parents of gifted children who are far ahead of their peers. Some are parents of special needs children who are slipping through the cracks at their schools. Some children just aren't in areas where good schools can be readily found.
ReplyDeleteI support public education. I truly do. But until they actually try educating instead of teaching by rote (like they do in my area), then the education system will never get better.
Gryph, I don't shock easily, but I am so uneasy about this mess in NC, I feel I must put on my shoes and do something.
ReplyDeleteI called the number at the end of the video. I spoke politely and he thanked me for my call. I told him my pennies, my energy and my mouth will defeat this nonsense.
Yeah, right. He was well paid to be polite, or hang up.
I recall the segregated classes of Fairbanks. Native kids and those who looked like they might be happa, were shoved in one room usually with a white teacher who was the wife of a soldier. A corrosive situation. Native kids got disciplined frequently, mostly for staring quietly back at the mean face of authority.
Fortunately, my life changed when I entered the classes of Mrs. Tovey and Gwen Broderick. I learned what real education was about.
Thanks for the informative post. And thanks in advance for not censoring my reply, because, you know, you just MUST post what I have to say.
ReplyDeleteMy sister in law was a tenured science teacher in New Jersey. The public school system in her area was excellently run and the students not only thrived, but excelled. They mainstreamed kids with learning disabilities and had wrap around help, one on one, for these kids. They had AP courses for the gifted students and some courses allowed them to earn college credits.
The teachers and parents helped supply necessary supplies out of their own money and fund raising efforts. She belonged to a union and sacrificed much to earn her benefits, and she kept up with her own education along the way.
Then a strange thing happened, Governor Christie got elected, her school budget was decimated, the state had evaluators come in to judge good from bad teachers. Long story short, she decided to move out of state.
She wanted to remain a teacher, and Christie's people wanted to push her into administration. As a matter of priciple, she refused and lost her job because of it.
She's not a teacher, she's an educator who cares deeply for each of her students. She gave up a great paying position with great opportunities because she chose to be an educator to make a difference in kid's lives, to raise generations of informed voters, and for the gratification she got from teaching. It's the most under appreciated, underpaid profession yet it invoves our nations most precious resource.
We need to fight the anti education agenda of the right and people like the Koch's.