To all defenders of public education: BAMN Dailycensored.com
http://dailycensored.com/2011/02/13/to-all-defenders-of-public-education-bamn/
February 14, 2011
Pres. Barack Obama and Arne Duncan arrive in Grand Rapids, MI, home of one of the state's foremost charter sponsors, Grand Valley State University
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is hosting an International Summit on the Teaching Profession in New York City on March 16-17. It is by “invitation only” and timed to take place right before the “Celebration of Teaching and Learning” at the NYC Hilton.
Duncan will be using this international platform to push the school privatization and market-based education policies he has been trying to impose on school districts across the nation. NEA and AFT national leaders, who have, despite their members’ opposition, endorsed much of of the Duncan ideology and rhetoric, will also be in attendance.
This event, which is sure to receive a great deal of publicity, provides us with a great opportunity to publicly demonstrate the opposition of students, teachers, parents and education advocates to Duncan’s K-12 policies, as well as to the massive budget cuts that are triggering tuition hikes across the country, undermining access to higher education.
BAMN is organizing a picket of the event. Would you or your organization be interested in participating? We haven’t yet worked out all the details, and we are flexible about choosing a time that would make it possible for the most people to attend.
If you are interested, please respond to this email with your contact information, and I will organize a conference call to work out the details.
Sincerely,
Donna Stern
BAMN National Coordinator
P.S. The Dept of Ed Press Release about the event is copied below.
December 15, 2010
Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, left, listens as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., Wednesday, March 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will join leaders from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Education International (EI), together with the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the Asia Society and public broadcaster WNET, to host an International Summit on the Teaching Profession in New York City, March 16-17, 2011.
The summit will convene education ministers, national union leaders, education organization leaders and accomplished teachers from countries with high performing and rapidly improving educational systems to identify best practices worldwide that effectively strengthen the teaching profession in ways designed to enhance student achievement.
“When it comes to teaching, talent matters tremendously,” said Secretary Duncan. “But great teachers are not just born that way — it takes a high-quality system for recruiting, training, retaining, and supporting teachers over the course of their careers to develop an effective teaching force. This summit is a tremendous opportunity to learn from one another the best methods worldwide to address our common challenges: supporting and strengthening teachers and boosting the student skills necessary for success in today’s knowledge economy.”
“The prosperity of our nations depends on whether we succeed to attract the brightest minds into the teaching profession and the most talented teachers into the most challenging classrooms,” said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría. “Working directly with leaders and teachers from across the globe is key to investing in our most precious asset — our youth.”
MLK Day, Detroit 2011 "Jim Crow is dead"
Participants will also engage in a discussion on the vital role teachers’ play in advancing progressive, sustainable education reform. “The summit represents a unique opportunity for teachers and their unions globally to consider the future of their profession as equal partners with governments,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “Qualified teachers are vital to the health and success of all our societies. Their input and status are vital to advancing the fight to achieve high quality education for all.”
The March summit is a first step in what will be an ongoing dialogue among these countries about the best way to achieve and sustain best practices to improve both teaching and learning. The department plans to work with participating leaders to compile and share effective practices publicly in the weeks following the summit.
2 Responses for “To all defenders of public education: BAMN”
- Jord Dorwell says: February 13, 2011 at 1:21 pmBy attending the union leaders are signaling their willingness to perpetuate the big lies that are being used to justify the privatization of education.
1. education’s only puropse is to serve the economy in a global race to the top
2. teacher quality is responsible for “gaps” between rich and poor and for economic underperformance.
Their failure to protest corporate reform is a sure sign they have themselves become little more than alternative corporations looking to secure their own role as labor brokers as they facilitate the transition from teaching as a profession to teaching as a service industry.
Reply William Crain says: February 13, 2011 at 9:11 pmThis is the End of Public Education. This is Union Busting at its penultimate. This is the way of Capitalism. Capitalism cannot be fixed. Fascism is brewing.
We’ve had a chances to break this train wreck, Impeaching Bush and Cheney; (or even earlier with Clinton Not forgiving Reagan) The chance again to start crushing capitalism came with SinglePay/Medicare For All. We have one more chance to stop this Privatization of Education for Capitalism… there won’t be many more chances.
We cannot count on Unions/ Teachers Unions… right here in Billings, MT He is (pres of the local union) too scared of what the new slash and burn Superintendent will do. And school board members are Pro-Privatization. he said this to me in a phone conversation where i was trying to get him to come on my TV program and talk about Privatization and Union Busting …Too Scared so watch the little kingpins sleep with the Enemy.
DFT conducts one-day walk-out to demonstrate against charter schools in Lansing, 2001
I am going to protest this event but not with BAMN…I have major reservations about BAMN”S leadership..Plus I hate white leaders that try to pass as Black Folks..
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