Pull back the curtain
I have watched many movies with memorable scenes, but there is one that is truly relevant as a metaphor for what is happening in today's political theater.
It is that famous scene in "The Wizard of Oz," when Dorothy approaches the great wizard in need of help and, amidst the smoke and mirrors, Toto runs over and yanks down the curtain exposing someone much less exalted than the Wizard of Oz.
Then comes the famous line: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
Indeed, that line is stingingly appropriate for what is happening in the name of education reform. The message in Augusta and in Washington is: "Pay no attention to the greedy, for-profit companies who are behind these reforms; just look at the smoke and mirrors."
Over the past few years the rhetoric on education reform from the corporate world has reached a fever pitch: America needs charter schools, online courses, virtual schools, choice, performance pay, testing, and if that doesn't work, more testing. The list goes on and on and all these services can be provided at a reasonable profit in the name of helping children.
They insult every member of the educational community by claiming that our only interest is to defend our jobs and maintain the status quo. Coming from sleek PR factories that pose as research centers and foundations with an axe to grind, this is the worst kind of smoke and mirrors. Clearly, these fat cats do not want parents or the public to look behind the curtain.
During my nine years as President and Vice president of MEA, I had many conversations with these charlatans who call themselves reformers. These sophisticated suits, who haven't spent a day in a classroom since they attended school, try to put us on the defensive by arguing that they are the ones who truly care about the success of students.
Whether it is charter schools, testing, choice, and other so-called reform, their sole motivation is money and the data doesn't matter. After all, it only takes few biased researchers and stilted reports to put a thin layer of credibility on their claims and those can be sold on the radio talk shows like so much toothpaste.
Private companies are now focused on the billions of dollars spent on public education and their goal is profit, not student improvement. Their strategy is to stigmatize, demonize and fragment public education so they can make money.
For a time their sales pitch seemed to work, but in recent years independent university researchers and think tanks have thoroughly studied the value of charter schools, virtual schools and merit pay, and found the benefits are just not there.
These corporate raider/reformers are called out in the bestselling book by Diane Ravitch, "The Death and Life of the Great American School System." In chilling detail Ravitch pulls down the curtain and exposes the vulture capitalists who are behind the attacks on public education.
More than twenty-five years ago I made the decision to enter the teaching profession for one reason and one reason only-to make a difference. As I travel this state, I have yet to meet an educator who is not motivated by the same desire of making a difference in students' lives.
I know you truly care. Please stand up for your students and your programs. Help MEA fight these corporate interests and expose these "reformers" as frauds.
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