put simply I’m a public school teacher
I’m one of 3.2 million people in this
country who dedicate their lives to
educating the fifty point seven million
yes I say public school system not
private school system not charter school
system not voucher school system not
homeschool not religious school not any
of dozens of ways to teach children
separate and apart from other children
for I am still one of those old fools
who believes that separate but equal
means separate and unequal because I
know my history I know my pedagogy I
know my civil rights and I know what
goes on in our schools I am one of the
few people in the public debate who
actually knows firsthand what our
schools are all about what happens there
what is working well and what needs to
be changed and I’m willing to actually
tell you about it even though doing so
could mean my job even though doing so
may upset my principal it may upset the
superintendent the school board the
legislature the governor the
representatives the senators that you
just judiciary the pundits the think
tanks the billionaire philanthropist s’
the ed tech industry the test prep
industry the school privatization
industry the Secretary of Education and
the president that’s why I’m here this
afternoon I know of what I speak and I
am still willing to speak it are you
willing to hear it even if what I say
may sound strange or radical or angry I
hope so because the powers that be are
betting otherwise they need numb
ignorant minds in wealthy white suburbs
and tired ignorant minds in
working-class neighborhoods and beat
down ignorant minds in impoverished
housing projects they need all of us
marching in unison to the beat of a drum
that goes against our natural rhythm
against our natural common interests
that’s how the ruling class gets us to
submit to their whims how we continue to
allow ourselves to be ruled and to do
that they need to destroy our public
schools I know that sounds dramatic
perhaps even paranoid but it is a
demonstrable fact the result of decades
of bribery and coercion the slow drip of
water on our heads not the American
dream as you and I know it but an
American dream nonetheless a dream of
profit and piracy a dream for the few at
the expense of the many
the total dismantling of public schools
the backbone of this great nation that
is their goal why because they say our
schools are failing haven’t you heard
that the system doesn’t work so we have
to tear it down it’s the only solution
yet one it is a solution that will make
things demonstrable worse and two it is
predicated on a lie
our public schools are not failing do
you hear me our public schools are not
failing
they have been failed even as I speak
they are being sabotage and their ideals
corrupted they are being turned from a
system set up with the shining
revolutionary gold of free young minds
into the shackles to keep us all pinned
down in the muck of a classist racist
status quo let me be clear our schools
are far from perfect there is much we
should change much I will admonish you
to help us change but the often told lie
is that our system is beyond saving it
is old and backward and time for the
trash bin this is one of the biggest
falsehoods in America today what after
all is a public school
it is an educational institution at the
heart of the community made up of the
community to meet the needs of the
community it is a system of teachers
counselors aides principals and
administrators dedicated to meeting the
needs of every child in the district we
take all the children in our
neighborhoods regardless of their race
nationality gender religion academic
needs emotional deficits we take all the
kids there are in our community and we
attempt to teach them how to function in
our society if that doesn’t sound
impressive it should because it’s not
the case all over the world in many
countries they only educate the wealthy
kids or kids up to a certain age or only
if they show aptitude or only if there
are certain race or only the boys are
only certain ethnic groups we are one of
the only countries in the world that
guarantees every child a free and
appropriate education from K through 12
I’m not saying it always works out I’m
not saying they’re on roadblocks to
achieving that ideal there are and in
many cases they’ve been purposefully put
in place but you can’t have equity if
that isn’t even your ideal it is ours we
talk a lot about the American Dream in
terms of business and financial success
but we have an American educational
dream to that every child will get the
same opportunities to learn that’s
something we should take pride in
because it’s also something the
powers-that-be are trying to take away
so let’s talk about it there is a
well-funded organized plan to destroy
public schools there are people who get
up every day with the express purpose to
dismantle that opportunity for all
children they are spending billions of
dollars to ensure our children don’t
have that chance so they don’t have an
even playing field and even before the
founding of our nation they have been
working to ensure their own supremacy in
our own subjugation who are they they’re
the captains of industry the wealthy
parasite
who provide nothing to society but claim
the largest portion of the rewards and
to keep themselves perched on our backs
to keep us in place to keep us fighting
among ourselves
they have perpetuated a racial and
economic caste system sure it’s changed
some over the years but it continues to
evolve into the present day and make no
mistake our schools are part of that
system a deform society will perpetuate
deform schools and that is what has
happened here the original sin of
American education is segregation even
today in 2018 it persists all these
years after Brown versus Board made it
illegal to have schools for black
students separate from schools for
whites we still take every step we
possibly can to keep the races apart in
fact in many places our schools today
are actually more segregated than they
were in the 1960s today we still draw
district lines to keep white and black
kids apart and when that doesn’t work we
allocate them to different schools
within the same district to keep white
and black kids apart and when that
doesn’t work within the same school
building we put them in different
classes to keep white and black kids
apart we do everything in anything to
ensure the person sitting next to you in
class probably has the same skin tone
and comes from the same socio-economic
background this allows us to
discriminate without discriminating it
allows the richer whiter kids to hoard
resources and the poorer blacker kids to
have to do without because our schools
are segregated we can send the lion’s
share of the money to the privileged
white children while withholding it from
the underprivileged black and brown kids
and in doing so we can say it’s not
because we’re racist it’s because of the
way the district borders were drawn or
the way an individual schools coverage
area was devised or because of the rules
and the academic handbook never mind
that it was human beings who created
these rules it’s human beings who
enforce and support the
these are just unfortunate consequences
racism without racists for the
privileged
that means newer buildings smaller class
sizes more individual instruction more
counselors wider curriculum more
extracurricular activities better stock
libraries more nurses for the
underprivileged
it means crumbling infrastructure larger
classes fewer teachers fewer counselors
narrowed curriculum fewer
extracurriculars meager libraries and
nursing staffs if at all these are the
realities of education today why do we
allow it because we’ve been suckered
into a bogus definition of
accountability any sane society would
look at what’s actually being provided
to kids and start from there but instead
we take a step back and look at
standardized test scores that is the
false idol of public education high
stakes fill in the bubble corporate
written corporate graded corporate
remediated standardized tests they are
assessments built to tell us our
segregated system is acceptable anyone
could audit a school and see what
resources students are receiving but it
takes a specialized service provider to
cover up the sins of our owners and in
so doing they to get to dip their
fingers in the pie and take a piece for
themselves let’s be real here the
unfairness of our system is crystal
clear our state and federal governments
know all children aren’t starting from
the same place we don’t have an even
playing field yet they demand all
children to hit the same benchmarks
that’s like filling two cars up with
different amounts of gas
and expecting them both to go the same
distance surprised it doesn’t happen
more over underprivileged kids have
greater needs than over privileged ones
they suffer from greater malnutrition
greater sleep deprivation greater
emotional disturbance greater exposure
to violence fewer books in the home
fewer positive role models fewer native
speakers before they even enter the
system in kindergarten they’re behind
they’re rich or whiter counterparts yet
they’re expected to catch up with little
to no help but that’s not all if the
majority of the children in a given
school don’t meet those benchmarks we’re
told it doesn’t mean they should get
more resources it doesn’t mean we should
do anything to help balance the scales
it means we should close their schools
and throw them to the wolves of
privatization step 1
segregated schools step 2 unfair funding
step 3 high-stakes tests step 4 close
the poorest and blackest schools because
of their low test scores and step 5 let
the charter and voucher operators swoop
in why do we do that why is the solution
to struggling public schools the
creation of privatized schools have we
ever demonstrated that charter and
voucher schools do a better job of
teaching students are they better at
getting kids to meet arbitrary
benchmarks without giving them the same
resources as the well resourced schools
where kids score better no absolutely
not
there is not a shred of evidence behind
that yet a majority of our lawmakers
both Republicans and Democrats support
it why do you think that is the creation
have yet another market that allows
private businesses to swoop in and swipe
one of the largest single pools of
taxpayer money in the country it’s a
vicious circle privatized bribe
privatized bribe and none of it revolves
around the students meanwhile those poor
children who are now in charter and
voucher schools have to put up with
institutions that no longer are required
to accept them they can be denied
enrollment for any reason race gender
religion behavior difficulty to teach
the choice is all for the Charter and
voucher operators not the parents or
students they have to put up with going
to a school that is no longer
democratically controlled no more
publicly elected school board no more
public meetings
no more School documents being a matter
of public
they spend our money behind closed doors
and we’re not allowed to question or
even observe what they’re doing the goal
is to make money not educate children
when they can cut services they do so as
to maximize profit so our children who
have already been slammed with
inequitable funding getting even reduced
set of services so the business people
can take their cut and which group of
children is more affected by this hint
it’s not the white kids it’s not the
rich kids it’s hardly even the
middle-class kids it’s the poor and
students of color that is Betsy DeVos is
America that is Bill Gates America that
is the system champion by plutocrats on
the left and right and that is the
reason I am here today
Paolo Ferrari wrote to speak a true word
is to transform the world I have spoken
truth here’s hoping we can change the
world together
thank you [Applause]
I’m one of 3.2 million people in this
country who dedicate their lives to
educating the fifty point seven million
yes I say public school system not
private school system not charter school
system not voucher school system not
homeschool not religious school not any
of dozens of ways to teach children
separate and apart from other children
for I am still one of those old fools
who believes that separate but equal
means separate and unequal because I
know my history I know my pedagogy I
know my civil rights and I know what
goes on in our schools I am one of the
few people in the public debate who
actually knows firsthand what our
schools are all about what happens there
what is working well and what needs to
be changed and I’m willing to actually
tell you about it even though doing so
could mean my job even though doing so
may upset my principal it may upset the
superintendent the school board the
legislature the governor the
representatives the senators that you
just judiciary the pundits the think
tanks the billionaire philanthropist s’
the ed tech industry the test prep
industry the school privatization
industry the Secretary of Education and
the president that’s why I’m here this
afternoon I know of what I speak and I
am still willing to speak it are you
willing to hear it even if what I say
may sound strange or radical or angry I
hope so because the powers that be are
betting otherwise they need numb
ignorant minds in wealthy white suburbs
and tired ignorant minds in
working-class neighborhoods and beat
down ignorant minds in impoverished
housing projects they need all of us
marching in unison to the beat of a drum
that goes against our natural rhythm
against our natural common interests
that’s how the ruling class gets us to
submit to their whims how we continue to
allow ourselves to be ruled and to do
that they need to destroy our public
schools I know that sounds dramatic
perhaps even paranoid but it is a
demonstrable fact the result of decades
of bribery and coercion the slow drip of
water on our heads not the American
dream as you and I know it but an
American dream nonetheless a dream of
profit and piracy a dream for the few at
the expense of the many
the total dismantling of public schools
the backbone of this great nation that
is their goal why because they say our
schools are failing haven’t you heard
that the system doesn’t work so we have
to tear it down it’s the only solution
yet one it is a solution that will make
things demonstrable worse and two it is
predicated on a lie
our public schools are not failing do
you hear me our public schools are not
failing
they have been failed even as I speak
they are being sabotage and their ideals
corrupted they are being turned from a
system set up with the shining
revolutionary gold of free young minds
into the shackles to keep us all pinned
down in the muck of a classist racist
status quo let me be clear our schools
are far from perfect there is much we
should change much I will admonish you
to help us change but the often told lie
is that our system is beyond saving it
is old and backward and time for the
trash bin this is one of the biggest
falsehoods in America today what after
all is a public school
it is an educational institution at the
heart of the community made up of the
community to meet the needs of the
community it is a system of teachers
counselors aides principals and
administrators dedicated to meeting the
needs of every child in the district we
take all the children in our
neighborhoods regardless of their race
nationality gender religion academic
needs emotional deficits we take all the
kids there are in our community and we
attempt to teach them how to function in
our society if that doesn’t sound
impressive it should because it’s not
the case all over the world in many
countries they only educate the wealthy
kids or kids up to a certain age or only
if they show aptitude or only if there
are certain race or only the boys are
only certain ethnic groups we are one of
the only countries in the world that
guarantees every child a free and
appropriate education from K through 12
I’m not saying it always works out I’m
not saying they’re on roadblocks to
achieving that ideal there are and in
many cases they’ve been purposefully put
in place but you can’t have equity if
that isn’t even your ideal it is ours we
talk a lot about the American Dream in
terms of business and financial success
but we have an American educational
dream to that every child will get the
same opportunities to learn that’s
something we should take pride in
because it’s also something the
powers-that-be are trying to take away
so let’s talk about it there is a
well-funded organized plan to destroy
public schools there are people who get
up every day with the express purpose to
dismantle that opportunity for all
children they are spending billions of
dollars to ensure our children don’t
have that chance so they don’t have an
even playing field and even before the
founding of our nation they have been
working to ensure their own supremacy in
our own subjugation who are they they’re
the captains of industry the wealthy
parasite
who provide nothing to society but claim
the largest portion of the rewards and
to keep themselves perched on our backs
to keep us in place to keep us fighting
among ourselves
they have perpetuated a racial and
economic caste system sure it’s changed
some over the years but it continues to
evolve into the present day and make no
mistake our schools are part of that
system a deform society will perpetuate
deform schools and that is what has
happened here the original sin of
American education is segregation even
today in 2018 it persists all these
years after Brown versus Board made it
illegal to have schools for black
students separate from schools for
whites we still take every step we
possibly can to keep the races apart in
fact in many places our schools today
are actually more segregated than they
were in the 1960s today we still draw
district lines to keep white and black
kids apart and when that doesn’t work we
allocate them to different schools
within the same district to keep white
and black kids apart and when that
doesn’t work within the same school
building we put them in different
classes to keep white and black kids
apart we do everything in anything to
ensure the person sitting next to you in
class probably has the same skin tone
and comes from the same socio-economic
background this allows us to
discriminate without discriminating it
allows the richer whiter kids to hoard
resources and the poorer blacker kids to
have to do without because our schools
are segregated we can send the lion’s
share of the money to the privileged
white children while withholding it from
the underprivileged black and brown kids
and in doing so we can say it’s not
because we’re racist it’s because of the
way the district borders were drawn or
the way an individual schools coverage
area was devised or because of the rules
and the academic handbook never mind
that it was human beings who created
these rules it’s human beings who
enforce and support the
these are just unfortunate consequences
racism without racists for the
privileged
that means newer buildings smaller class
sizes more individual instruction more
counselors wider curriculum more
extracurricular activities better stock
libraries more nurses for the
underprivileged
it means crumbling infrastructure larger
classes fewer teachers fewer counselors
narrowed curriculum fewer
extracurriculars meager libraries and
nursing staffs if at all these are the
realities of education today why do we
allow it because we’ve been suckered
into a bogus definition of
accountability any sane society would
look at what’s actually being provided
to kids and start from there but instead
we take a step back and look at
standardized test scores that is the
false idol of public education high
stakes fill in the bubble corporate
written corporate graded corporate
remediated standardized tests they are
assessments built to tell us our
segregated system is acceptable anyone
could audit a school and see what
resources students are receiving but it
takes a specialized service provider to
cover up the sins of our owners and in
so doing they to get to dip their
fingers in the pie and take a piece for
themselves let’s be real here the
unfairness of our system is crystal
clear our state and federal governments
know all children aren’t starting from
the same place we don’t have an even
playing field yet they demand all
children to hit the same benchmarks
that’s like filling two cars up with
different amounts of gas
and expecting them both to go the same
distance surprised it doesn’t happen
more over underprivileged kids have
greater needs than over privileged ones
they suffer from greater malnutrition
greater sleep deprivation greater
emotional disturbance greater exposure
to violence fewer books in the home
fewer positive role models fewer native
speakers before they even enter the
system in kindergarten they’re behind
they’re rich or whiter counterparts yet
they’re expected to catch up with little
to no help but that’s not all if the
majority of the children in a given
school don’t meet those benchmarks we’re
told it doesn’t mean they should get
more resources it doesn’t mean we should
do anything to help balance the scales
it means we should close their schools
and throw them to the wolves of
privatization step 1
segregated schools step 2 unfair funding
step 3 high-stakes tests step 4 close
the poorest and blackest schools because
of their low test scores and step 5 let
the charter and voucher operators swoop
in why do we do that why is the solution
to struggling public schools the
creation of privatized schools have we
ever demonstrated that charter and
voucher schools do a better job of
teaching students are they better at
getting kids to meet arbitrary
benchmarks without giving them the same
resources as the well resourced schools
where kids score better no absolutely
not
there is not a shred of evidence behind
that yet a majority of our lawmakers
both Republicans and Democrats support
it why do you think that is the creation
have yet another market that allows
private businesses to swoop in and swipe
one of the largest single pools of
taxpayer money in the country it’s a
vicious circle privatized bribe
privatized bribe and none of it revolves
around the students meanwhile those poor
children who are now in charter and
voucher schools have to put up with
institutions that no longer are required
to accept them they can be denied
enrollment for any reason race gender
religion behavior difficulty to teach
the choice is all for the Charter and
voucher operators not the parents or
students they have to put up with going
to a school that is no longer
democratically controlled no more
publicly elected school board no more
public meetings
no more School documents being a matter
of public
they spend our money behind closed doors
and we’re not allowed to question or
even observe what they’re doing the goal
is to make money not educate children
when they can cut services they do so as
to maximize profit so our children who
have already been slammed with
inequitable funding getting even reduced
set of services so the business people
can take their cut and which group of
children is more affected by this hint
it’s not the white kids it’s not the
rich kids it’s hardly even the
middle-class kids it’s the poor and
students of color that is Betsy DeVos is
America that is Bill Gates America that
is the system champion by plutocrats on
the left and right and that is the
reason I am here today
Paolo Ferrari wrote to speak a true word
is to transform the world I have spoken
truth here’s hoping we can change the
world together
thank you [Applause]
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