Fearing
What We
Don't Understand. . .
Fear
and anxiety have a powerful influence on our beliefs and actions. People will go to great lengths to avoid
situations that cause them to experience these emotions. They will also accept and believe things that
may not actually be in their self-interest if they believe that they will be
protected and will be safer because of them.
We can see how this aspect of human nature is used to manipulate public
opinion, to establish a power base and to motivate citizens to take action in
one way or another. We've fought wars,
changed economic directions and enacted social policies based on our desire to
protect ourselves and our values.
The
deeper we look into policies and politics based on fear, the more we recognize
that fear and anxiety may be good defenses in the case of an immediate crises,
but these emotions do not generate sustainable, equitable policies for a
society to be governed by. We can see
how true leaders, those who are seeking to advance the causes of a majority of
citizens, attempt to alleviate fear and anxiety, while those who represent a
specific interest or group tend to amplify these emotions. True leaders seek to build understanding
among citizens and to share decision making powers in order to build consensus
and move society forward.
Those
who seek to exploit fear and anxiety for their own gain try to mislead,
misinform or otherwise limit the sharing of information and power. They create "enemies" and a sense
of perpetual crisis in order to maintain their control of the dialog around
issues.
In
recent years the American public has been pulled into a dialog about public education
that plays on fear instead of building on the promise of what public education
could be. We can clearly see the efforts
to build a sense of fear and crisis around our public schools being used for
both power and profit. Our schools have
been attacked on many fronts, and yet, the attacks have been based on very weak
(or even completely false) premises that have created a sense of crises that
allow harmful educational policies to appear reasonable and needed.
Large scale study says new teacher evaluation systems don’t
reflect teacher...
washingtonpost.com
How inequality and stealth privatization are increasing the
achievement gap...
salon.com
University of Georgia
professor and frequent AJC Get Schooled contributor Peter Smagorinsky discusses
an interesting new book exposing the misperceptions and distortions about America's
schools.
ajc.com
These
"reformers" have vilified educators and attempted to undermine their
credibility with the public.
A report http //www psea...
www.newsworks.org|By Mary Wilson
GEMS Education, an education consulting firm, released its
"Efficiency Index"...
www.huffingtonpost.com
School administrators in Boston have long wanted the freedom to fill
classroom posts with teachers of...
bostonglobe.com
They have used misleading
information and even outright lies to attempt to privatize our schools.
A ventilation outlet for a disillusioned, dejected, and
obfuscated mid-20's...
wisoapbox.blogspot.com|By Wisconsin
Soapbox
"Reformers" have
worked to enact policies and implement changes that are questionable in nature
in order to shift the focus of educational discussions away from students and
learning and on to policy and standardization.
A school district leader sends home an unusual letter
back-to-school letter to parents
washingtonpost.com
The have tried to portray
our students as the "other", something to be questioned and
feared. The increase in diversity that
should be a positive, is used to build a sense of crisis around education. We speak about the challenges that our
diverse student populations bring, and forget that they are the future of America.
Mirroring demographic trends, a new survey shows
minorities—led by...
www.takepart.com
All of these challenges to
public education find a common root in their impact on the political landscape
of our state and nation. Our students
and schools have become political pawns and are too often forgotten in all the
rhetoric. They are also victims of those
who seek short term profits at the expense of sustainable long-term
success. Our current leaders who are
making these harmful decisions will have moved on before the full impacts of
their actions are felt. The "benefits"
of Act 10 are an excellent example of short term "savings" (all be it
on the backs of educators and students) that will do lasting harm to out
schools and students.
Walker
called on Burke and the rest of the Madison School Board to embrace school
choice, take...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
The blogger and dean of education at Edgewood College
says political sniping...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
Pat Bomhack (D), Howard Marklein (R)
stopspecialneedsvouchers.org
There is a relatively "easy"
way to combat all of the fear-mongering and to change the discourse about our
public schools, returning the focus to our students, our communities and
keeping our vision about education not profits.
To accomplish this we must remember that most of the fear and anxiety
that has been generated around public education is based on misunderstandings
and faulty "common sense." We
do face many challenges in our public schools, but as a nation we have the
resources of all types necessary to overcome these obstacles. If we believe Yoda when he says, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering,” or FDR who stated, ". . .let me assert my
firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless,
unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert
retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of
frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people
themselves which is essential to victory," then we must recognize the
importance of our efforts to change the dialog about our public schools, our
educators and our efforts to educate all students. It is up to us to make the decision of what
side we are on and side with social justice and progress for all.
We asked education historian Diane Ravitch what she hopes
people will do to help children in public schools thrive. Here's what she had
to say.
billmoyers.com
Across the United
States, we are in the midst of a great
struggle over the...
solidarity-us.org
As working and middle class Americans face economic
destruction, the...
livingindialogue.com
The
Good, The Bad and
The
Ugly. . .
The Good . . . While we've had a few losses in the courts recently, here's a win for
Progressive ideals.
The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S.
7th Circuit Court of...
host.madison.com|By Lee Enterprises
The Bad . . . Too many of us are becoming tied to our "devices" and
allowing our free time to be taken from us.
And what smart CEOs can do about it.
motherjones.com
The Ugly
. . . We
can't ignore or forget the importance of race in our society. However, it
is important to remember that a majority of citizens, regardless of race,
experience a reality that is controlled by a small number of people. We
need to build unity around issues and not allow ourselves to be divided and
then conquered.
Pretty much everyone laments how angry, bitter and zero-sum
politics is these...
vox.com
Call
it the no-raises recovery: Five years of economic expansion have done...
bloomberg.com
America's
railroads -- and with them, its economy -- nearly ground to a halt in...
thinkprogress.org
WEST MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A
protest involving fast food workers who are...
fox6now.com
Race
still matters. Pass it on.
upworthy.com|By Maz Ali
The underlying anger that goes unnoticed.
washingtonpost.com
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