This is a video of a speech education guru, Diane Ravitch, gave to members of the teachers' union in Los Angeles this last September. One of her primary targets here is the movie, "Waiting for Superman," and its supporters such as Oprah Winfrey, various business leaders, and the Obama administration in the form of Arne Duncan's Race to the Top program. Another target is charter schools and their effects on the success of students and the topic of merit pay for teachers. Here are links to some of the studies and resources she cites: CREDO National Charter School Study and the "Waiting for Superman" movie.
On her own website Diane suggests the following:
"Write your elected officials. Find out whether any Congressmen or Senators from your state are on the education committee in their House of Congress. Write the members of the education committees even if you don’t live in their state. Ask your colleagues to write letters to them. Write letters to the editor. Comment on education blogs. Call in to talk shows. Speak up at school and community meetings. Speak up, speak out.
As the great Southern writer Flannery O’Connor wrote in a letter to a friend, 'You have to push as hard as the age that pushes against you.'
This age is pushing mighty hard against children, against educators, and against the very concept of good education.
Let’s all push back as hard as we can."
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