The nation’s largest organization representing classroom teachers, the three million-member National Education Association, is getting plenty of guff over its decision to stonewall U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
DeVos appears to be operating in her own self made bubble. In Michigan, that bubble was penetrated repeatedly by reality, yet she systematically retreats to it. I’t’s made of tons of cash, a big money house in which she attempts to make herself unreachable.
She has possibly (hopefully) met her Waterloo upon reaching federal office. She continues to play silent, hide, evade questions, etc. But the stakes are so much higher. Her tendrils reach heavily into the college level. Now it may be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. I think she’s lived in her Amway fantasyland for most of her life. Now she is caught off guard. And CAUGHT is the operative word. She is a thief who still owes money technically to the feds for having to “clean up” after her right wingnut PACS in Michigan. Hopefully she will go down, fast.
None of the Trump people can be discussed without full description of how, when and with whom the policies of predatory capital are triangulated. The swash of the systemic fix is buckling and the pirates are wearing patches over both eyes. The only up side is … well, by principle whenever things get this twisted the yup side begins to come into view despite the shadows being cast in low light.
I think it important to keep in mind that ’ privilege’ - as ’ first before the law’ does NOT mean one stands at the head of the line, but rather that position is acquired by asserting one’s interests PRIOR to those of the rule of law… outside the law in other words… put another way, ‘lawless’. Also important to keep in mind is that this is happening in a nation taking great “pride” in the ’ rule of law’. That too needs to be reined in from the ‘reign’ version of ‘rule’ and - dontchaknow - why so may a$$e$ bray about regulation. You know, the wrong kind of rule… Screw ‘pride’ and dignify the dignity of systemic integrity.
Maybe it’s time for teachers to openly rebel against anyone telling them what to teach in their classroom or to direct anything to them outside of the local community and engagement with parents, students and other teachers in the local community. The could bring back creativity and their own insight into developing curriculum and teaching in their classes. They could be treated as professionals and paid higher than police or prison guards. I think there may be a time where teachers get to make some decisions and politicians need to back out of the way. Maybe politicians should mainly focus on how to pay for the schools from the budgets that are formulated by the schools themselves. Of course, if teachers rebel, we will see all kinds of worms come out of the woodwork - bureaucrats, administrators, politicos- anyone who benefits from control and hegemony will be on the attack. The people need to stand up for the teachers and local control.
It is no longer “rule of law” it is “rule of money” and when those with the money don’t like the law - it is changed. This is actually a form of anarchy which the right wing are very good at. Since they have no principles it can be difficult to fight them. Sometimes they need a taste of their own medicine.
We need to get beyond DeVos and all the other crap-slingers in the Educational establishment. Years ago (in the 1980s) I had a class from Dr. John Manning of the University of Minnesota. He stated repeatedly that “…through years of study across many disciplines, we have determined that the greatest way to boost education of our children is for parents to read to their children.”
Why are we not funding this?
