Jan Resseger gives thanks for the teachers and other educators who boldly walked out and went out on strike over the past two years. So do I.
These courageous educators challenged the national narrative that had been so deviously cultivated by billionaires and Wall Street about “failing schools” and “bad teachers,” in an effort to destroy public faith in public schools and promote privatization of public funds.
Thanks to #Red4Ed, the new and realistic narrative is about crowded classrooms, crumbling schools, underpaid teachers, and schools without nurses, social workers, or librarians.
#Red4Ed said, “No more!”
The first walkout was in West Virginia in the spring of 2018. That walkout closed every school in the state and unleashed a wave of strikes and walkouts that continues now.
Reading about the West Virginia walkout inspired me to start writing a book that will be published January 21, called SLAYING GOLIATH. I will be in West Virginia on February 22 to meet those brave teachers and thank them for what they have done for all of us.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am I am THANKFUL for Diane and her blog and all you wonderful teachers. Thank you for sanity.
Amen to this!
Diane, Thank you. This post literally gave me goosebumps!!!! I look forward to reading SLAYING GOLIATH! Kas Winters
Thankful, here, for RedforEd, Diane Ravitch and the other amazing folks at the Network for Public Education, for every teacher who persists in teaching mathematics or English DESPITE the puerile Gates/Coleman standards, the standardized testing, the VAM, the school grading, and other excreta pouring down upon them daily from the oligarchs funding deform.
#Red4Ed- Democracy’s leaders
When we strike together, we win. For everyone. Thank you.
Yes, indeed.
It is certainly heartening to see the dialogue change in a way that undermines the idea that the only problem in education is the lazy teachers supported by their all-powerful Union. This has been so long in coming.
I recall watching Bob Dole accept the nomination for president. I think it was 96. Dole publically referred to the teachers and their unions as the problem in education. The Democrats, tacking more and more to the right in an era of prosperity (a decade later it was to prove chimeric as the economy imploded) were silent on this matter. George Bush was allowed to run against Gore on the platform that his Texas miracle (another chimera) would be the catalyst that propelled millions into the middle class. Not since I quit dairy farming have I seen so much manure. Like our barn in the wet winter, it just piled up until something had to be done.
We always hauled our manure when the ground was frozen. It was tough, driving a tractor all day in temperatures. I think the teachers are doing this same thing: working to clear the manure. So are candidates who bring up problems with our approach to education during the era of pseudo reform. Many thanks to Sanders and Warren for their role in changing the national dialogue.
As we see the national discussion change, we should take care to be honest. This is way more expensive that any other undertaking. There is no way to provide for a good education for all without spending a lot of money. I think it will be more than the billionaires are able to contribute once you stretch this commitment into the future. The wealth tax is an important aspect of the picture, but the tripartite necessities of building infrastructure (think bridges, roads, grids, etc), educating our youth, and caring for the sick will be a formidable challenge, especially for a generation already mired in college debt and facing the task of paying for their aging grandparents.
Republicans and Democrats alike built their house upon the sands of falsehood. The idea that the country could grow its way out of debt without pain that got Reagan elected was false. As other ideas grow into the national debate, let us bring the truth, even if it is Jeremianic instead of Little Orphan Anniac.
I am thankful that Red for Ed brought attention to the disinvestment and crisis in public education. The wealthy in collusion with state representatives have been quietly starving public education for years.
I am very thankful for the many education warriors that support public education through protests and blogs. I than Diane for her vision and her tireless efforts on behalf of the common good.