Think the NSA is bad?  How about the Gates Foundation??  Sends chills down your spine how this non-government corporation has so much free access to personal data.  The next question is:  for what purpose?  Sheila Resseger posted this letter to Secretary Duncan.  Thank YOU, Senator Markey, for asking these important questions.  Tim Furman posted this link for a gathering in Chicago on student privacy.

Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal, along with other *cough* news rags, allegedly stole private information via cell phones to use against the owner.   Keep in mind that Coulson was directly linked to the British Prime Minister.  And the Gates Foundation is sponsoring “news” stories running in The Guardian.

Diane has a link up to this excellent post that just hits the nail on the head—how does one stack the deck so there is as little opposition as possible….?  One holds meetings at times that almost guarantee low attendance by those involved–teachers, parents who work and parents with little ones ( they won’t bring little ones to the meetings and  single parents will have difficulty getting sitters,too.)

The post features this video (under immature link):

Really eye-opening, eh?  Is it fair to characterize Deasy as a bully and an idiot?  From this episode, he seems to be a control freak running amok whom is more interested in feeding his ego than actual concern for the children.  He claims she is being disrespectful to the kids, while he is showing disrespect for their teacher.   Blessings to you, Patrena Shankling.  Nobody should have to be treated in such an abusive manner—and what you experienced was classic verbal abuse where it doesn’t matter what you say, the abuser will escalate his tirade.

More on Deasy here.

Speaking of abuse, Diane posted this on a child psychotherapist’s assessment of the testing, testing, testing of our children and how demoralizing it is to them.  Six years old!

And JCGrim posts a comment on how the abuse gets worse—Good God:

School leaders say La Vergne High has a split lunch period, half academic intervention to help students who may be struggling in a subject and half lunch.

“They are not segregating them in the traditional sense. If the kids’ scores are low in certain areas, they are getting help in that area. If you want to label that segregation, then that’s not the correct way to label it,” said Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans.

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Well, you know, they say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  Whether the segregation is intentional or not, it is still segregation.  And what is wrong with you that you can’t even give the kids a break from learning for a half-hour?  The brain needs a break, for crying out loud!  Let the kids be kids and socialize without being overshadowed!

Diane posts here on Mark Naison.  He describes how and why he became an activist.  **edited to add link. Oops.

From his post:

Teachers everywhere were being driven out of their jobs and stripped of their autonomy and creativity. Children everywhere were being deluged with tests, and subjected to a one size fits all curriculum that, in all too many instances, smothered their unique talents and aptitudes.

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(sorry for the large text) —  as I’m reading this, I’m reminded of something a nun said at a parents’ meeting once:  we all have gifts to bring to the world–we have the jocks and beauty queens, but we need the nerds, the clowns, the creative, the stoic, etc. — those that are not necessarily celebrated in popular media, but whose gifts would surely be missed had they not graced the world.    Even those who are mentally challenged bring something to the world.

Naison is understandably upset with the Administration for the education policies.  However, I have seen a change in President Obama in the past, oh, year or year-and-a-half, in that he seems to be breaking away from the Clinton -thinking.  My hope is that the more President Obama sees the damage that is happening to the children and public education as a whole, he will rethink the policies and replace Arne Duncan.    We can hope….

Diane also posts the links to the Daily Show appearance.  When she stated that Jon was upset about Common Core and how his staff was personally experiencing what we’ve been blasting about, I was upset that he doesn’t talk about it on air!  Arrrgh!  A missed opportunity to help the public understand why we are so upset and how our children are being psychologically abused!

(A side note~  I admire Jon for adopting the pit bull, but still would not recommend them.  They have been bred to be fighters, and as such, their powerful jaws make it impossible to separate them from anything they’ve sunk their teeth into—there are stories of pit bulls who would not release even when someone was beating on them to get them off of another dog/human being. )

Diane has a link to Mercedes Schneider’s debunking the Louisiana “miracle”.  This is why one needs to ask how statistics were compiled and what methodology they used.  The lies will be exposed when these questions are answered.

Diane and Michelle Rhee will debate Feb. 6.  Rhee made increasing demands which seem to speak of the lack of substance to her arguments.

Finally, in my own little corner of the world– a quiz on Indiana politics and ruining public education by devious means.

Note in the comments that charter school proponents are now trying to market charter schools as “community schools” to make destroying public schools more palatable.

This comment just makes me want to cry because it’s so true:

Carol Ring

November 2, 2013 at 9:39 am

Indiana gets national recognition once again!

We are ‘leaders’ in many areas…eighth most polluted air in the nation, broken infrastructure, roads with cracks and potholes, 47th in the nation for adults with college degrees, most polluted rivers in the U.S., underfunding of public schools [so more money can go to charter schools], eighth most overweight population in the nation and our recent achievement in outstanding ‘education reform’ is an increased number of vouchers and charter school expansion!

Add to this list of achievements the desire of our GOP controlled Congress and Tea Partier Governor Pence to dilute Superintendent Glitz’s responsibilities simply because she understands the needs of children and teachers.

It sometimes feels overwhelming.

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God help Indiana.