Ravitch on the potential horror of Josh Shapiro gov of Penn as vp plus Sam Seder Interview with Jennifer Berkshire on ed wars and both party failures

I know some Jews may be excited at the possibility but Shapiro's history of supporting anti-public education policies falls into line with some of the Trump camp rhetoric. The Dem Party certainly played a role in the promotion of charters and they saw that the anti-union charter movement has hurt teacher unions.

 

Yesterday Sam Seder did a great interview with Jennifer Berkshire that covered a lot of ground on the attacks on public education.

 

Sam also said today he's tired of those Christians calling Jews and others who oppose Shapiro anti-semites. We Jews know full well how a Jew as VP to Harris will open up the floodgates to right wing rabid antisemitism -- you see, the Jews control everything and not its out of behind the scenes and in the open. There's is a false narrative that most antisemitism comes from the left, though some does but most Jews have historical connections to right wing antisemitism going back to the old country and even in this country -- talk to Jews who grew up as a minority, as opposed to us in NYC.

So imagine a black/Jewish ticket with the president married to a Jew. Oy VEY!

 

Watch this if you want to get fully up to speed on the Republican and often Democratic points of view and the evolution of the Dem reaction but also the weakness in their lack of true defense of public schools. She reviews the Bush NCLB and the awful Obama Race to the Top. Trump went even further with Betsy DeVos. 

Biden seems to have been better than other Dems but I don't remember seeing a full throated defense of public schools. In fact there are times our own union has been weak - ie in calling out charters as blatantly anti-union or in organizing charters. 

The video is about 35. minutes but it will equip you with facts you need at the next family dinner where people rave about charters. Sam points out that charters recruit parents more than kids and set up conditions like showing up at meetings that only parents with flexible jobs or with cars can get to. We see that with Success charters.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/live/f66L_S5AlkA?si=g603XMxIa-2el_DE&t=1678

 

 

Memo to Kamala: Don’t Pick Josh Shapiro as VP!

By dianeravitch on July 25, 2024

Dear Kamala,

You are an exciting candidate, and I am thrilled to help in any way I can to see you become President of the United States. I admired President Biden and his courage in selecting you to be his Vice-President.

Now I see you in the campaign trail, happy and spreading joy. Quite a contrast to Trump, who is always scowling, angry, and promising to wreak vengeance on his enemies.

I have one piece of advice: Please do not choose Josh Shapiro as your Vice President. I know he is popular in Pennsylvania, and you need Pennsylvania.

But Josh Shapiro is a supporter of vouchers. Vouchers are a hoax. Their boosters are right-wing foundations who oppose abortion, gun control, and climate action. Vouchers hurt public schools. Vouchers are the pet project of Betsy DeVos, Charles Koch, the Bradley Foundation, the Olin Foundation, and Texas evangelical billionaires Wilks and Tim Dunn. Another huge voucher supporter is multibillionaire Jeff Yass, the richest man in Pennsylvania, who has spread money to other states to promote vouchers and is rumored to have encouraged Shapiro to push vouchers.

Vouchers are bad not only because of their supporters but because they fail to help poor kids. In fact, the evidence from evaluations in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and D.C. demonstrate that vouchers damage the academic outcomes of poor kids.

Most students who use vouchers are already enrolled in private schools. Why should the state subsidize families who don’t need the money but would be happy to have it as a gift from the state?

I know you don’t have a lot of time for reading these days, but I urge you to read anything that voucher researcher Josh Cowen has written since 2022. In that year, he declared that vouchers had failed and were hurting the kids they were supposed to help. His new book, The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers, lucidly describes the origins of vouchers in the fight against desegregation in the 1950s and their utter failure to help “poor kids escape from failing schools.”

You have a great list of potential VPs. Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania should not be on that list.

Thank you,

Diane Ravitch