By Tracey
In continuing with the Save Our Schools March events, since it's still so fresh in my mind, I'm posting the speech Diane Ravitch gave at the rally on July 30. She's not Matt Damon, so you may have missed her. (I was deeply touched by the words Matt Damon spoke and am grateful he came. But, I will assume you won't need me to hear his speech.) Ravitch also spoke at the two-day conference leading up to the rally. Her speech at the rally was shortened dramatically, as it should. What you missed was a historical account of how our education system has been "in crisis" since 1910. It's apparently what we do; we claim our schools are in crisis, and then make irrational decisions about how to fix them. Anyone ever read Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine? A hundred years of crises should raise some flags. But, the greatest offender at this point in time, is pretending that poverty isn't an issue.