NEWS from NEA

Diane Ravitch Speaks to the 2010 NEA Representative Assembly

Thank you, John Wilson. Thank you, all my friends in the NEA. Thanks to all my new friends in Colorado and Massachusetts and California. Thank you so much, California. The first time I spoke about my book was before the NEA scholars group in October. But the first time I went public was in San Jose, California. Thank you.

Let me first thank you so sincerely for this honor. I accept it with humility, with gratitude, and with respect for the more than three million educators that it represents.

Next, I would especially like to thank Camille Zombro of San Diego. Without Camille and without her help and the help of teachers in San Diego, I could not have written chapter 4 of the book. Read it and you will see why.

Well, it's kind of amazing that this convention is being held in New Orleans. I was, just a few minutes ago, interviewed by documentary filmmakers who said to me, “Well, don't you know that New Orleans is proving a new model?”  The new model consists of wiping out public education and firing the unions, and it's spreading across the country. And I said, “God forbid.”  I pointed out to them what we all used to know, which is that public education is the backbone of this democracy, and we cannot turn it over to privateers ..... more on Diane's speech.