There has been an unprecedented war on teachers and public education in the last two years, as Tea Party radicalism and pro-privatization lawmakers have continued one sustained attack after another on teachers unions and school reform policies in nearly every state in the union. The simple-minded right-wing notion that public employees are making too much money goes against every grain of logic and decency; blaming public servants, of which teachers are a good portion, and their unions for municipal and state fiscal crises. Furthermore, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan's educational reform policies, largely driven by a few insider special interests like the Gates Foundation, are tragically misguided. Charter schools that have been shown to be ineffective, or worse. Reorganization that dislocates teaching professionals and children. Labels from high-risk test scores that only further destroy morale and a love of learning, not to mention the detrimental effects of focusing on assessment over all else. Those things that have been shown to work in education are not the same things that are being pushed down by the White House and the DOE. Luckily, there are a number of movements and campaigns to stop it.

     The Save Our Schools March in Washington this last weekend was the first time that thousands of public teachers from around the country showed up to protest the federal government's education reform plan. Some of the greatest minds in educational research and policy were in attendance, including Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities. According to the Washington Post, 8,000 public school teachers were in attendance on The Mall, including a few well known celebrities that have joined the campaign to lobby Obama's education reform. Actor Matt Damon, the son of a public school teacher, was in attendance to lend further media attention to the debate and to the march. He spoke about many of the right-wing ideas about public schools and teachers that are misguided or just false. At the end of his statement he noted that with all of the political and public demonization of teachers and schools, how do they expect to attract anyone to educate their children? See the interview below:

     In addition, Richard Dreyfuss campaigned earlier in the month for greater Civics education in schools. The U.S. Civics test administered by National Assessment of Education Progress graded students nationally on their knowledge of government and civics. The results were not good (which may explain the perverse political landscape right now) and in response, Dreyfuss is campaigning for greater Civics education in schools. Again drawing attention to the demonization of public school teachers, he says, "Teachers are not the problem. Teachers are the solution. But teachers must have the tools, knowledge and resources they need to convey these ‘truths we hold self-evident’ to the students they serve, who in turn serve our collective future." Watch the full video, courtesy of Save Our Schools, below:

     Ultimately it is a national issue, and it will take some national sanity, either by the public or by the politicians (preferably both) to lift public education out of the anachronistic mire that it has settled into over the past four decades, or to continue on our present course and make a bad situation unthinkably worse. Damon, in his speech, said to an assembled group at the rally, "you have an army of people behind you and we will... always have your backs." Watch this final clip as a reporter tries to insinuate to Damon that he works harder than teachers because of job insecurity... and then he went after the cameraman...