Eva bused her kids to the Brooklyn Bridge on school time. She paraded her boys and girls in Albany before a Governor who was already very cozy with the campaign-contributing millionaire backers of the charter industry. Most recently, she turned out her kids to "protest" again in the Big City.
But could she entertain for even one moment the notion that her small, select crowd comes anywhere close to the needs of nearly a million NYC public-school kids? What if those kids, their families and their teachers took to the streets? What if all the kids the charters kicked out came back to haunt her? What if the approximately 45,000,000 public-school kids in the country rallied? Do you think Eva's charter kids could look like much more than a drop in the bucket then--despite her millions from backers and all the TV ads money can buy?
Imagine if the proponents of public schools, you know all the ones who love their local schools, including the ones who have seen their doors closed in their faces, coordinated their actions and mobilized in support of their schools. What if they made their voices heard for better funding, more services and less space shared with privately sponsored, selective charters? Could you imagine almost a million students in NYC and close to fifty million in D.C. standing up for public education? Even mighty Eva, those who bankroll her and those on her payroll, might have to take a step back then, sit down and reconsider how much their money can buy.
No comments:
Post a Comment