I’d like to invite you to submit a proposal for a Critical Questions in Education (CQIE) journal special theme issue.
Hate and Love: Top Five @Twitter blocks and Top Ten Follows
We’ve all heard about celebrities blocking Twitter followers and fans because they cross the lineβ they bully, they stalk and other types of gross malfeasance (sometimes funny —> warning NSFW). I assure you that I am not guilty of any these activities (stalking, bullying and malfeasance) towards the following five folks that have blocked my tweets. So, I will propose what I suspect was the reason that I drew their ire. After I discuss the five Twitter blocks, I will then discuss my ten favorite Twitter follows.
5. Howard Fuller, Infamous purveyor of school privatization with billionaires’ funds
I suspect the block could be the result of the Cloaking Inequity post The Teat: @ntlBAEO, Choice, $, and Strings Attached? This post discusses from who Fuller has taken money from over the yearsβ which may muddy his stated motivations? Or more likely it was our recent conversation on New Orleans radio about school choice that inspired the tweet block.
Fuller feigned multiple times in our recent conversation that he’d “like to sit down and talk.” The tweet block seems like the opposite of that sentiment.
4. Steve Perry, Pundit and charter school operator (with and without Puff Daddy)
I suspect Perry was not pleased when I critiqued his school choice rhetoric at the 2016 Urban League Convention. The entire discussion below.
Often Perry does not face weighty alternative perspectives when he appears in the mediaβ on this day I just couldn’t just let his constant misinformation slide.
3. Melinda D. Anderson, Honestly, I’m not sure who this is
2. Brittany Packnett, Teach For America alum and (I don’t know what she’s doing, I’m blocked)
I suspect her block came from a 1,000 tweet Twitter storm directed at me by TFA alums when I tweeted a comment about an article written by Michelle Malkin, a FoxNews contributor. During that tweet storm, Brittany directed several tweets at me expressing that I had sided with Malkin. She said,
Is that all you have to say abt her using ur words to attack PoC and Ferguson? Genuinely curious.
I detailed the disagreement with the TFA supporters and rewrote Malkin’s article in the post Rewriting @MichelleMalkinβs bodyslam of Teach For America
1. Deray Mckesson, Teach For America alum and recent candidate for Baltimore mayor (2% of the vote)
I’ve never written about Deray. Although I did read his education platform during his mayoral run. I made the following comment about the platform in a In These Times article,
The language in his section on education is typical of school privatization advocates, according to Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, a professor of education at California State University at Sacremento who has written extensively about Teach For America on his website, Cloaking Inequity.
βMost of it is pretty consistent with what TFA says on a daily basis,β he told me.
There are probably more Twitter blocks, but these are just the ones that were easily found. Now for the Twitter follows that I find either particularly intriguing or that I feel thankful that they engage with our social justice work on Twitter.
10. Tied: Randi Weingarten, AFT President and Lily Eskelsen, NEA President.
For including these two important and powerful women, I’ll probably take flack from everybody. I think it’s cool that Randi runs her own Twitter account. I’m always honored when she retweets. I first met Lily on the set of the Melissa Harris-Perry show in 2012. I admit I’ve been a big fan of her ever since.
9. Chuck D, Rapper
I grew up on Public Enemy’s political hip hop. Their art has defined a part of who I am. In fact, Cloaking Inequity’s masthead quote “Say it like it really is” is from Chuck D.
8. Soledad O’Brien, Journalist.
She started following my Twitter this week. I deeply admire her work. I’ve been a fan of Soledad ever since her producer called to talk about education for her Black in America series when I was on faculty at the University of Texas at Austin.
6. Tied: Campbell Brown, Journalist and Elisa Villanueva Beard, Teach For America CEO
We don’t agree on much, but I respect that these two important and powerful women follow my Twitter. I’ve had lunch with EVB, she was very pleasant and earnest.
5. Rose D’Angelo, my former student
May she rest in peace.
4. NPR’s Latino USA, Peabody award winning show
Latino USA episode 713 in 2007 was my very first opportunity to contribute in the national media. Love the show.
3. Diane Ravitch, Professor and mentor
I first started communicating with Diane when I emailed her our Harvard Education Review paper Illusion of Inclusion on Texas social studies standards. I probably hear from Diane online about 20-30 times a week. Her productivity inspires me to be better everyday.
2. Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor and my dissertation advisor/mentor
Many people lobbied LDH to join Twitter! It finally happened. There really aren’t words that I can muster to describe how important LDH has been in my life.
1. The University of Michigan, γ½οΈ#GoBlue
My top follow! I was born to be a Wolverine. I feel so honored to be one of 900 people in the world that my alma mater follows. Beat Hawaii tomorrow!
Now if someone could just convince Eva Longoria to give my Twitter a chance. π Thank you for for letting me share some of my more personal feelings today and for reading Cloaking Inequity. Check out my Twitter: @ProfessorJVH
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#ResistTFA Tops Twitter Trend in United States
#resistTFA Tops Twitter Trend.
From DianeRavitch.net:
The student-led movement to defend the teaching profession is off to a fast start:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contacts:
Stephanie Rivera
Rutgers University
1.732.485.0508 srrivera92@gmail.comHannah Nguyen
University of Southern California
1.408.644.9717 hbnguyen@usc.edu#ResistTFA (Resist Teach For America) Hashtag Tops Twitter Trend List
February 18 β Chicago, IL β The hashtag, #ResistTFA (Resist Teach For America), topped the Twitter trend list in the United States beginning around 9pm EST on February 17, 2014, and remained there well into the night. For much of the evening, #ResistTFA was more popular on Twitter than βOlympicsβ, #JimmyFallon, and #TheTonightShow on the night of Jimmy Fallonβs Tonight Show debut.
Students United for Public Education (SUPE), a grassroots, student-led organization founded by Stephanie Rivera, Rutgers University Graduate School of Education Student & Urban Teaching Fellow, and Hannah Nguyen, University of Southern California Student and SUPE Chapter Leader, organized the #ResistTFA βTwitter Chatβ Monday evening as part of SUPEβs βStudents Resisting Teach For Americaβ national campaign. The goal of the event was to initiate a public debate around critical issues related to Teach For Americaβs impact on public education. Teach For America is a controversial nonprofit organization that places high-achieving college graduates in low-income school districts across the country to teach for a minimum of two years after receiving just five weeks of summer training. The timing of the #ResistTFA βTwitter Chatβ was selected to coincide with Teach For Americaβs final 2014 application deadline.
Participants in the #ResistTFA βTwitter Chatβ included students, former TFA participants, teachers and education professionals, parents, and concerned citizens. Topics of discussion primarily focused on:
Β· TFAβs five week training program deemed insufficient to prepare novice teachers to teach in some of Americaβs most challenging schools
Β· The lack of commitment TFA teachers have to the communities they are assigned to (the majority leave teaching within 2-3 years)
Β· The concern that TFA teachers may see their teaching experience as just a stepping stone to other careers
Β· TFAβs partnerships with privately managed charter schools and the impact that has on teachers unions and the teaching professionA joint statement from SUPE co-founders Rivera and Nguyen asserts, βThe overwhelming response to the #ResistTFA hashtag proves that there is an enormous concern among students, teachers, parents and citizens across the country regarding Teach For Americaβs disproportionate influence on public education. We are encouraged to see this massive outpouring on Twitter, and we look forward to continuing this important discussion about Teach For America on campuses across the country.β
About SUPE
Students United for Public Education (SUPE) evolved out of the work of college students involved in defending public education from its attackers. In particular, SUPE was founded to fill a void in the movement for public education β before SUPE, there was no national student organization devoted solely to this cause. Under the guise of βclosing the achievement gapβ and βschool choice,β for-profit corporations and their political representatives have sought to privatize and sell off public education. SUPE understands that a profit motive cannot guarantee a good education. Instead, only a robust and well-supported public education system β along with the courage and will to directly confront problems of racial and economic inequality β can provide a quality education for all.
SUPE is a community based organization because we know that public schools are the heart of every community. In other words, SUPE understands that in order for our goals to be reached, we must work with, not only K-12 students, but parents, teachers, and community members as a whole. We are not here to tell any community or students what to do. Rather, we want to work with communities to find what their needs are, and have them lead the way in the struggle as we work as equals to organize the change they believe is best. Find out more about Students United for Public Education at:Β http://supe.k12newsnetwork.com.
About Students Resisting Teach For America
Students Resisting Teach For America is a national, student-led campaign by Students United For Public Education. Although TFA presents itself as a non-partisan, data-driven philanthropy, it is in fact a sophisticated and efficiently run political organization. We therefore oppose TFA as an organization on political grounds. We resist TFA because we believe that its approach to education is not only immediately harmful to the students, schools, and families that it affects, but also that it actively promotes a vision of both education and society more broadly that furthers inequality and degrades holistic learning. Find out more about Students Resisting Teach For America at:http://studentsresistingtfa.k12newsnetwork.com.
E-mail: SUPEcontact@gmail.com
Twitter: @supenational
Facebook: facebook.com/StudentsUnitedForPublicEducation
Website:Β http://supe.k12newsnetwork.com
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