Diane Ravich

takes a look at what can be done to improve public education. Of course the reformers want to destroy it because it doesn't fit into their neoliberal/libertarian ideology, which can be boiled down to this: If I don't use it, why should I pay for it?

Ravitch writes about Finland, but it always makes me mad when people bring up Finland because the country has very few foreigners in this country, few people with special needs, and, most important, only five million people in the entire country, only about one-tenth the total K-12 population in the United States. It's just apples and oranges, as far as I am concerned.

As for Teach for America, what "good" it ever did, and it was originally founded as a way to deal with teacher shortages in urban areas, is no longer the case. There is NO teacher shortage, and frankly, the systematic use of unqualified, inexperienced teachers in urban settings can actually be seen as racist and unconstitutional in terms of denying poor students equal opportunity. Equal opportunity can be seen as including the right to have fully certified, experienced teachers as those students in suburbs or in wealthy districts.

There is no longer any justification or excuse for the existence of TFA. None. However, it is being used to increase the bottom line in school districts and to undercut veteran, more "expensive" teachers.