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Sunday, June 3, 2012

For Shame, Penny Pritzker « Diane Ravitch's blog

For Shame, Penny Pritzker « Diane Ravitch's blog:


For Shame, Penny Pritzker

One of the most powerful videos I have yet seen is making its rounds of the Internet.
I urge you to watch it.
Matt Farmer, a parent of children in the Chicago public schools, addresses a rally of the Chicago Teachers Union, where he “cross-examines” Penny Pritzker, the billionaire member of the Chicago Board of Education.
Farmer is a trial lawyer. He describes how he bristled when he heard an interview on the radio in which Pritzker described what Chicago students need: enough skills in reading, mathematics, and science to be productive members of the workforce. Why no mention of the arts, of music, of physical education, he wondered.
So he cross-examined Pritzker in absentia. Her own children attend the University of Chicago Lab School. Mayor