Leslie T. Fenwick (pictured right). (Photo by Larry French/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Dec 21, 2020
President-Elect Joe Biden will soon announce his choice for Secretary of Education. He promised to choose a person with experience as a teacher. He said he wants a Secretary who is committed to public education. Here is my choice.
I can't think of anyone better qualified to be Secretary of Education than Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick, other than Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, who is chair of the Biden education transition team and has taken herself out of the running.
Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick is Dean Emeritus of the School of Education at Howard University.
She has been a teacher, a teacher educator, a scholar, and a dean. She taught middle school science in Toledo, her hometown.
She understands the most important needs of American education: adequate and equitable funding; experienced teachers; and a commitment to equity and inclusion.
I have watched her lectures online, and I was blown away by her wisdom, her articulateness, and her deep understanding of the needs of children, teachers, and schools.
Leslie Fenwick is steeped in knowledge of teaching and learning, and she knows the details of federal policy.
She is the perfect person to clean up the mess that Betsy DeVos created, to reverse four years of an administration that sought to demolish civil rights protections, to defund public schools, to fund private and religious schools, and to impose financial burdens on college students who are deep in debt or were defrauded by for-profit institutions.
After twenty years of failed federal policies of high-stakes testing and punishment for schools and teachers, American education needs bold and forceful leadership, not incremental change.
Leslie Fenwick knows that public schools are an essential element of American democracy. They are community institutions that belong to the public, not to entrepreneurs or corporate chains.
She will support schools instead of closing them. She will support teachers instead of threatening them.
She is a strong and clear-thinking leader.
She respects educators.
She is an inspiring speaker.
She would be the ideal Secretary of Education for the Biden administration.
If you want to show your support for Dr. Fenwick, please sign the NPE Action petition and tweet your support:
Here is the petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/dr-leslie-fenwick-for-us-secretary-of-education
For twitter: contact @joebiden @DrBiden @Transition46
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
© 2023 Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch is a historian of education at New York University. Her most recent book is "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools." Her previous books and articles about American education include: "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education," "Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform," (Simon & Schuster, 2000); "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn" (Knopf, 2003); "The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs to Know" (Oxford, 2006), which she edited with her son Michael Ravitch. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
President-Elect Joe Biden will soon announce his choice for Secretary of Education. He promised to choose a person with experience as a teacher. He said he wants a Secretary who is committed to public education. Here is my choice.
I can't think of anyone better qualified to be Secretary of Education than Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick, other than Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, who is chair of the Biden education transition team and has taken herself out of the running.
Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick is Dean Emeritus of the School of Education at Howard University.
She has been a teacher, a teacher educator, a scholar, and a dean. She taught middle school science in Toledo, her hometown.
She understands the most important needs of American education: adequate and equitable funding; experienced teachers; and a commitment to equity and inclusion.
I have watched her lectures online, and I was blown away by her wisdom, her articulateness, and her deep understanding of the needs of children, teachers, and schools.
Leslie Fenwick is steeped in knowledge of teaching and learning, and she knows the details of federal policy.
She is the perfect person to clean up the mess that Betsy DeVos created, to reverse four years of an administration that sought to demolish civil rights protections, to defund public schools, to fund private and religious schools, and to impose financial burdens on college students who are deep in debt or were defrauded by for-profit institutions.
After twenty years of failed federal policies of high-stakes testing and punishment for schools and teachers, American education needs bold and forceful leadership, not incremental change.
Leslie Fenwick knows that public schools are an essential element of American democracy. They are community institutions that belong to the public, not to entrepreneurs or corporate chains.
She will support schools instead of closing them. She will support teachers instead of threatening them.
She is a strong and clear-thinking leader.
She respects educators.
She is an inspiring speaker.
She would be the ideal Secretary of Education for the Biden administration.
If you want to show your support for Dr. Fenwick, please sign the NPE Action petition and tweet your support:
Here is the petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/dr-leslie-fenwick-for-us-secretary-of-education
For twitter: contact @joebiden @DrBiden @Transition46
Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch is a historian of education at New York University. Her most recent book is "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools." Her previous books and articles about American education include: "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education," "Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform," (Simon & Schuster, 2000); "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn" (Knopf, 2003); "The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs to Know" (Oxford, 2006), which she edited with her son Michael Ravitch. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
President-Elect Joe Biden will soon announce his choice for Secretary of Education. He promised to choose a person with experience as a teacher. He said he wants a Secretary who is committed to public education. Here is my choice.
I can't think of anyone better qualified to be Secretary of Education than Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick, other than Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, who is chair of the Biden education transition team and has taken herself out of the running.
Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick is Dean Emeritus of the School of Education at Howard University.
She has been a teacher, a teacher educator, a scholar, and a dean. She taught middle school science in Toledo, her hometown.
She understands the most important needs of American education: adequate and equitable funding; experienced teachers; and a commitment to equity and inclusion.
I have watched her lectures online, and I was blown away by her wisdom, her articulateness, and her deep understanding of the needs of children, teachers, and schools.
Leslie Fenwick is steeped in knowledge of teaching and learning, and she knows the details of federal policy.
She is the perfect person to clean up the mess that Betsy DeVos created, to reverse four years of an administration that sought to demolish civil rights protections, to defund public schools, to fund private and religious schools, and to impose financial burdens on college students who are deep in debt or were defrauded by for-profit institutions.
After twenty years of failed federal policies of high-stakes testing and punishment for schools and teachers, American education needs bold and forceful leadership, not incremental change.
Leslie Fenwick knows that public schools are an essential element of American democracy. They are community institutions that belong to the public, not to entrepreneurs or corporate chains.
She will support schools instead of closing them. She will support teachers instead of threatening them.
She is a strong and clear-thinking leader.
She respects educators.
She is an inspiring speaker.
She would be the ideal Secretary of Education for the Biden administration.
If you want to show your support for Dr. Fenwick, please sign the NPE Action petition and tweet your support:
Here is the petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/dr-leslie-fenwick-for-us-secretary-of-education
For twitter: contact @joebiden @DrBiden @Transition46
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.