Public education is imperiled by the opportunist narratives that surround the economic crisis. These corporate-backed narratives are false. The truth is there is plenty of money and corporations and financial institutions have never been more profitable nor had so much capital. They have also never been more powerful and this includes the power to both exclude their immense wealth from serving the public good and to create narratives that obscure their power—a power that extends even to controlling the monetary supply and creating $7.7 trillion (half the deficit) when the feel they need it—and narratives that distract the public from the real issues affecting our economy. What we have is a crisis of values. We need to reset our values as a culture and as a society. Education is a fundamental American value and we need to say this forcefully enough that it competes with the well-funded narratives offered by corporate interests. This is important not just to preserving the education of our children, education jobs, and an educated civic culture; it’s important to protecting our values. This rally will be a way to say clearly, democratically, and in a powerful way that education should be a valued part of our society, that it should be funded and supported in a way that reflects our values. Portland Association of Teachers will be providing shuttle busses to Salem.
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