Challenging the Oligarchs:
Anthony Cody on Taking Back Our Schools
January 15, 6:30 p.m. at the Boston Teachers Union Hall
Join us to hear Anthony Cody talk about his new book, The Educator and the Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges The Gates Foundation, on January 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Boston Teachers Union Hall, 180 Mt. Vernon St., Dorchester, MA 02125. (To register now, click here. There will be refreshments, registration and book sales at 6:30 p.m., and the program will start at 7 p.m.) After his talk and some time for discussion, questions and answers, there will be an opportunity to buy Anthony’s book and get it signed.
Cody taught in high-poverty schools in Oakland, Calif., for 24 years, 18 of them as a middle school science teacher. Cody’s popular blog, “Living in Dialogue,” appeared for years in Education Week and is now an independent web site. He is a founding member and treasurer of the nonprofit Network for Public Education and a passionate advocate and activist for public education, for teachers and for students.
Anthony Cody
Cody described the book’s focus in an interview with Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post: “I share a series of challenges that I posed to the Gates Foundation, and to Bill Gates himself. The real challenge we face is that which the Gates Foundation states it has taken on — how to make our society, and our education system, more equitable. However, when I look at the approach they have taken, I see some basic problems. Their approach has been to pursue standardization and the metrics of test scores in order to put market forces in the driver’s seat in education. This has had very bad effects on students, who are not at all standard, and on teachers, as well. I challenge them with the understanding I gained in my 24 years working in Oakland, where I came to understand the sort of collaborative environment we need to foster growth among teachers.”
