tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post1063219601420657276..comments2024-03-15T22:56:09.636-07:00Comments on Jersey Jazzman: Rhee On Stewart: A Final ThoughtDukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-14792952432468822892013-02-17T12:42:28.624-08:002013-02-17T12:42:28.624-08:00PART 2A
The real shame was that Rhee did not m...PART 2A <br /><br /><br /><br />The real shame was that Rhee did not make the changes she<br />could make to improve the system and then give it time.<br />Rather, she thought it best to fire a principal while video cameras<br />were rolling. It was later on television. John Merrow, of the PBS News Hour <br />reports that at one point, Ms. Rhee asked if his crew wanted to watch her fire a principal. <br /><br />What sort of person is she?<br />This is something that she probably felt would help her image and make a point, <br />after all, her bunch'o'lies program was based on the idea that<br />the educators --not the politicians, not our economic system in<br />which the gap between rich and poor is growing rapidly and<br />more rapidly -- were at fault.<br /><br />Now, with StudentsFirst she says 'everyone knows the <br />evaluation system is broken.' <br />No – not the truth, that is merely a talking point.<br />It is also Arne Duncan's & Joel Klein's & Steve Brill's <br />& Bill Gates' & Rupert MurdochInc's & White Caste --<br />I'm sorry, I mean White Hat, the charter chain that has<br />less nutritional value than White Castle.<br /><br />But the vast majority of teachers are good or better than good.<br />I go over this in Respect for Teachers <br />(https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475802078, aorry for the plug, but lots on Rhee)<br />The ones who work in the highest poverty districts get the <br />worst results on tests, but that is because they have the <br />hardest jobs.<br /><br />To blame them, as Ms. Rhee does, is like blaming a <br />Fire Fighter who works in an area where just about every house is on fire.<br /><br />You'll hear things like, <br />"Accountability needs to be spread broadly between principals & teachers." <br />Some of those people, to their credit, will include parents as well. <br />But 'accountability' is another emulation of the business world, <br />the same place where most businesses go belly up in 4 years. <br />Do we want a fire sale for education?<br /><br />No, this is a collective issue --- our child poverty rate is too high, <br />we group all those kids together in schools that are inadequate. <br /><br />If there is to be accountability, we all need to be held accountable, <br />not point fingers at educators.<br /><br />They're fighting the fire, but there are arsonists about, <br />plus a lot of people who are being careless about <br />where they flip their lit matches.BPFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01546353858746733672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-11201616915298632842013-02-17T12:41:36.153-08:002013-02-17T12:41:36.153-08:00MICHELLE RHEE, ARSON & THE Bunch'o'Lie...MICHELLE RHEE, ARSON & THE Bunch'o'Lies PROGRAM (Pt 2)<br /><br />Great post, but here is just what you need --<br /> the continuation of a two part post on how Michelle Rhee may sometimes misrepresent herself. <br /><br />When it comes to Michelle Rhee's lies, how do you choose among them?<br />Her resume? Saying, first, that she was firing teachers in DC for monetary<br />reasons and, later, saying she had had the money, but she had no choice but <br />to fire those 266 teachers without due-process (or good accounting) <br />because they were, hitting children or having sex with kids or had been absent 78 times.<br />Of course, there was a grain of truth there – a small grain. <br />There were 9 out of the 266 who had some sort of disciplinary hearing<br />pending, 1 of whom had been charged with sexual misconduct.<br />As for the other 257, they seemed to just have had poor luck.<br />They got on her bad side and they were in her way when she <br />wanted to make a point.<br /><br />Or forget lies for a second – that is what she would like us to do.<br />Instead, maybe we could look at lies of omission. According to Steve Brill, <br />not exactly a Rhee enemy, Rhee received donations and/or <br />pledges from Eli Broad, Rupert Murdoch, Julian Roberson, <br />Ken Langone and others. She doesn't like to talk about that.<br />Similarly, StudentsFirst doesn't disclose its financial backers. <br />The organization's tax filings show that StudentsFirst and a related nonprofit, StudentsFirst Institute, brought in more than $7.5 million between October 2010 and July 2011. <br /><br />They also spend money in political campaigns –<br />According to the Sacramento Bee, the group spent nearly $375,000 to support, Ian Calderon, the son of a powerful California assemblyman with whom Students first coordinated. Ian used the money last fall to run successfully to take his father's place representing the Whittier area in the Assembly.BPFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01546353858746733672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-88015038491381251672013-02-12T09:10:59.054-08:002013-02-12T09:10:59.054-08:00This kind of rah rah rhetoric goes on everywhere.
...This kind of rah rah rhetoric goes on everywhere.<br /><br />Just this past weekend, we witnessed through a live-twitter feed David Coleman & Co. of Common Core fame trying to put one over on the National Urban League and the NAACP.<br /><br />http://ccssimath.blogspot.com/2013/02/fractions-are-numbers-too-part-1.htmlCCSSI Mathematicshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12318317536740240935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-59938345635954918702013-02-10T13:42:02.064-08:002013-02-10T13:42:02.064-08:00For a refreshing contrast to the Michelle Rhee sch...For a refreshing contrast to the Michelle Rhee school of "thought," see Prof. David L. Kirp's piece about the Union City, NJ schools in today's (Sunday 10 February 2013) <i>NY Times</i> Sunday Review at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/the-secret-to-fixing-bad-schools.htmlDMRosenblumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07789104777867988931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-5630240140843418512013-02-10T08:28:45.721-08:002013-02-10T08:28:45.721-08:00Democrats: Wake Up About Broad!
It's no longe...Democrats: Wake Up About Broad!<br /><br />It's no longer traditionally partisan (D v R) - need to look at the individual. Don't make assumptions; Look before you Vote!<br /><br />It is clear that Commissioner Cerf's (Proud Democrat)education policy agenda is one of privatization of our schools. The education of students is a by-product so to speak. This is being done with aggressive Broad Foundation support.<br /><br />Take a look at Broad's campaign contributions. According to "Newsmeat", up to July 2011, FEC filings show that Broad contributions were at 63% to Democrats, 35% to various special interest groups, & 2% to Republicans. <br /><br />According to campaignmoney.com<br /><br />2008 shows 42 contributions totaling $115,437. Only 1 contribution to a republican. Only 1 contribution to NJ - $2,437 to Frank Lautenberg.<br /><br />2010 shows 29 contributions totaling $107,186 with only 1 contribution going to a Republican - California Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack. <br /><br />2012 shows 27 contributions at $477,800 - no visible funds to republicans. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />ad77https://www.blogger.com/profile/03474884758185177384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-44637768084887055282013-02-10T07:24:50.609-08:002013-02-10T07:24:50.609-08:00Thanks to Mr. John Clemm, my ninth grade social st...Thanks to Mr. John Clemm, my ninth grade social studies teacher, who created a very effective unit on propaganda techniques, I could identify Ms. Rhee's vacuous talking points as Glittering Generalities, meaningless cliches (Put Kids First!) that no one can argue with, but which disguise her true agenda of turning the schools over to her 1/10th of 1% funders.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com