Reply #5: More on Geoffrey Canada and his zero tolerance for teachers only. [View All]

[madfloridian]

He does not blame students or parents, only teachers...no matter what the backgrounds they must work with and reach and educate.

Geoffrey Canada: If bad teachers can't be fired, send them to upper middle class schools.

Another "teachers can't be fired" screed.

In the video he says to send bad teachers to upper middle class schools. Also there is a bit about Learn NY which Canada founded with big big bucks from Bill Gates. It is set up to guarantee that mayors control schools in big cities.

From the WP:

Sorry Geoffrey Canada, but failure IS an option, a reality, and even a boon

"Calling for more school choice, Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, began his March 27 New York Daily News op-ed with the following:

"Visitors to my public charter school often ask how the students feel about the signs on the walls that say: ’Failure is not an option.’ They are surprised to hear that the signs are really for the staff."

There are two ethical problems with declaring that failure is not an option. First of all, failure exists everywhere, chosen or not, and to deny it is to deny reality. Second, without the option of failure, we would have no freedom of will; we would have to succeed at everything, and the success would lose meaning. It makes sense to say that failure should be no one’s automatic destiny, that no one should be set up for failure."

..."If we deny that failure happens, we disregard wars, famines, and other disasters; we wish away low test scores, college rejections, romantic rejections, divorce, addiction, death, injustice, car accidents, lost jobs, misspelled words, stutters, misunderstandings, and our daily mistakes and slippages. Those who take on the slogan “failure is not an option” wittingly or unwittingly paint over their lives and the lives of others, and the result is not only false but flat. Such a paint job can’t hold a candle to humanity."