Public School Real Reformers: What They Do and a Call from an Ed Deformer

[proud2BlibKansan]

Here are some stories to give you a one day snap shot of the state of education and what the ed deform movement has wrought:

Yesterday I received an indignant call from someone claiming to be a charter school parent in Washington DC. Kevin something or other. He wanted to know who was funding the GEM and the Real Reformers' The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman "fancy"web site.

"We have no funding. We pay nothing for the web site. It's Word Press, a free blog," I responded. He didn't believe me. "I know Word Press. That's a professionally done site. With fancy graphics. How are you paying for those graphics?"

Fancy graphics? There are no graphics at all.

I decided to throw him a slider. "It so happens that site was done for us by a volunteer who just happens to be a charter school parent and leads the NY Charter School Parent Association." That didn't deter him. "What's the relationship to the union?" "No official relationship though many of the protesters are teachers and members of the union."

Aha. He had his magic bullet. My attempts to tell him that some of these teachers have been critics of union policy went nowhere and he hung up on me. He will be blogging about how we are backed by the unions.

more . . . http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/10/public-school-real-reformers-what-they.html

[Reader Rabbit]

1. K&R

Only another teacher would be up at this hour!

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I have to be at work at 7am this year

Yuck.

[LWolf]

2. k&r

[dkf]

3. Then why don't they fix it before everyone freaks out at low test scores and tries charter schools.

Who is in the way of these "real reformers"? Just do it!

And if it is the unions maybe you all need to dump those guys and find another union.

[Reader Rabbit]

6. Who is in the way of the real reformers?

Billionaires with a lot of money and power:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/10/05/can-100-million-change-newarks-schools/when-billionaires-goals-do-harm

http://www.examiner.com/education-in-san-francisco/former-gop-insider-billionaire-boys-club-dismantling-public-education

[dkf]

7. But they haven't created the problems...they are only starting to influence the system.

The Billionaires have pushed the teachers into trying to do their own reform. If the teachers had taken the initiative why would Bill Gates even care about the subject?

[Reader Rabbit]

12. I fear you have bought into the pro-corporate spin.

The Billionaires have pushed the teachers into trying to do their own reform. If the teachers had taken the initiative why would Bill Gates even care about the subject?

It sounds as if you believe the billionaires are motivated by altruism and are to be trusted unconditionally, while the teachers who labor on the front lines are the opposite. Such a perspective seems either gullible in the extreme, or biased in favor of those who have accumulated vast amounts of wealth and power over the course of their lifetimes.

[Catshrink]

22. Who created poverty? Who is pushing the middle class into poverty now?

Who got richer during the recession?

Fix poverty.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Is there a union menu somewhere I am unaware of?

:)

[Starry Messenger]

4. Is anyone else starting to get heavy Scientology vibes about all this shit?

The ed deformers creep me out.

[Recursion]

5. Depends on where you are

The ones I knew in DC (never met a Kevin) were just sick of sending their children to horrible schools with teachers who didn't know the subject they were teaching and didn't give a damn about the kids. Then again the ones I've met in Boston can be a little cult-ish.

[w4rma]

8. The Deformers are very creepy people. Like a cult. (nt)

[Starry Messenger]

9. My dad belongs to one of those corporate cults

The est offshoots. He sounds exactly like these deformers. Same robot-like zealotry.

[maryf]

14. oooh, I hadn't thought of that, but you're right...

hmmm

[Starry Messenger]

16. I know right?

KIPP itself is cult-like. I just found an article by Jim Horn called the The Kult of KIPP that is horrifying but fascinating: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:nDnGSIpSxHoJ:www.edrev.info/essays/v12n3.pdf+harriet+ball+kipp&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiJlUTL3BBMotqao7dhO7P-JBiEFJKcVECYLRCxL8vsf0u1QIZBl8d3UEomv6EHarCcs6OVQ4Yy1NBA6EkTBFfdb5KcIbPB6IwXtYY2COvZ5vxii7MmZ1imfMVn9wuV1guSGVT_&sig=AHIEtbS_k9awmjcvciVxkqUZxpnr1fuMZQ

[maryf]

17. the background is chilling...

"an education that celebrated the dignity of hard labor and the
willing acceptance of second-class citizenship for those such as themselves who were
born of an irredeemable moral weakness that had doomed the advancement of their race."

bookmarked, thanks...

[Starry Messenger]

18. Oh yeah, this stuff is sleazy.

It rankles me every time Duncan et al use that line about education being the new civil rights issue. I mean, it is...but what they are doing is not addressing that. They are making it worse.

[maryf]

21. Just accept that second class citizenship and it will all be fantastic!

:grr:

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. KIPP - definitely cultish

[Dappleganger]

10. Thanks for all you do! K&R nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. You are very welcome

[maryf]

15. Thanks!

:hi:

on edit, forgot: K&R