The Media on Education – Grade: F

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/27-0

We Do Not Have an Education Crisis in this Country. We Have a Societal Crisis

Regardless of the dearth of media coverage, the protests and rallies here in Madison, Wisconsin continue. There are people inside and outside the capitol every single day, rain, snow, or shine. One particular group that is represented each afternoon is teachers. Yet, amid the constant media chatter about public education and teaching, and the absurd vilification of teachers, the one voice that is rarely if ever represented in the news is that of an actual classroom teacher.

Among the many segments of society profoundly affected by Wisconsin’s and other states’ recent and impending regressive legislation is public education. But despite what either of the two dominant political parties claim about their interest in and respect for education, the entire American public education system has been under attack for decades. All of the political rhetoric about leaving no child left behind and racing to the top amounts to nothing but ignorant and useless policymaking, which purposefully masks the threats to our public educational systems and disgracefully blames the only people who actually know what is going on in the nation’s classrooms.

It is not simply the conservative arch-rivals of public education who get it all wrong. Nicholas Kristoff and those behind the recent documentary travesty “Waiting for Superman” also reveal their elite status and their cluelessness when speaking about teachers and education. The only voices in the ongoing discussion about education in America are those with tenuous ties, if any, to the actual institution.

More at the link --

[theaocp]

1. +16 tons

as a public school teacher, I feel every day, I'm another day older and deeper in debt. Still, we struggle on...

[Scuba]

2. The Media - Grade F n/t

[ck4829]

3. With the exception of sucking up to the right wing and the powerful, this is their grade in general

K&R