Vasquez Heilig: Arne’s Top 10 Gaffes

November 19, 2013 //

Julian Vasquez Heilig has helpfully assembled Arne Duncan’s ten most outrageous mis-statements. His sneering comment about “white suburban moms” was the latest, but far from the worst of what happens when Arne doesn’t stick to a script.

Categories Duncan, Arne

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neanderthal100 says:

November 19, 2013 at 2:08 pm

This one makes me as angry as the White Soccer Mom statement!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who are proving her wrong every day. ”

Insulting Mr Duncan…continually insulting..
You are Not solving Problems..Just throwing shoddy insults at everyone who does not agree with your CHAOTIC TESTING TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You so need to leave peacefully. ….I will be willing to agree on paying you a stipend of $1000…just about what is left for a teacher in my state once they have paid their bills and bought school supplies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Joanna Best says:

November 19, 2013 at 3:20 pm

Parent trigger: CCSS.

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Chiara Duggan says:

November 19, 2013 at 3:58 pm

Arne Duncan ‏@arneduncan 1h
Thrilled we have $100M to invest in high schools that want to better prepare students for careers & the workforce http://politi.co/1dU76M8

Too bad we don’t have any money to invest in all the other high schools who apparently DON’T want to better prepare students for careers and the workforce. I bet those deluded, parochial “moms” are propping up the status quo at my local high school.

Who writes this stuff?

Winners and losers, baby! That’s our fake private sector CEO at work. If I was going to get a CEO, couldn’t I at least get the real thing?

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Gordon Wilder says:

November 19, 2013 at 5:55 pm

For neanderthal100. It is unclear to me why you are upset with Dr. Ravitch. I KNOW that teachers are trying their best BUT perhaps you work under different circumstances but the teachers with whom are familiar to me are trying to hang on till they can retire or getting out now as soon as they can find something else to do. Please clarify for me at least your reasoning.

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- Cosmic Tinkerer says:
  
  November 19, 2013 at 7:40 pm
  
  I think you missed the point, Gordon. Neanderthal100 was quoting and furious about Duncan’s remark regarding Diane, not complaining about her.
  
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  - neanderthal100 says:
    
    November 20, 2013 at 5:28 am
    
    Thanks Cosmic..
    Just got back to the boards and was shocked to see that comment
  - R B Muhammad says:
    
    November 20, 2013 at 7:47 am
    
    Cosmic thinker, thank you for clarifying. I too initially read wrong (overlooking quotations).
Chiara Duggan says:

November 19, 2013 at 6:07 pm

This made me laugh:

“I’ve heard quite a bit from the parents who are very concerned about Common Core,” Cuomo told reporters after an event on Staten Island. “It’s part of a national curriculum that the national experts say is actually going to be beneficial.”

http://capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2013/11/8536207/cuomo-sees-legislative-changes-common-core

Could he possibly say “national” more in that sentence? 🙂

“Myth: These Standards amount to a national curriculum for our schools.

Fact: The Standards are not a curriculum. They are a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help our students succeed. Local teachers, principals, superintendents and others will decide how the standards are to be met. Teachers will continue to devise lesson plans and tailor instruction to the individual needs of the students in their classrooms.”

http://www.corestandards.org/resources/myths-vs-facts

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- Duane Swacker says:
  
  November 20, 2013 at 8:05 am
  
  “Myth: These Standards amount to a national curriculum for our schools.
  
  Fact: The Standards are not a curriculum. They are a clear set of shared goals and expectations for what knowledge and skills will help our students succeed. Local teachers, principals, superintendents and others will decide how the standards are to be met. Teachers will continue to devise lesson plans and tailor instruction to the individual needs of the students in their classrooms.”
  
  Don’t you have myth and fact mixed up???
  
  Reply
Chiara Duggan says:

November 19, 2013 at 6:22 pm

Michelle Rhee ‏@MichelleRhee 2h
As long as adults bicker about what THEY want & think – politically or otherwise – the needs of children get forgotten.

How bizarre is it that Michelle Rhee thinks parents objecting to an agenda at their kid’s public school is “bickering” that has nothing whatever to do with “kids”.

I think the weirdest part of ed reformers is how they seem to see children as separate little autonomous islands apart from their families and communities. It is just damn odd. I genuinely don’t get it. She is somehow thinking about the kids in Long Island while their parents are not?

What does one even call this? It’s not “paternalism”. I don’t know what it is. Does Rhee think public school kids are orphans and she and Arne Duncan are somehow their guardians?

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- Julian Vasquez Heilig says:
  
  November 19, 2013 at 7:55 pm
  
  Rhee is on the Broad board who aims to be “disruptive” and “unreasonable” Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.
  
  The Broad Foundation and Broadies: Kings of “Disruptive” and “Unreasonable” Trickle-Down Reform
  
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- KrazyTA says:
  
  November 20, 2013 at 12:50 am
  
  Dr. Julian Vazquez Heilig: thank you for the list and for your comments. Your blog ain’t too bad either!
  
  😃
  
  However, I do have one [very small] bone to pick with you.
  
  For some strange reason, I am the recipient of emails from all manner of organizations demanding that I correct uninformed stereotypes that appear on this blog.
  
  Right after your comment appeared—lo and behold!—an email missive from the Pot and Kettle Anti-Defamation League appeared in my in-box. Even given the traditional enmity between pots and kettles, they were both sorely wounded by your implication that pots and kettles can be compared in any way, shape or form with Michelle Rhee, the Broad board, and Arne Duncan.
  
  I only write this because they [first, in part] won me over with the following mangled Mark Twain quote: “If edubullies could be crossed with pots and kettles, it would improve the edubullies but deteriorate the pots and kettles.”
  
  The second and clinching argument was the reminder that pots and kettles have long served a useful purpose for human beings while Homo EduFraudulus is a known scourge on the vast majority of people.
  
  So please keep up your good work but remember—pots and kettles everywhere are hoping that you will refrain from conflating their good works and reputation with those whose heedless pursuit of $tudent $ucce$$ is destroying public education.
  
  Again, all props from a most KrazyTA for your efforts to ensure a “better education for all.”
  
  😎
  
  Reply
Cosmic Tinkerer says:

November 19, 2013 at 7:42 pm

It’s called the oligarchy, “”

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- Cosmic Tinkerer says:
  
  November 19, 2013 at 7:47 pm
  
  Sorry, clicked post before including the definition for oligarchy, which would be the small group of people who have control over our country.
  
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Cosmic Tinkerer says:

November 19, 2013 at 7:44 pm

Duncan’s scripted blurbs are just as awful as the remarks he makes when he’s winging it, including, “all students, must be college- and career-ready because jobs in the knowledge economy will require more than a high school diploma.”

This is supposed to be justification for requiring that all students begin preparing for adulthood in KINDERGARTEN, when 5 year olds have very few clues about what college, career or being an adult even mean. Forget about kids being in the now, having their childhoods and enjoying the journey of development. Everything is about getting ready for the future and becoming a worker in “the knowledge economy.”

And as for that “knowledge economy” bit, OMG. Does this man read ANYTHING about our employment statistics?

“millions of college graduates over all—not just recent ones—suffer a mismatch between education and employment, holding jobs that don’t require a costly college degree.” http://chronicle.com/article/Millions-of-Graduates-Hold/136879/

And then there is his, “competition is now global, not local”

This guy really needs a local wake-up call. For the last two decades already, thanks to Obama’s mentor, Clinton, á la NAFTA, and US corporate leaders, millions of jobs have been outsourced by American companies to foreign countries with workers who are willing to accept slave wages. NO education is required for that competition. College graduates have been competing against other Americans IN THIS COUNTRY for employment, because there are just not enough decent paying full time jobs here for workers.

I am so tired of hearing Duncan’s canards. He is all pie in the sky and seriously needs to become alert to the truths about the employment prospects that college educated Americans have been facing in real life, as we struggle, with all of our degrees, just for basic survival.

Note to Duncan: MILLIONS of college educated people are unable to make it into the middle class today!

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- Duane Swacker says:
  
  November 20, 2013 at 8:11 am
  
  “Forget about kids being in the now, having their childhoods and enjoying the journey of development. Everything is about getting ready for the future and becoming a worker in “the knowledge economy.”
  
  I’d substitute being and life for “the journey of development”.
  
  And the concept of “getting ready for the future” is absurd as we never, ever arrive at “the future”.
  
  “Knowledge economy”-tell that to the plumbers, electricians, oil rig workers, scree operators, heavy equipment operators, the roofers, the carpenters, the mudders, the bricklayers, the laborers, etc. . . .
  
  Reply
LLC1923 says:

November 19, 2013 at 9:10 pm

Abolish the US Department of Corporate Education and save billions in bogus reforms that funnel cash to corporations by holding children hostage for CC and testing profits at the same time. Don’t waste time on Arne, contact US Senators with the message of withholding votes unless significant changes are made. “White Suburban Moms” know how to organize. Just ask Sandy Kress and Gov. Perry –

Contact TAMSA moms for background – I’m still laughing!

http://www.tamsatx.org

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- R B Muhammad says:
  
  November 20, 2013 at 7:59 am
  
  I agree with one exception that is definitely a conflict to your proposal – contacting respective senators or any congressional reps will possibly be counterproductive given that a large number of politicos on the hill eat at the troughs of those who throw money at the corporate entity you describe.
  
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Robert Rendo says:

November 19, 2013 at 9:15 pm

I’m trying to come up with a top 10 list – a la David Letterman – of outcomes befalling Mr. Moron Arne Duncan, whose brains were long ago destroyed by an overdose of his addiction to stupidity. The poor man OD’d on foolishness and has avoided re-hab all the way. Now he has hit rock bottom.

His breath must reek of shoe leather, as he has often had to pull his foot out of his mouth.

I have to think about this one . . . . .

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cyn3wulf says:

November 19, 2013 at 10:56 pm

So, parents are brilliant when they pull the parent trigger, but not so brilliant, just like their kids (apple doesn’t fall far from the tree amiright?), when they oppose common core? That’s just… brilliant…

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- Reteach 4 America says:
  
  November 19, 2013 at 11:38 pm
  
  Corporate education “reform” is upside-down world, so what is true usually is the opposite of what is stated by “reformers”. Pulling the parent trigger is not brilliant. It’s actually one of the most ignorant things that parents can do, though usually through no fault of their own, because, as Diane says, it’s really a “parent tricker.”
  
  Parents are led to believe they are being empowered and don’t realize it’s a privatization scheme. The trick is that they are being bamboozled into giving away their opportunity to have a local school that will take all children in the neighborhood, and that they are giving up their right to representation on a democratically elected school board, as well as involvement in a Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO). That’s because in most cases, privately run charters are unregulated, get around accepting (and keeping) kids with high needs, have no elected school boards, and PTOs are often not welcomed.
  
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Michael Fiorillo says:

November 20, 2013 at 7:38 am

“As you all know, KIPP was selected as ground zero for education reform. It’s here where you’re trying to achieve critical mass, a tipping point of high performance schools that will transform the entire Houston public school system.”

The above quote, number six on Mr. Helig’s list, conclusively proves that, not only do you whiners hate children and excellence, but that you fail to recognize that Arne Duncan is a Genius (or at least an idiot savant).

Look carefully at that quote, and I dare you to try and exceed the cliches and ass-backwards logic that can be crammed into such a small space. You think it’s easy? Go on and try, I dare you!

Can’t do it? Even more proof that you hate kids and only think about adults.

But, for the edicfication of you losers, let’s do a Common Core-inspired Close Reading of this sentence.

First, we have have our old friend, “ground zero” (customarily a site of total destruction, no?) which is is creating its good buddy, “critical mass.”

But wait, don’t we have critical mass BEFORE the explosion that creates ground zero? Does this mean ol’ Arne has cause-and-effect issues? Never mind: all you haters and dis-excellentists can’t comprehend the man’s deep reasoning.

From that jewel of cliched illogic, Duncan pirouettes to Malcolm Gladwell’s (he of small-classes-are-bad and health insurance industry shilling) “tipping point.”

Finally, we get the crescendo of cliched banality, that old reliable “transformation.”

You whiners and haters are just complaining because you’re jealous of not being The Best and Brightest. Well, emulate this great American and perhaps you can be. Or if not, you still might be able to pull in a half mill a year as a charter school CEO.

After all, he went to Harvard, just like his jump-shot buddy, The Prez.

And you didn’t.

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