Jere Hochman, superintendent of the Bedford Central School District in New York responds here to Tom Friedman’s column in the New York Times:
I could scream!
That is my reaction to Thomas Friedman’s column, “Obama’s Homework Assignment”
Mr. Friedman sees the big picture on every issue. This column is a shocker.
They put in annual high-stakes testing – that didn’t work.
They labeled districts – that didn’t work.
They tried small high schools – that didn’t work.
They diverted funds to charters – that’s not working.
They beat up on teachers – that didn’t work.
They’ve prescribed curriculum, scripts, and more testing – that’s not working.
So – why not blame parents until that doesn’t work?
Parents working three jobs don’t show up often but they want what’s best for their child.
Parents who do show up want high standards; not standardization.
Let’s see –
They cut funding for Parents as Teachers (most evidence based school readiness program there is).
No funding for early childhood, language development, and play.
No dangled RTTT grants for home visit programs.
Writing standards for 5 year olds.
Ignoring poverty.
Lowering taxes which depletes public schools and services.
Diverting funds to charter factories.
Obsessed with testing.
Broad brushing every school in the U.S. as the same.
Double and triple testing kids with disabilities and those learning English
Ignoring thousands of success stories.
Handcuffing states with egregious regulations.
Forgetting we educate every child.
Bowing to publisher lobbyists.
It’s so simple:
Attend to pre-natal and birth to five language development and play.
High standards, rich curriculum, professional development, innovative lessons, and meaningful evaluation.
Cap high school class sizes at least under 30, preferably 25
Provide comparable technology, resources, and funding in all districts
Focus on learning, not testing.
Systems thinking, not factory models.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I would recommend for all educators whose blood pressure is rising after reading Mr. Friedman that they read Walter Kaufmann’s book, the future of the humanities. In the book he lists four kinds of minds that endanger the humanities — the fourth kind of mind and the most dangerous is that of the journalists—the least educated, but the most prone to “claims to know what he does not know.” Sound familiar. If there is any solace in reading Friedman is that spreads what he doesn’t know to all kinds of topics from education to climate control, to middle east politics, to economics, –the list goes on and on. What I love about Friedman is his sample size—whoever he talked to last on some plane, train, or coffee house.
Sample size at 10 leaves you to do some major interpolations and extrapolations based on theoretical formulas.
Sample size at 36 starts to cement you into conclusions that have statistical significance.
The sample size you suggest for Friedman is hilarious, tragic, and probably true.
But he does work for the La-Dee-Dah NY Times . . . . .
Alan ~
I plan to read Kaufmann’s book. Thanks
I have observed for years that almost all journalists, print or TV, have a 4 year degree in Journalism. That’s ALL! But, they become experts and talking heads on ABSOLUTELY EVERY TOPIC under the sun, and demand answers from anyone. Why are we not requiring more of them? Why are we not calling them on this?
So many produce such Fluff Pieces, barely meeting any standards of JUST THE FACTS.
With this column in mind, I encourage Mr. Hochman to read any of Mr. Friedman’s past columns. Mr. Friedman doesn’t see the big picture on anything. He’s never right about anything. Political commentators don’t need to have information, just a wry pretense of being above it all.
Got it. I’ve read them. Agree or disagree on other political topics, I just expected more systemic on public education.
I’m not referring to differences of opinion with Mr. Friedman. I mean to say that his predictions never come true and his analyses are never borne out by facts that emerge later. There’s no accountability for him for being objectively wrong all the time. I mean reread some of his old columns, knowing what you know now about how he accesses the big picture. There’s no reason to believe that Mr. Friedman knows anything about other subjects. In this article, he uses the term “reform-resistant unions” when the unions are completely on board with common core. If unions had the kind of power or motivation that people like Mr. Friedman attribute to them, states wouldn’t be able to quickly pass high-data accountability schemes into law. He goes on to quote an article that spends most of its time talking about the non-student problems of education, and then the students’ problems sound a lot like the effects of poverty on readiness attitudes toward school.
Here it is the best Taibbi takedown of the pompous know nothing Friedman:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/thomas-friedmans-new-state-of-grace-20120627
I made the popcorn. . . . I read the article . . . . I laughed, I cried, I yelled, I learned . . . . . .
Always a big thank-you to Linda . . . .
In the same NY Times section there is an article titled, “When the Poor Get Cash” by Moises Velasquez-Manoff. It says that after only 4 years of poor families getting extra money the frequency of behavior problems declined 40 percent. Over time minor crimes declined and on-time high school graduation rates improved. Young adults had a reduced number of psychiatric problems.
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 21:30:45 +0000 To: cathyhesse@msn.com
Tom Friedman on the invasion of Iraq, back when he was a military expert, before he read “Amanda Ripley’s new book” and became an education expert:
“What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, and basically saying: ‘Which part of this sentence don’t you understand? You don’t think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we’re just gonna to let it grow? Well, Suck. On. This.’ That, Charlie, is what this war is about. We could have hit Saudi Arabia; it was part of that bubble. Could have hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could.”
The Times got rid of Judy Miller, but somehow Tom Friedman and Bill Keller are still hanging around. Utterly disgraceful.
Your thoughts are well taken but solutions don’t take into consideration kids are different. Low standards for some are high standards for others. And vice versa. Standards at the class level must be individual. And I don’t see a discussion on assessment..
Right direction but falls short. Nothing is simple, keep the ideas coming in greater depth
Will do. These were quick responses in an email of frustration. I have listed several suggestions for Feds and State in blog – scroll down to a few if interested. http://thinkingaboutschools-jhstlny.blogspot.com/
Friedman meanders and rarely comes to the point. Many of his comments are inane. I can see why he is easy to parody and mock.
His reflection about 9/11 is oh so wrong. That was the date we started losing our liberties. And now it has reached the venue of public education.
We will keep losing teachers, such as the letter writer, if this micro managing continues. She has very valid concerns. My only advice is to remember why we are who we are and do what we do – it’s for the children – not Duncan, not the principal, not even the parent. Do what’s right for the benefit of the students. It’s not a perfect situation, but it’s the situation at hand. Make the best if it for as long as you can hold out.
Friedman is very good at sounding like an expert on issues he knows very little about. He gleans from Ripley’s book a very small part about parenting to support his point about what should be “demanded” of schools. In “Smartest Kids in the World”, Amanda Ripely writes that international tests ignored issues of parenting and drive. More involved familes had children with higher grades, better test scores, improved behavior….but asks the question about specific types of parental involvement. Parents who volunteered in the kids’ extracurricular activities had children who performed worse in reading, on average, than parents who did not volunteer. By contrast, other simple parental efforts yielded big returns as suggested by a survey. Parents who read to their children every day, do better in school. Parents who make sure their children do their homework and study, do better in school. Parents who talked to their kids about real life issues, do better in school. It would seem that equitable distribution of public funds, honest issues involved in teaching and brave politicians who are willing to say no to corporate takeover of public schools would go a long way towards getting us back on track. Perhaps Mr. Friedman is taking on education now that so many of his opinions about the Middle East have turned out to be simply wrong. (And thank you, Diane Ravitch, for an inspiring talk on Thursday at Fox Lane!)
I would like Friedman to explain how the teacher’s unions are resistant to change??? What resistance??? Also, Why would the union have to agree to every ridiculous reform when they know it is garbage? I do agree that their is a cultural problem in this country. I’ve seen too many students who come to school and want to do very little to succeed. Class sizes are too big now too. I can’t believe people from the USDOE have said class size doesn’t matter. Totally ridiculous.
there
An edu-reformer advertisement concept:
Two public school students are walking down a filthy, rotting, poorly-lit hallway. They carelessly bump into each other.
Kid 1: Hey! You got Duncan all over my Friedman!
Kid 2: And you got Friedman all over my Duncan!
Angelic music descends. Lights go up to 100%. The hallway transforms into a well-funded charter school. TFAs skip and frolic. Michelle Rhee riffs some Kenny G on her tenor sax.
Kids 1 & 2 in unison: Thank you, Duncan-Friedman!
In my 35-year-long teaching career, I’ve only taught at the college/university level, so I only get to experience the failures (and occasional successes) of the el-hi system after the fact.
Friedman’s column actually agreed more with the experience I’ve had with recent college freshmen — not turning in work, expecting hand-holding and special pleading. I’m sure that some percentage of that population came from poverty and/or are hungry on any given day — as I was for most of my el-college years.
That said, I am no longer surprised when I spot spelling and grammatical errors in articles and other writings by el-hi teachers and administrators — including most of the posts above, Maybe the excuse will be that the Net is a more informal medium or that I’m just being silly or condescending; I seriously hope that none of the contributors above is desperately poor or hungry.
Don’t tell me that these are “typos.” “their is a cultural problem in this country…?”
Finally, I found fault with Friedman’s explanations of the poor performance of today’s students too. However, I would have hoped that most of the comments above would have provided logical argumentation, concrete examples, and/or citations from research — the three best ways to make an argument — to substantiate the claims. Stating an opinion or providing ad hominem attacks on Friedman is no substitute for PROOF.
And, of course, I expect vitriol to follow these modest comments…
Frank – welcome to the world of blogs. We aren’t writing term papers, we are expressing opinions, although sometimes other bloggers ask for facts or sources to back up an individual’s claim on a certain topic. We are often quoted Wilson, if you’d care to read his treatise.
Anyway, few of us claim to be scholars or grammarians, but you are welcome to correct our use of the English language – just don’t expect us to be grateful.
The problem is that the system only allows for students who progress at a slower rate to move forward without learning or failing into oblivion. So the cheap shots about hand holding is left to the amateurs. If you used this new system there would be no sliding by and no more pushing kids out of school. And no more whinning. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-personal-map-to-success.html
My comma splice WAS a typo. However, what about the majority of college students who persist in connecting separate sentences with a comma instead of a semi-colon or period? This happens even when I correct this error and refer students to the Writing Center. When I made a mistake during my education — and even today — I’m DELIGHTED to be corrected and NEVER make that mistake again.
Why has that changed? Poverty and poor nutrition? If so, why is the problem almost as prevalent in middle-class college classrooms?
Based on Dr. Hochman’s evidence of repeatedly doing that which hasn’t worked, clearly ‘They’ need to be fired. Who are ‘They’? The federal Department of Education, and all of the “it takes a village” politicians and bureaucrats up and down the government chain that think they know what’s best for our children. It’s Hayek’s Fatal Conceit for all to see, but apparently not to learn from. The irony is rich: an entire federal department, devoted to education yet not educating and evaluating themselves. And no, unions aren’t the problem — it’s the mandatory participation in them, and the resulting billions of dollars that get plowed back into the corruption of the above, that’s the problem.
Here’s the real question and mystery: Why does the public tolerate it?
But with regards to “learning” vs. “testing” — how can one know what has been learned without testing/assessment/evaluation/call-it-whatever-you-want? How does the student’s diploma mean anything if it doesn’t certify the acquisition of a certain set of knowledge?
Dean – as noted often – the word “education” does not appear in the Constitution. HEW was the first venture and evolved into DOE. The role is protecting civil rights and federal laws which include PL94-142, now IDEA so protection of special education belongs in DC. Beyond that, DOE has overstepped their bounds – first with the NCLB stick and now the RTTT carrot.
No problem with testing. It’s essential. Standardized tests should assess how well districts and schools are doing benchmarked against others and as a means to align curriculum to standards and instruction. As Diane Ravitch points out, however, we are educating in a “culture of testing” where scores and labels drive everything which narrows curriculum with emphasis only on what is tested.