Peter Greene, a man of infinite patience, watched a video in which Cami Anderson explains why she has the right to tell everyone in Newark what to do without listening to their opinions.
She compares herself to her sister, who is a surgeon. Her sister doesn’t ask the opinion of nobodies; she does what she has to do to save the patient’s life.
Greene points out to Cami that her sister is a highly trained professional who spent years learning her profession, whereas Cami’s five weeks of training in TFA is hardly equivalent. Furthermore, her sister operates with the consent of the patient and the patient’s family, and was not given consent to cut up the patient by Chris Christie.
The bottom line, Greene sees, is this:
“Democracy is stupid.
“Look, say the Reformistas. We are just better than you are. We are wiser, smarter, and just plain righter than the rest of you. So you should stop getting in our way. All of you lesser humans should stop insisting that you’re entitled to some sort of voice– you aren’t. Shut up, sit down, and let the superior humans take care of these difficult matters.”
Greene is not sure where Cami is, other than noting she is at Arizona State University/GSV. A few days ago, I wrote about the education “gold rush.” Cami is speaking to 2,000 entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers, and investors who are looking to make profits in education with the Next Big Thing. They paid $1,000-2,000 each to meet at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale. The meeting was co-sponsored by Global Silicon Valley, which leads the way in monetizing and privatizing education.

The elite is confident in their wisdom to direct us.
LikeLike
And the results the elite Obama regime is getting suggests the opposite. Not much wisdom in the White House, and from today’s new episode in the Benghazi story, probably deliberate deception and cover up so as not to damage Obama’s record for the election.
Do you regret voting for Obama yet?
Things will get worse.
LikeLike
“Things will get worse.”
I concur with that and it won’t make any difference which one of the tools of the Dimocans is elected.
Vote third/fourth/fifth party.
LikeLike
Yes indeed. Vote 3rd, 4th, 5th party. That will give the tea party a fighting chance of taking over the Republicans.
LikeLike
That was a super-great conference.
The Twitter feed is about 50% promoting ed tech product and 50% public school bashing.
The Hechinger Report @hechingerreport · Apr 23
Netflix’s Hastings believes public schools must emulate and compete with charters; they’ll be “incredible customers” #edinnovation #edtech
Reed Hastings believes your local public school is the “customer” of charter schools. But don’t worry! You losers can learn to be “incredible customers” with enough stern lectures delivered by billionaires.
LikeLike
I heard from an insider that Hastings believes it is a problem that superintendents have to keep 4 out of 7 school board members happy.
OK, so the implication seems to be that we are faulting the superintendents for wanting to keep their jobs (don’t we all want to keep our jobs?) Furthermore, the implication is that 4 out of 7 school board members represent the people who elected them and that this aspect is exactly why we elect. . .to be represented.
Viewing that as a problem IS the problem.
But some people, I guess, will never see themselves as part of the problem when they view what they have to offer as THE solution. If what they have to offer truly is the solution, then it should appeal to 4 out of 7 school board members, should it not?
LikeLike
It’s just another insane contradiction. It’s “collaborative” and “innovative”, but OTHER PEOPLE are presented as this huge problem that have to be rolled over to impose a solution.
Is there a SLIGHT possibility they could learn something from someone who lives there and has been at this longer, however remote? 🙂
LikeLike
HUH? I think discussions like this make me twitch
LikeLike
I actually watched the whole video. She’s so superior to the community she’s supposed to serve, she even pities the people of Newark a little when they demonstrate their inferiority by loving the unworthy community treasures she’s determined to destroy. I’m furious beyond words.
It’s a good thing Ras Baraka is there to support. Everybody, go up a couple of columns and click the “donate now” button. You’ll feel a little calmer.
LikeLike
“I actually watched the whole video. ”
I don’t think I ever want to get into a drinking contest with you, chmtchr!
LikeLike
Public schools that refuse to compete WILL be replaced. However, so many teachers despise competition and business in general that I doubt they will succeed. Teachers are ALMOST responsible for their own decimations by uniformly endorsing progressive political policies. Refusal to ask: “what’s the cost” will destroy the public schools.
LikeLike
Like we, as teachers, have had any say in these matters.
LikeLike
It doesn’t matter if public schools join in competition or not. Teachers and students are not the ones who can control the situation. It is private deformers and politicians. They don’t care if public schools are performing well in test scores or not because they don’t see any merit in rewarding students and teachers for their best interest of education-deform business.
LikeLike
You may be right about that, Ken. I have a little more faith, I guess, in the good will of most people in wanting good public schools, and a little less faith than you do in the capacity of public school teachers for insight, self-knowledge.
LikeLike
I remember the book “The Best and the Brightest” by David Halberstam. It was those superior intellects in the Kennedy Administration that led us into the quagmire of Vietnam because they thought they knew it all and was wiser than everyone else. The millionaires better start believing again in democracy. When those in power do not listen, democratic compromise disappears and more radical forms of resistance take hold. There are hundreds of examples of history. They must begin to listen when we now engage in civil disobedience. If they do not, people with more extreme ideas will come to the forefront.
LikeLike
I fundamentally reject the notion that this Cami woman is better or brighter than I am. She is appalling.
I am sick of these elitists who went to college with no idea of what they were going to do when they got out. They did not go to college to prepare for a career. It was for their own enrichment.
As much as they like to say educators aren’t the brightest and that our college coursework is not rigorous, I don’t see them going into occupations that are more prestigious. They probably really believe that those who can’t, teach. Funny, then, that is what they do (for 2 TFA years) when they get out of college. I posit they teach because they are not qualified to do anything else!
But they are so much better than the rest of us! They are smart enough to know where the pot of gold is. Do your TFA time, get all the financial perks, then you are ready to lead all the downtrodden out of poverty.
Maybe I’ll do a research study on how many of these deformers have siblings that are more successful than they are. I bet Cami isn’t the only one with a sibling who has a successful professional career. My theory is that the deformers are compensating for their feelings of inferiority.
LikeLike