I recently wrote a post about Michelle Rhee’s “Olympics” ad, in which she shows a flabby man doing rhythmic gymnastics and falling down because he is in such bad shape. This is supposed to be American education, in her view.
I wrote that she was ridiculing obesity and insulting our students, our teachers, our schools, and presenting a humiliating picture of America to the world.
A reader wrote to say that the ad is also homophobic, and on reviewing, I agree. The man in the ad is engaged in a sport that is for women only in the Olympics. He is portrayed as effete and ineffectual. This is an insulting stereotype of a gay man.
If StudentsFirst has any wisdom, it would withdraw this ad.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Agree. I somehow got roped into joining “students first”. Lapse in judgement or just not paying attention I guess, but as soon as I got the email with that video I unsubscribed.
Unfortunately, unsubscribing just takes you off the email list. I did the same thing, but then went back to the site to see if could still log in as a member. I can and see no way to cancel my membership. If anyone has found a way to cancel, please post directions. Thanks! (BTW– in the meantime I have made my profile name “Tricked into joining– I don’t support this agenda”
“If StudentsFirst has any wisdom”. Need one get past the “if” in that statement?
Duane, you stole my thunder with this spot-on comment.
That ad is awful. I do not think it will win her any fans.
Other than her billionaire and millionaire backed supporters, her circle of reformy friends and some TFA alums, do you think she has many fans?
Teachers, parents, neighbors and anyone who knows of her where I live cringe when they hear her name.
We now know Biden likes her a little bit.
http://ow.ly/i/I2Da
Everyone should check in weekly at http://www.rheefirst.com.
I was thinking the same thing- it will only be attractive to those who find snarky mailicious attacks amusing. Slinging mud doesn’t really resonate well with most parents.
Other than her billionaire and millionaire backed supporters, her circle of reformy friends and some TFA alums, do you think she has many fans?
Teachers, parents, neighbors and anyone who knows of her where I live cringe when they hear her name.
We now know Biden likes her a little bit.
http://ow.ly/i/I2Da
She claimed thousands of members in Connecticut but when she announced a rally in Hartford, only 75 people showed up, and most were press.
She claims 1.3 million members but since no one pays dues or takes any affirmative move to join, who knows how many are phantoms? And besides, it’s her claim, unaudited.
Diane
I watched the news that night here in CT. How they got the 75
number I don’t know. When the camera panned the state house steps there were 15-20 people not counting a few reporters and a camera man. The politicians, even our Governor, made sure not to be around.
She also said she would be opening an office in Hartford soon….not much has happened since. Her minions will appear before every legislative season to pass out bribes (oops…I mean contributions) when she tries again to get rid of tenure and seniority.
Now repeat…every child deserves a great teacher and great teachers should be paid well…..But they won’t have job protection or any rights but somehow they will still be great. The stupider the policy statements/ideas the more exposure one gets from the American
press.
I would like to see supporters of public education, such as parent groups and teacher’s unions, joining forces in counter-acting Rhee’s ad by airing a public service announcement in which the truth about American education is told. I think the facts are relatively unknown amongst the general population and really need to be distributed widely. As Diane reported previously,
“A few facts:
1) the US was never first on international tests. When the first test was given in 1964 (a test of math), our students came in 11th out of 12.
2) On the latest international tests, students in American schools with low poverty (10% or less) came in FIRST in the world
3) As poverty goes up in American schools, test scores go down.
4) The U.S. has the highest child poverty rate–23%– of any advanced nation in the world.
…poverty…the most direct correlate of low test scores.”
“poverty…the most direct correlate of low test scores.”
And in that sentence is the crux of the problem and I’m not talking about poverty which is a huge problem in this country guaranteed to get worse. And the problem is not “low test scores”.
The problem is using test scores to evaluate/assess anything about student learning, teacher quality, or school/district quality. All standardized test scores are rife with error and therefore invalid as shown by Noel Wilson in “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error” found at: http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/577 and in “A Little Less than Valid: An Essay Review” found at: http://www.edrev.info/essays/v10n5index.html .
Until we “spread the word” and show the harms caused by educational standards and standardized testing, even class grading, we will continue to spit into the wind in attempting to form a more just and equitable public education system. By starting with an invalid/false premise we invariably end up with invalid/false conclusions. Or as R. Ackhoff states “in doing the wrong thing righter. The righter we do the wrong thing,” he explains, “the wronger we become. When we make a mistake doing the wrong thing and correct it, we become wronger. When we make a mistake doing the right thing and correct it, we become righter. Therefore, it is better to do the right thing wrong than the wrong thing right.”
Yep, “better to do the right thing wrong than the wrong thing right!”
Ok, here is where I get lost. My kids have only attended Catholic schools. We’ve passed up some of the most expensive public schools because I found the curriculum and teaching methods to be flawed. (Sadly these are schools with some of the best teachers you will find)
I’ve watched Catholic schools educate some of the most poverty stricken children. They offer a disciplined environment, traditional liberal arts education, quality teachers and focus on academic excellence.
I would agree that there are some Catholic schools who are not living up to this high bar, but in general we’ve found that many of these schools are still offering a basic quality education.
(My kids have lived in 3 states and have attended 6 different Catholic schools)
I have seen some of the poorest families get the quality they deserve for their children in a Catholic school.
I tend to think that it’s not so much the poverty as it is the family support and the family structure.
We have several immigrant families who were offered a free education at our local Catholic high school. They are poor immigrants but the family structure is in tact.
This is what is missing from our culture. The intact family structure that is supportive of quality education.
Then you have my district which is one of the richest in the state and the curriculum and pedagogy is so flawed, several parents opt for the Catholic schools.
Parents have all of the money they need but know the Constructivism, OBE, reform math, and every other fad, is not serving their children the way they expect.
This all becomes apparent when the Ivy League parents find Junior didn’t get accepted into the Ivy League schools as they expected.
Here, by the way, is a link to the video online. Just be careful to click on ‘Watch the Videos’ — and NOT to provide your your contact email address — unless you want to be ‘volunteered’ as a member of StudentsFirst: http://www.studentsfirst.org/pages/olympics
How repellent that, once again, ‘RheeForm’ is framed within the context of a global competition (‘The U.S. Ed System V the World’); that it panders in this case to these base perceptions of the obese and, as you note, the effeminate in a visual language quite clearly meant to associate these with the ineffectual and ‘therefore’ ineffectual; and, frankly, that one is lured by so many tricks and traps to provide one’s contact information so that your name, too, can be used in vain . . .
She missed a HUGE problem in her own district during her tenure: THE CURRICULUM. Did she address the lousy reform math? Not that I’m aware of. She lost credibility with me when she failed to address one of the biggest problems in education. The Curriculum.
Yes, that and many of us are still stuck on her constant teacher bashing while she continues to spout her flowery BS…every child deserves a great teacher…as if anyone would disagree.
But it takes a while to become great and with lots of support and that something Rhee would know nothing about since she never achieved it herself.
Her rise to fame is based upon false achievements, manipulation of the public and her ability to scam billionaires. She will be remembered as the Bernie Madoff of the deform movement.
Maybe remembered more as the Tokyo Rose/Mata Hari/Delilah of the deform movement.
I looked at the video today and was sorry because it was totally disgusting. The more I see and hear of what is happening around the country regarding our public schools being turned over to “privateers”, the more disgusting the whole bunch becomes. These people including foundations, corporations, and politicians involved in this sham should all be investigated. They remind me of the “snake-oil” peddlers of long ago. To harm children through neglect is a moral issue that should be addressed by all humane citizens.
I check the Relay and Match (Sposato) Graduate schools on the web, and they appear to be nothing but old B. F. Skinner’s behavioral psychology training. This explains all the assertive discipline both positive and negative along with the scripted timed lessons that the teachers are being trained to use in the classrooms or factories. At no time did I find the method stated, but all the terms, actions and training was based on classical or operant conditioning. I know, because I had the training in and out of college. I rejected it because I considered it immoral to use on humans without their knowledge or consent. I also rejected it because I believed it to be inferior for a teaching method. The tragic use of it in the Chicago and Washington D. C. schools have proven my point. It has some use with a small number of children if used under medical supervision and correctly applied and withdrawn at the proper time. This totalitarian method appeals to the “control” freaks of the world. The Delphi technique is a form of conditioning training also. Recognition of the method is important, because if one recognizes the manipulation, then one can reject it. I’m covering two birds with one stone here, but it all fits together in this madness we call restructuring of education.
Several on this blog have made comments regarding the method’s historical use in other countries, so I’ll skip that because it can be checked on the web.
In reality the very flawed Rhee video is not even an original idea.
Bob Wise has used the Olympic report format to bring to attention goals for progress in U.S graduation rates, teacher training and retention. Only his videos are actually informative as opposed to Rhee’s which was just sad to the point of being pathetic.
See Bob Wise here and note that even if he leaves out a discussion of poverty, he still want to be supportive of education and educators in the U.S. (my opinion)
http://www.all4ed.org/publication_material/2012Olympics
Why should the StudentsFirst,Rhee video be of such poor taste and quality when Rhee actually had a better model to work with in the first place?