Ed Berger has written a wise blog about the damage that ideologues do.
In this post, he describes two people but does not identify them by name.
He writes about how their narrow experience, their arrogance, their certainty, and their inability to learn from their mistakes do serious damage to other people.
Who are they?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why do you suppose he chose not to include the names of the people to whom he was referring?
The names aren’t important. They can be interchangeable. What is important are the ideas they bred and the damage they do.
Guess I see more differences among various people, Mark.
I think he’s talking about Michelle Rhee and Arne Duncan, but Mark is right: a bad idea is a bad idea, no matter where it is emanating from. And it is the bad ideas we must resist, not merely the personalities who happen to be pushing them at any given moment…
I’m with Terrance, although I had guessed Rhee and Coleman before looking at it. Arne had the Chicago connection to elevate him to his level of incompetence. Lot of snake oil salesman out there.
Sounds like Michelle Rhee and Arne Duncan to me, but Mr. Dr. Ed Berger is his own ideologue, as proved by this quote about probably Arne from his cute little blog post: “He failed time-and-time-again to recognize the problems with XXXX schools, which were not solely problems caused by unions, bad teachers, and poor administration, but rather the results of poverty and a failed political/economic system that deprived children of hope and a future.”
Whenever you see that horse hooey about “poverty” and especially “failed political/economic system” you know you are dealing with an anti-capitalist marxist, even though he wears a western had and has a sparkling clear trout stream behind him, as if he were just a good ole boy outdoorsey red blooded John Wayne like Amurican. Yippee Kai Yay.
But really Mr. Dr. Ed Berger is a true red bolsheviki. He should have the Kremlin behind him. His little screed about Michelle and Arne is the pot calling the kettle black, or red. Ideologue he is. Well, you knew that already. You don’t need me to help you figure that out.
Now here’s a little test of your sense of humor. It’s surprising that God doesn’t strike him down with a thunderbolt out there in the Tetons because we all know that God is a capitalist, and that when His slaves in the Garden of Eden stole from trees of the orchard, not because they were hungry, but because the Devil seduced them into theft from their employer, He expelled them from his paternalistic enterprise out into the desert of a free labor market where they had to work a whole lot harder for a whole lot less, but then along came the Assistant Manager, aka JC, who voluntarily paid for their theft out of his own pocket, and so got them in good again with the Big Boss. Thus they learned the hard way “don’t steal from The Business our you’ll get fired.” It’s not the economic system of capitalism that has failed, but Mr. Dr. Ed. Berger’s understanding of it. He thinks it’s ok to steal, and wants to overthrow the entire government of the garden. I wonder to whom Mr. Dr. Ed. Berger has been talking. In the immortal words of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady, “Could it be SATAN”?
Poverty and our failed political/economic system” are “horse hooey,” because capitalism has worked out so well for us, with our 400 people who “have more wealth than 155 million people combined”?
“The Richest 1% Have Captured America’s Wealth — What’s It Going to Take to Get It Back?” http://www.alternet.org/story/145705/the_richest_1_have_captured_america's_wealth_–_what's_it_going_to_take_to_get_it_back
Take your insensitive, ideological rants about the glorious plutocrats elsewhere, Harlan. There are people here who know all too well what it’s like to face on a daily basis the reality of low paying jobs, hunger and the risk of homelessness.
The folks most familier with a life of low paying jobs, hunger, and the risk of homelessness are probably the citizens of North Korea. Older citizens of China have strong memories as well.
Some of us don’t need to talk to Koreans or the Chinese to learn about poverty. We’ve been dealing with this issue every day, right here in America, in our careers working with poverty level inner city children and families, and in our personal lives as well.
If my for-profit employers paid living wages, I would not be facing the prospect of becoming homeless next month –which seems to be inevitable because I don’t have the resources to prevent it.
Very, very sorry to hear this TE. Does this mean that you don’t work at a college of education?
Thanks Joe. In fact, I do.
TE – You are working with a “for profit” teacher education program?
I should add that, to their credit, they just gave me extra work to try and help me out, which I really appreciate. I just don’t know at this point if that’s going to be enough to get me through this.
Right, but not in a teacher certification program for public school teachers, though I’ve done that at non-profit colleges. I’m in Early Childhood and teaching people who work in private child care centers –which is where most of the birth – 5 population is served.
Now I understand. Yes, quality early childhood programs have been massively underfunded for decades.
I helped write a report with the National Governors Association that was published in 1986 – urging major increases in support for strong early childhood programs. I often wonder what would have happened if states and the federal government had made that one of the very top priorities.
Hope you and others have a wonderful weekend, whether celebrating Easter, Passover or just the approach of spring.
Yeah, ECE was never funded at the levels needed and there have been massive cuts over the past several years in many states, due to the economy.
Hope you have a great weekend, too –and BTW, I’m a mutt and I celebrate them all. Thanks!
Your Garden of Eden analogy fails, God gave Adam and Eve free reign of the place, charged them nothing, and allowed them to make their own choices. Nothing was hoarded or denied them. As far as Jesus goes, he was far more socialistic than you perceive. Examine how the apostles and his followers lived. They were not model capitalists and you are ignorant. I am glad you have yours, just remember, you can’t take it with you.
Well, God didn’t really give them “free reign.” He told them not to eat from the tree of knowledge, and that they’d die if they disobeyed. They broke that law and got kicked out of Eden. Yes, they made their own decision to eat from the tree, but having free will isn’t the same as having “free reign.” We’re all capable of using our free will to break the law.
Agreed re: capitalism. Capitalism is a postlapsarian condition.
POSTLAPSARIAN of, relating to, or characteristic of the time or state after the fall of humankind described in the Bible
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/postlapsarian
Agreeing that capitalism has many problems, could you please say more about what you mean? This is a new word for me, and I’d like to understand (I’m not criticizing you – seeking to understand).
Also, what would you like to see public schools helping students learn about various economic systems.
Thanks
Joe: I’m pretty much just cracking a joke. But I would define capitalism as a system based on (1) private ownership of assets, (2) market competition, and (3) workers who do their work for the purpose of producing goods or services for sale in the market. There was no private property, commerce, or “work” in Eden, because there was no need. These things developed after the Fall and because of the Fall. Adam and Eve were condemned to a life of subsistence-level work and natural childbirth. Presumably someone came up with the concept of private property to feed and/or control (depending on how you view things) Man’s greed and envy. At some point, Man said, Let there be commerce, and there was commerce. So capitalism is postlapsarian both as a matter of Biblical chronology and a matter of the eternal strife and struggle that define it.
Thank you.
Re: your other question, Joe: I think economics is a great subject, but it’s a very difficult subject for high school students (and most adults). I wouldn’t imagine it making much sense to teach as a standalone subject. But I would hope high school graduates are exposed to at least the basic bullet-points of Microeconomics 101.
You are amazing, Harlan.
I could never be as erudite as you by connecting Dr. Berger’s essay with the bible.
I recall in the new testament, if I’m not mistaken, that Jesus threw a fit in the market place, flipped tables, and screamed at all the free market merchants to part with their riches and think of others.
I’m of the Judiac faith, but it seems mighty Christian to value components and apsects of our society other than one’s own hard work and riches arising from it. It also is very Jewish in the tradition of tikkun olam, which is healing and repairing the world as a shared responsibility. It’s a way to right the wrongs of this world.
I don’t see how our new brand of capitalism is making he United States a land of fairness, justice, and equal opportunity. Maybe it’s me. . . . maybe I’m missing something here.
If in your own Harlan-esque way you feel Jesus was Marxist bent on redistributing wealth, then let me be proselytized.
He describes this person as attractive..Rhee is not attractive in any sense of that word..
I agree that the post refers to Rhee and Duncan, but I don’t think they’re ideologues. I think they’re just following the money. If somebody paid them to fix the public schools their ‘ideology’ would change overnight.
Rhee just hired former California Speaker Fabian Nunez to help her try to smash the California Teachers Union.
Has anyone ever asked Michele Rhee what evidence it would take to convince her she is on the wrong track? Might be interesting to get that answer on the record. Same question to Arne Duncan.
” “One Nation” cannot exist if its citizens do not have common language, culture, and understanding of freedom and how it is preserved.” From one of his earlier posts.
Diane, I used Michelle Rhee and Arne Duncan as models for my blog on ideologues. Everything I learned about them fit the awful truth I conveyed.
Is this Jeopardy?
I’ll take “Vile, Reprehensible and Crackpot Education Reformers” for $500, please . . . . . . . . .. Who are Michelle Rhee and Arne Duncan.
LOL! Thanks for the laugh: I need one tonight!