Jersey Jazzman deconstructs John Merrow’s post “Who Created Michelle Rhee?”
If you recall, Merrow spread the blame for her undeserved celebrity among four suspects:
1. Rhee herself, by inflating her resume
2. The media, including himself, for featuring her 12 times on PBS
3. Rightwing funders
4. The unions because of their intransigence.
JJ pins the blame for Rhee on…..read it yourself.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane,
Are you aware that Indiana is considering a bill that would allow local school districts to hire corporate types to head their schools? In effect a district’s next superintendent could be an MBA instead of someone with a teaching license and classroom experience.
http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/8ce67326e76c4974a8547aa753dbf4f0/IN-XGR–School-Superintendents
Yikes!
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Mary Dooms, that bill to put non educators in charge of districts is part of Tony Bennett’s dreadful legacy in Indiana.
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Hm… Are you all aware that a merrow is a sort of troll?
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According to Wiki: “A merman or mermaid in Scottish and Irish Gaelic folklore.” Another dictionary added “capable of attachment to human beings”.
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If Lance was “unjustly enriched” by his actions, Rhee was “unjustly enriched” for misrepresenting her record, and the true record during her tenure at the DC schools.
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John Merrow is simply trying to diminish his own responsibility for creating the Mythic Rhee.
I remember people literally saying to me during the buildup to the invasion and occupation of Iraq that they were extremely distrustful of the Bush/Cheney administration but that if Colin Powell thought Saddam Hussein had WMD and we needed to go in and prevent “mushroom clouds” from popping up on our soil, well, that clinched the deal for them. There could be no doubt in their minds…
It is now embarrassing to hear disclaimers from both individuals about how they erred in entrusting their mature judgment, good reputations, and integrity to dubious causes and persons.
Unfortunately, on Planet Reality it was obvious that they were selling themselves short at the time they were engaged in the unsavory activities they are now distancing themselves from.
I take no pleasure in the awkward positions they now found themselves in, but “as you make your bed so must you lie in it.” Unfortunately, neither of them seems ready and willing to accept even a modicum of responsibility for their own actions.
Just as in the case of Michelle “No Regrets” Rhee and the high-stakes standardized testing industry, don’t hold your breath waiting for the edubullies and their accountabully underlings to self-critique and self-correct.
No one can hold her/his breath indefinitely.
🙂
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Isn’t this where Vallas from Chicago went? I know he did a trashy job there as I talked with a reporter in the town. When teachers are in total denial of their professional responsibilities there is a problem. But we must remember that the “Fish Rots from the Head.” Management is always the biggest problem. When my friend, Richard Arthur, took over Castlemont High School in about 1970 there were constant gunfights and the former principal was shot in their office. This does not exist now. From the day he took over no more violence. over 50% dropout to almost 0% and to college from 5-65% in under 4 years. Students did not have anything to eat until he asked the Black Panthers for free breakfasts and then for their families. The first student and parent centers. All teachers had a button in their classroom and if they pushed it 2-3 staff members were in that room in 2-3 minutes. All bad classroom activity stopped in one week. He is still alive and writing a book on this and how he came to his effective methods. No excuses. He then helped to found Whitney High School one of the highest performing public high schools in the U.S. for more than 25 years. Want to learn from a successful pro? There are more out there and they all seem to do the same thing. Why is everyones head in the sand?
Jersey Jazzman is one of the few who seems to get it and certainly does his homework as does Krazy Crawfish.
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Merrow’s own questions in the interview convey that he has never spent a day teaching and probably didn’t know any teachers either. Jazzman is right. Merrow’s statement is a complete misrepresentation of the original conversation. It is all a red herring. Merrow puts forth a lot of the old arguments against teachers and their unions that are red herrings. Does he realize that young teachers are hired more often than older, more experienced teachers because they are cheaper? Merrow, go interview teachers and find out what they think are the biggest obstacles to learning in urban environments. In the past people like Merrow interviewed people like Rhee and Gates as if they knew all of the answers and lowly teachers knew nothing and were to blame for urban decay. What a joke. After all these years I can’t believe people actually listened to Rhee. She spent only three years in a classroom. She is the biggest self-promoting sell-out on the planet. It is so obvious that her group is all about helping the people who want to make money off of children.
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A comic strip suggests another angle on this matter.
Look at today’s FAMILY CIRCUS by Bill Keane. A very young girl tells her even younger brother: “You have my permission to idolize me.”
I immediately thought of Michelle Rhee & John Merrow. The comparison came unbidden to my mind.
Mr. Merrow, you are at the stage of life where you should be considering what kind of legacy you want to leave. Your recent efforts to put distance between you and your former idol have had the exact opposite. You did not make yourself disappear by standing in a made-up crowd of MR-enablers—you made yourself stand out.
For the sake of those of us who value the good work you do, and for your own sake, consider taking full undiluted responsibility for what you did. For example, when asked to film the firing of a principal, simple honor and decency should have sufficed to utter the single word “No.” You did not utter those words then.
If asked now “Were you forced by mobs of zealous Rhee supporters to violate your own standards of personal and professional conduct? Did they twist your arms to make you subordinate yourself to her will?” the same simple answer should suffice.
Followed by: “I make no excuses; I did it of my own free will and I deeply regret it.”
Otherwise it will be too easy in the future for people who see the words “John Merrow” and “Michelle Rhee” in tandem to think of her telling you “You have my permission to idolize me.”
Free will. Your choice. Your legacy.
“Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” [Mark Twain]
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