This teacher hopes that Bill and Melinda read this comment:
Dear Bill and Melinda,
I truly believe you started with good intentions. As mature adults who make mistakes, it is time to recant your initial perspective.
I’ve taught 4th and 5th graders in an inner city school for the past 17 years. What fun we used to have. Back then…. before the NCLB and RTT…. my students flourished in literature groups reading on grade level classics such as Hatchet, Tuck Everlasting, Call it Courage, The Cay, Caddie Woodlawn, The Little Princess, and My Side of the Mountain. We read Jerry Spinelli, Karen Hesse, C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien. Not anymore. Why? The testing.
Since the high stakes tests began in 2001 I have noticed a decline in my student’s thinking skills. Each year they come to me with fewer skills than the group before me. The teachers are the same as before, but something is different. Students were being over tested. They no longer get the pleasure of reading in the “zone” and spending time languishing in the text for the sheer joy of reading. They have to pass these tests. If they don’t the school is punished.
This year, our school is being punished, because we are a “focused” school. As a result, time and time again, I have had to postpone my well planned lessons. These lessons, which are designed to engage students in analyzing and thinking about character motive, theme, setting etc. depend on momentum, continuity and consistency. These lessons are designed to give students time to reflect on their learning. Not this year, sadly. As a focused school, the state is more concerned with DATA. So, I have had to put aside my lessons, midstream, to initiate one edict after another given by the district, which was precipitated by the state mandates of a focused school. (I might add here that the majority of focused schools are located in impoverished districts. It’s not because of bad teaching. It’s because of poverty!)
These edicts range from “administering the district exam on material not yet covered in order to input the data, to implementing another NEW strategy, which we were never trained in to use.” Consequently, my well thought out lessons went down the drain, and I collected and input data instead. Those great books we were reading sat on the shelf. The math games and manipulatives, which help my students grasp the concrete before they explore the abstract, sat on the shelf. Instead, I administered exams and in between did my best to cover the material so that the students would hopefully succeed on these exams. If I didn’t do it, I would get a bad evaluation and my job would be on the line. I felt l was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Against every bone in my body, I had eliminate the reflective time of learning to move quickly to the next “state” agenda.
The sad part is this. I was miserable and my students were miserable. “Ms. P can’t we get in our reading groups today?” Yes. My students begged to read. They begged to read because when I am allowed to teach the way I KNOW is best, they read and love it. And that simple act of reading and loving it is the aspect of learning that will move the students forward.
However, thanks to your well-intentioned push to improve our schools, my students have less time to enjoy learning and more time to create data so that I can prove that I am teaching.
A side note here: Why are we a focused school? Our students with disabilities did not make AYP (Annual Yearly Progress). You got it. Students with special needs did not “meet state standards.” Now, Bill and Melinda, please read the many posts from parents and teachers of students with disabilities to understand the absurdity of this.
…..and reconsider your alignment with Michelle Rhee and the likes.
Please, recant.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So true,
I too believe Melinda Gates brings good intentions. How very very sad her legacy is inclined to become. Yet, there is hope for all: EVERY REFORMER CAN LEARN.
“. . . brings good intentions.”
Many throughout history have had “good intentions”:
Ghengis Khan had good intentions.
Christopher Columbus had good intentions.
George Custer had good intentions.
Hirohito had good intentions.
Hitler had good intentions.
Stalin had good intentions.
Mao had good intentions.
Pol Pot had good intentions.
Augusto Pinochet had good intentions.
Francisco Franco had good intentions.
“Do you get my meaning to you catch my drift”
It is the results of instituted policies through which folks are judged and Billy and his wife are not in good company.
And they all had unquestioning followers!
Not sure about Hitler having good intentions…….
Some saying about good intentions paving some road or other comes to mind….
That was one of my mother’s oft used admonishments. Mine is probably very well paved.
The larger question that is ignored is simply this:
Why is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation allowed to have such a large impact on U.S. educational policy?
Of course, the obvious answer is big money. Considering the misery and damage that has been inflicted on students and teachers because of the Gates’ “good intentions”, isn’t it past time for legislation to prevent additional corporate educational grand experiments?
Diane, You eloquently put what so many of us feel! I just wish for once, the wealthy powers that be would hear what is being said. Bill and Melinda Gates have the opportunity to touch so many lives in a positive way and yet they are wasting this opportunity. Just once, I would like to see the policy makers spend a few weeks in the classrooms to see what could be and what is. Thank you for stepping up for all of us.
It’s good to challenge Gates as though his intentions were “good”, but he’s revealed, consistently, that they aren’t.
Face it: after a lifetime of building his cutthroat monopoly empire, that’s what he knows and does. His foundation, like so many others proliferating among the .01%, is a shameless, propagenda-fueled tax dodge and power engine. His proclaimed ideology is that he serves humanity best by guaranteeing profits to corporate giants when they “invest” in dominating and diverting public and charitable expenditures in the agriculture, education, and health sectors. Bill and Melinda own stock in all of them. He probably truly believes his own power benefits humanity, and that’s what a sociopath really is.
The largest category of gates Foundation expenditures is “advocacy” for public policy that benefits his own bottom line. That includes buying up whole journalism departments to sing his praises and take his picture giving a dose of polio vaccine to an African child. It turns out Unicef actually bought it, at a stiff mark-up, from his price-fixing charitable cabal with Big Pharma.
All the sociopath billionaires have foundations now, but Junk Bond King Mike Milken (now of K12inc) pioneered the art of leveraging philanthropy in the service of profit and power. To see the links, Google leveraged philanthropy, or Gates Foundation profit.
I agree with chemtchr’s assessment of Bill and Melinda. I know that people think that Bill and Melinda might listen to what they have to say if they give them the benefit of the doubt regarding their intentions. But Bill’s intentions are, and have always been obvious. A nice, reasonable, rational dialog with the Gates people is never going to change the way Bill Gates operates.
F. Scott Fitzgerald aptly asserted, “They were careless people-Tom and Daisy-They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money, or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Living in the state of Washington, I have seen Bill Gates work for progressive taxation – that is not in his best financial interest – and more funding for schools. I do believe his intentions are good, but in this area they have become misguided.
While progressive taxation is a good thing, for the likes of Gates and Warren Buffett to be pushing it involves a good bit of misdirection.
First, while I can’t prove it, I think they both are advocating for it because they know that under current political conditions it will never happen, but doing so gives them some cheaply-gained credibility among Democratic Party constituencies that they seek to bamboozle and influence.
More substantively, the very richest people, and Gates and Buffett in particular, don’t derive most of their wealth from income, but rather from capital gains. Propose a wealth and increased capital gains tax, and watch their fangs come out.
As for supporting more funding for schools, that’s an easy one: that’s money to be used to implement and institutionalize the policies and programs his foundation is advocating for. Should that money ever materialize, watch it be wasted on more testing, VAM, teacher evaluation checklists and so forth.
Personally, I’d treat Mr. Infinite Greed like any other child abuser, and wouldn’t knowingly let him walk through a school door.
Tracking back to this post, and this fine comment in particular!
http://myindigolives.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/my-opinion-public-school-education/trackback/
I say to all those who will listen…. When I apply the business model to make a high quality, for-profit peach pie, I throw out the bad peaches even before I bake. Bill and Melinda, as a public school teacher, I can not throw out my bad peaches. Nor do I want to. Education is not business. It is an enterprise enmeshed in the human heart and soul, characteristics for-profit business models lack. Perhaps your money would be better spent fighting poverty and leave the art of education in the hands of educators.
What a great post!
Our students are not material goods to be treated the same as an assembly line product!
What can we do to get the Gates to read this?
Nothing!
Diane,
I believe you may want to begin “exposing” the U.S. Education Delivery Institute. When I read the teacher’s comments about “strategies” and “data”, this organization came to mind. This group is a player in the reform movement.
Kentucky is a follower in this movement, and the state has given us “delivery targets” around state board “strategies.” Again….it’s all about the numbers and not about the kids. Oh, and this group also worked with states with RTTT.
From their website (http://www.deliveryinstitute.org/):
In 2001, Sir Michael Barber pioneered the delivery approach to meet the challenge of implementing reforms in a way that will guarantee their success. EDI has adapted that approach for the American context and uses it to help state systems of K-12 and higher education achieve their ambitious goals.
Deliverology is the term associated with Michael Barber. It is NCLB with a longer name.
Deliver me from deliverology, and pray God it never ensnares my grandchildren.
Deliverology? They can’t be serious.
That reminds me of boxing promoter/hustler extraordinaire Don King’s talk of ” trickeration” back in the 70’s and 80’s.
And both terms are identical when it comes to education.
Michael Fiorillo: dianerav is not making it up. He is literally the co-author of a book called “Deliverology 101: A Field Guide for Education Leaders.”
On Pearson’s website under his name he is described thusly: “Barber recently joined Pearson as Chief Education Advisor, leading Pearson’s worldwide programme of research into education policy and efficacy, advising on and supporting the development of products and services that build on the research findings, and playing a particular role in Pearson’s strategy for education in the poorest sectors of the world, particularly in fast-growing developing economies.”
Inquiring minds want to know: if you cross the above Deliverologist with Pitbull, what do you get?
Answer: something you can’t post on this website because it’s both vulgar and obscene.
🙂
“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” [Mark Twain]
KrazyTA,
I wasn’t literally doubting Diane, but expressing my astonishment that adults could seriously use such a term and not expect people to burst out laughing in their faces.
Maybe it’s just me, but it can get pretty deflating – after the mordant laughter – to continually observe so many people acting not just stereotypically, but like human cartoons.
Michael Fiorillo: your response to my comment is a good reminder to everyone that posting online always carries a certain risk of being misinterpreted. Err on the side of caution if you want people to read your postings and respect your POV.
In this case, I gave the mistaken impression that you were making a frivolous objection to Diane’s statement. My mistake. I apologize.
I share the sentiment you express in your second paragraph. But then again, consider the Devil’s Dictionary of Eduspeak:
Edufraud: n., a self-described “education reformer” that works extremely hard at being the first to reduce him/herself to a ludicrous caricature of a caring human being—and then pats him/herself on the back for beating his/her critics to the punch.
Rheeally!
🙂
No worries, and just so there’s no misunderstanding, that line about “human cartoons” was referring to Mr. Sir Deliverology, not you.
“. . . that adults could seriously use such a term and not expect people to burst out laughing in their faces.”
Kind of like Bad Ass Teachers????
That means that a teacher would be a “deliverologist.” I wonder whether schools of education will offer courses is Deliverology. Basic Deliverology. Advanced Deliverology. Students might graduate with a degree in Educational Deliverology. The dean of the Ed School would be The Dean of Deliverology. Instead of buttons with BAT on them, we can have buttons with DOD, Doctor of Deliverology. “Kiss me. I’m a deliverologist.” “Deliverologists Deliver.” My head swims with the possibilities. “BAD”= “Bad Ass Deliverologists.” Does the Principal of school become the “Deliverologist in Chief”? If you’re teaching evolution in Texas do you become the “Devil’s Deliverologist”? Does class room management become “Deliverologistics”? French Deliverologist. And Duane you then become a Spanish Deliverologist, or Espanol Deliverologistico. Au Barricades, Deliverolgistes! Teachers and learners become “Deliverologists and Receiverologists.” May the Jargon be with you.
While I’m not happy to say it, Duane, I’m with you on this one.
As I’ve previously said, to have any creibility, the term Badass must be awarded by others, after you’ve shown your mettle. It is not something you proclaim at the outset.
Doing so intimidates no one, least of all our plutocratic adversaries, and is the opposite of a show of strength.
HU,
That’s a good one!!!!
Duane
Michael,
I would bet money on the fact that most of these “bad ass” teachers are BATINOs. Bad Ass Wannabees.
AMEN!!! Everything you said is exactly why I left the field of Special Ed. 8 years ago. Now, unfortunately, those ridiculous data-collecting mandates apply to all of our kids.
I used to think that people like Bill Gates were well-intentioned…just as the original purpose of NCLB was “well-intentioned” but I’m not sure I do any more. There’s enough “data” to show that the new “status quo” doesn’t work, yet few if any of the “reformers” will admit it. In fact, they’re changing what they are saying as the facts become clear.
When vouchers were first introduced here in Indiana it was claimed that “competition” would help public schools improve. When they decided to expand the voucher program, the fact that public schools were floundering because of a lack of funding and the private schools weren’t doing any better given similar students it’s now all about “choice.” There’s not even an attempt to claim any more that vouchers will help improve schools.
When the charters were first introduced they were going to be the places of innovation in the public school systems. This year, in Fort Wayne, IN, when two charters failed, they were take over by a private company so they could keep operating…and now with vouchers, they can continue operating using public funds…so they’re no longer needed as charters (meanwhile, the state forgives their startup loans…more tax dollars).
So-called failing public schools get punished for their inability to solve the problems of poverty which our legislators won’t deal with, while failing charters convert to private schools and continue to get tax money from vouchers so parents can have “choice.”
No…I don’t believe there are any “good intentions” at all any more.
Dear Teacher – thank you for writing your letter. I feel your sadness and am amazed that you do not come across as bitter. I hope you keep teaching. Kids needs teachers who have a passion for reading.
Frankly, I find neither Bill nor Melinda Gates interesting enough as individuals to care what their intentions or motivations are.
The two most important things to consider are whether they should be entitled to use their taxpayer-subsidized wealth to dictate education (or scientific, medical and agricultural) policy, and the outcomes of those policies.
If the US is going to realistically consider itself a democracy, then the answer to the first question must be no: education is too important to be left to the personal interests, whims and passions of one or two individuals.
As for the outcomes of Gates’ so-called philanthropy – privatization, monetizing student data, closing schools and disrupting communities, de-skilling, scapegoating and intimidating teachers, and reducing education to a repressive servant of the labor markets – we can infer that they are are either wildly incompetent, or malicious, or both.
Making pleas to such people is a waste of time; better to work together to resist their destructive behavior, and force them back to their castle on Lake Washington, where Bill can harmlessly pursue his gadget worship alone.
Money Talks…All the followers of Bill and Melinda Gates do not see the human part of the teaching profession.
Do they really and truly think that you can buy a Nation?
Yes, and the Billy is just trying to prove it!
It is kind of the teacher to say the Gates started with good intentions; I feel it was more likely hubris. I am a very good teacher; I don’t fancy I have the answers to other profession’s issues.
Yeah, and if they would pump their money into the entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial proposals of teachers, teaching teams, schools and districts instead of proposals from corporations, we’d see a lot more education progress and improvement.
As my friends grandfather taught him “I hear real good, but I see a whole lot better.” Do not listen to their silvery tongued rhetoric only watch their actions. Just like in football if you want to tackle the guy with the ball only watch the belt buckle as it is the only part of the body that only goes where he is going. How could Gates, Broad, Walton and the rest of the pack of dogs be behind small schools for 10 years with billions of dollars and suddenly go “Gee, this doesn’t work so now let’s go attack teachers while we place the superintendents and staff in position to take over the school districts while eveyone is pounding teachers and we rob the store.” This is not good intentions. This is a Kuibiki Dance as we call it. If you are well experienced, and I do not mean educated as that is not experienced, this is easy to see. This is how they have won so far. That is why an organization, if it stays this way, called Badass Teachers is so important. Teachers must once again become real professionals and defend their profession against ruination and downgrading to irrelevance. This take an attitude of “No More.”
Money can only influence the classroom teachers if the bureaucrats allow the policies to dominate the school system. I blame Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, for the policies that overwhelmed the local districts. When he was given tens of millions of dollars to distribute without oversight, he forced the states into a competition that made testing a political reality. Our high schools have now dropped psychology and philosophy and restricted art and music so that funds and time can be funneled to the tested subjects. Is that what the Gates intended? I don’t think so, but their money has caused districts to cut programs as much as to restrict time for critical thinking, As someone here said, The road to hell is paved . . .
Yes, please! Please! Please!
If I could make a purely political suggestion to public supporters, from a public school.parent.
Reformers are vulnerable, politically in one very important metric, and it’s NUMBERS.
The fact is, the vast majority of children in this country do NOT attend “reform” schools or “miracle” schools or “experimental” schools, they attend traditional public schools.
Reformers at the local, state and national level IGNORE our schools, they NEGLECT our schools, they focus EXCLUSIVELY on 5% of the students in this country.
Parents in traditional public systems, again, the VAST majority of parents, are aware of this inequity. Make them MORE aware of it. Ask why Duncan and the reformers at the state level are ignoring the vast majority of students in this country. There are many, many more parents of traditional public school students than “reform” students. If you portray reformers as neglecting public school students (and they are) you’ll win.
That TFA-er running the schools in Tennessee? Rhees ex? Highlight how he NEGLECTS the vast majority of kids in that state. Parents of traditional.public school students will respond to that, and that is MOST parents.
Have any of the key players in education reform spent a month in a regular classroom? By regular I mean not a magnet school or any school with exceptional funding. In New York State, student expectations are not aligned with the realities of student learning and teaching. Many expectations are beyond the stages of child development at each grade level.
Pearson, along with developing our NYS Assessments, has a huge influence on our NYS Education Department, so yes, follow the money. Rather than our country being controlled by big government as some people believe, our country is controlled by big business which has now has teeth in the American education system. Hence, the large disconnect between the way education reform is headed and the realities to be considered when educating our children. So, I ask again, have any of the key players in education reform spent a month in a regular classroom?
For those interested … from the EDI website:
US Educational Delivery Institute from member bios:
She understands the daily challenges state educators face. Before joining EDI, she served as Georgia’s State Superintendent of Schools from 2003 until 2010, a statewide elected office.
She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Political Science from Emory University. Her studies and classroom knowledge served her well as she was the first person ever to win $1 million on the popular game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”
She earned her doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Southern California, her master’s degree in Librarianship from San Jose State University, and her bachelor’s degree in educational psychology and history from the University of California-Santa Cruz.
Prior to joining EDI, he was an engagement manager with McKinsey & Company’s education practice, where he advised education leaders on policy and implementation at the district, state, and national level in the U.S. and abroad. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Stanford University and a Master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he was a British Marshall Scholar.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College of Columbia University and a Master’s in Public Affairs degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University.
He was an International Relations instructor at Johns Hopkins and on the Business Faculty of the Community College of Baltimore. Earlier, he earned an M.B.A. in finance/accounting from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and was graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in Psychology from Occidental College. He is author of the book, Entrepreneurship in Training: The Multinational Corporation in Mexico and Canada (University of South Carolina Press: 1992).
Previously, he served in the Mayor’s Office in Baltimore in the Office of Community Investment, primarily on the Believe in Our Schools Campaign which completed over $10M in City Schools’ facilities improvements through volunteer efforts and donations. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Delaware and a bachelor’s in psychology from Amherst College.
Most of her higher education career was spent at Mercy College in New York, where she served as professor of philosophy, manager of off-campus programs in prisons, director of testing and tutoring, academic dean as well as provost and later as president from 2004 to 2008. While at Mercy, she was engaged in increasing degree attainment without limiting access. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in philosophy from the New School University in New York City and a baccalaureate from Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
Previously, she worked as an Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education at the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Sharon holds a Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University – New Brunswick and a Master’s in Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
A Colorado native, she earned her PhD in Sociology of Education and Higher Education Administration from the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University and her B.A. from Baylor University.
She earned her doctorate and master’s degree in Higher Education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and her bachelor’s degree from Carleton College.
He holds a Master’s in Organizational Management from the George Washington University and a Master’s in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and holds a Bachelor’s from the University of Maryland.
She holds a degree in Political Science and Latin American Studies from Tulane University. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy from American University.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies.
She taught special education in Nashville, Tennessee. Corey holds a master’s in public policy from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.
She holds a B.S. in Accounting and Information Systems from Virginia Tech and a Master of Accountancy degree from the University of Mississippi, and is a CPA.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from The George Washington University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy from George Mason University.
Hmmmm….. To summarize, I believe you are saying there seems to be lots of formal education in politics and policy, and that intellect is not a factor, and there is virtually no experience working with students. I get it!
Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people that were oppressing them.
Assata Shakur
Reblogged this on Transparent Christina.