Hold on to your hat, sit down, then open this link, a bombshell post by Jersey Jazzman.
You will learn why Pitbull is a keynote speaker at the National Charter Schools Conference. It is not because he is a rapper who insults women.
You will learn that he and his family have perfected the art of using charters to become very rich.
You will learn about the sleazy deals that he and his family made with local politicians. You will learn that his family has built a multi-million dollar real estate empire with public money.
You will learn about Pitbull’s connection to Academica, South Florida’s largest and richest for-profit charter chain.
You will see how politicians profit, entrepreneurs profit, all on the public dime. Did I say “dime”? Sorry. Much more at stake here.
Should this man be honored or investigated? Jersey Jazzman reports, you decide.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I can’t get past how he objectifies women.
LikeLike
My first reaction is that I am sick to my stomach from this pathetic manipulation of people, standards and ethics, morality and trust!!! Believe it or not I think the suckers in this eventually will be anyone part of this self delusionary excercise in anything other then a financial ploy…education as a tool for dynasty building. GREED!
This is where the big fish throwing the little fish some bait for a frenzy and let them think they are all of that. What they are is a temporary distraction at the cost of lives and dreams of thousands of children and their families. The big fish go about their plans for profit and power growing into the mammoth shark devouring the schools of little fish in their stream. Eventually crowding out the smaller less important ones, the little ones like this are used as decoys. Eventually mistakes, improprieties, illegalities, etc. will be made and exploded into the public eye for entertaining distraction and giving the public just enough satisfaction that someone else has been taken down….except the public is all the while the big loser and payer of the bill. The Charter School corporate game is a Ponzi Scheme of mega proportions.
GREED!!
Look to the lawsuit in NJ over the millions of dollars going to parochial schools and see who the experiment was first used with to see if it would fly. Two minority parochial systems were the first test to see if this would work to really fund the much larger struggling religious affiliated schools. Religious leaders shut their mouths looking at their chance to cash in and lied in their hearts knowing this was what many believed was a door opener for mating church and state and funding their schools and their churches, synagogues, or mosques. The founding fathers knew better for the protections of balance and equity, a country of inclusion and not a one tune mind control. If this charter idea worked, the door would open, if it is challenged and fails the experiment goes somewhere else. GREED!
It is all open and out there. It is everyone looking to be part of the American Dream and getting their slice of the pie. It is every man/woman/child for themselves and if you don’t like it “Go screw yourself!” Said in the crude remarks of the street. It is not looked at as GREED anymore then the more refined, educated, and elite business people who have taught the public what real financial GREED really looks like…..banks, money markets, Madoff like drone attacks, S&L scandals, on and on and on, and then there is sequestration and union busting, taking countries for a global grab both GREED and Power and on and on and we have done this to ourselves!! GREED!
But then some just call it survival of the fittest and be-damned the rest. FOLLOW THE MONEY, LOOK BEHIND AND AROUND FOR THE TRUTH, WAKE UP BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALREADY COME FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN!!! Is it this bad…you bet!!!
Remember the movie of the agent and the player and the player says “GET ME THE MONEY!!!” and he goes to the highest bidder no matter who stood beside him or was working on his behalf. In education, administrators, teachers, unions, parents, school-boards on all levels, etc. have for years been part of this mindset not knowing or thinking that they were in a mega manipulation of a change of government, country, and life. You don’t have to look far to see GREED and ignorance!!!
LikeLike
I took a look at the Pitbull site and the “teachers” at the school. Wondering two things – 1. What type of certification do these teachers have? 2. What is the pay scale??
LikeLike
Wow. I had no idea that Academica was elsewhere in the country. Where I am at in the west, Academica is huge, partly because it employs a former state senator and the son of a current state senator, and that’s just in my local area.
My husband worked for Academica several years ago. He caught a student accessing pornography on a school computer. As it turned out, the student had been accessing it for months, but my husband had only taught him for 3 weeks. Academica fired my husband. He was out of work for nearly a year because he turned a kid in.
LikeLike
Sounds just like a charter. Blame the teacher. Remember, customers first!! Keep the bodies in the classroom so the empire can keep building from the tax money. How low can it all go?
LikeLike
Set aside Pitbull’s odious personal characteristics and criminal history for a moment. Even if he were a paragon of virtue, am I the only one who has a problem with the very notion of a “public” high school focused exclusively on sports? Who in their right mind thinks that kids should be limiting themselves like that that early in their lives? And apparently the program includes “internships” with teams like the Marlins. Anyone else think that sounds like legalized child labor/slavery?
LikeLike
There are a number of high schools that are focused on the performing arts. If sports is the hook that gets students to study statistics, for example, it seems like a good thing.
As for your second point, you might be interested in this court decision:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/business/judge-rules-for-interns-who-sued-fox-searchlight.html?_r=0
LikeLike
Performing arts high schools never struck me as a great idea either. Vocational education is important, but it seems imprudent to provide enormous public support for vocational training in industries that, while glamorous, will yield employment prospects for only a tiny fraction of students.
LikeLike
So the further extension of the child that might do well in a narrowed curriculum wtih a single focus would be to then go to the industry of colleges and vocational schools that continue to soak the parent’s and the taxpayer without a job of signifcance at the end of the education journey.
Sports and arts are fairly limited on the lucrative job market side of the equation. Buyer beware!! On the education end Do No Harm!!
All of this reminds me of the show Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the song from the same called Give Them What They Want.
Yet, people should encourage those that are passion driven and willing to work but with a clear eye for reality and not just fanciful dreaming. Do dreams come true? Sometimes but just not enough of them.
LikeLike
You might want to do a little research into the school’s curriculum before you ridicule it. It’s not about creating a bunch of mini-athletes. The school is about all facets of the sports industry. People interested in practicing law in the sports industry, business management with an emphasis of sports management. It also encompasses things like sports medicine, sports nutrition and physical therapy. All of those fields are perfectly viable careers that are all *related* to the sports industry. Frankly I think that’s one of the strengths about a school like this – it teaches kids that there are a lot of avenues they explore besides being an athlete. My daughter just graduated from a performing arts HS. She started there wanting to be an actress; in the four years she discovered a passion for writing and Science. She graduated HS as a national Merit Scholar and a full ride to a major university. All because of performing arts HS.
Whatever issues you may have with unions, funding or Mr.Perez the concept is a good one which will appeal to a lot of kids that aren’t being served in their public schools.
LikeLike
Absolutely Dienne. I have a picture in my mind that the “jobs” available will be for janitors, concession stand workers and other low paying workers. And the kids will be soooo excited to be working for a professional organization. Sick!
LikeLike
Or, being as it is an “internship” for school credit, chances are the jobs will not be paying jobs at all. Free labor!
LikeLike
¿Dónde está José cuando las fuerzas de las escuelas charteras lo necesitan?
LikeLike
Can you believe that the Secretary of Ed. in the US has such low standards. He is for sale. I remember seeing a video on here where he wouldn’t meet to talk with real educators. I guess if they were slick media stars he would have shook their hands in photo ops. Politicians in this country are so corrupt. Jeb Bush, Duncan, Obama, hold your heads high. How on earth could you support this absolute rip-off of public tax dollars?
LikeLike
How many people make it in the sports and entertainment world? Almost zero %. So let’s make them think they will be a star and then nothing. Real good. Hedge funds brag about doubling their money in 7 years instead of 12 through charter schools and a big part of that is in the property because of the tax breaks and profits of leasing to charter schools. This is all about money and power. I like hip hop, I listen to it all the time. But many of them are only about money, money, money like this guy. That is fine but what does that have to do with education when it is for profit? Why do we let a few crazies in Miami control the foreign policy of the U.S. concerning Cuba? At least Cuba has great education and health care something we do not. We are the only ones not dealing with them because of a few crazies in Miami. Fidel does not run Cuba anymore his brother does. And so what. They are only 90 or so miles away. Everyone else deals with them but us. Duncan is showing his colors by being on the same stage with this guy. Didn’t you all know who Duncan and Obama were before this?
LikeLike
I noticed when I worked “in the hood” that it was fantasies of sports stardom or nothing in the minds of the middle schoolers. Also in music you run into those who expect stardom, or nothing. It is about extremes with the desperate. They don’t want in between. All or nothing. No talk of jobs or career paths in case you didn’t make it (aside from the talk of dealing drugs).
Ethically I see the wrong in cashing in on the preparation for the very small chance it might happen, but then again if it keeps kids focused maybe it is worth something. But I suspect in a decade when the preparation has not necessarily led to the carrot there might be some retaliation???
This is all new territory from what I can tell so who knows how it will play out. Nobody I ever taught in the hood could ever accuse me of making money on them, so I feel good about that which is more than these Charter guys can say.
As always I quote my rapper hero Wyclef: “Singin’ dollar dollar bill ya’ll. dollar dollar bill. ”
At least they aren’t seducing or stealing in the name of Jesus.
LikeLike
Best line in the article: “it speaks volumes about our culture that someone who writes the lyrics Pitbull does can remain in the mainstream. . .”
Yes it does.
LikeLike