A couple of years ago, I was on a panel discussion about school reform in NYC. To one side of me was a young man of maybe 23 or 24 who was remarkable. He knew everything. He had taught for 18 months and had learned everything there was to know about teaching and how to reform schools. I should have been impressed, but found his arrogance annoying.
He was representing a group of other young teachers who call themselves Educators4Excellence,. They are funded by the Gates Foundation. They think that teachers should be evaluated by test scores of their students. They believe in merit pay. They oppose tenure or any kind of job security for teachers.
They just received another $3 million from the Gates Foundation. For rising young stars, it pays better than teaching to be an Educator 4 Excellence.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
No way! That sounds like something Edushyster would make up. Lol
Gates ain’t no educator. He is a marketer who markets himself!
Just let those fools try to “recruit” in my school. They will get some harsh words from me for sure.
My principal invites them in on a regular basis. I don’t know why though because he also seems to genuinely support the union.
I spoke with them at one of 3 sessions they held at my school last year as they tried to convince us that E4E was valid (and I took issue with one of their know-it-alls who was telling me why job security was hurting students). We ended up having to agree to disagree and I refused to shill for E4E against my fellow educators who I’d have to believe are against students for wanting to protect their careers from frivolous administrators who would one day gun for my paycheck as I made it up the ladder.
Merit pay ends with teachers making the dead bottom wage with some “top performers” elevated. Conveniently, it depresses the cost of teachers and instead of equitable wages for all dangles a carrot for people to fight each other over and have a reason to push each other down to get it.
I fight E4E each time they come into our school with some fresh new faces looking to recruit teachers. I find it disheartening that they have so much access and so much money backing them when it’s the people they represent and their goals for our society that I loathe that we can never get at through their front of teachers that they’ve paid off with money and promises of a future who are willing to elevate themselves on the backs of their colleagues (although most of the ones I met at my school were former teachers – several TFA’ers – and after as much as 6 years at a school they knew enough to teach every teacher a thing or 2 about how to improve education).
They left a stack of flyers in our school office last year. I gladly took their offerings and promptly threw them in the trash.
Next time I run in to a E4E’r I am going to ask if they have declined tenure and have refused to move lanes on the pay scale.
Would it ever be possible that a E4E’r or TFAer to have a class that did not score well on The Test and then they would know a little more what it is like to be a real teacher, my career is teaching, certified teacher who teaches their heart out and sees the growth that their students really make, forget The Test, yet has to live with the consequences of not so great test scores such as lower pay? Could it possibly happen?
Hoping you’re not a writing teacher.
This is for real! My goodness! You know what….
Go to http://www.wral.com to see the latest plan by NC’s governor. It’s sounds like E4E. Now he wants teachers to be involved in policy-making. Check it out for yourselves, and do NOT be fooled by the title.
His proposal is a mini version of RTT…competition, merit pay and funding for those who follow along in the charade.
Flowery language, a sprinkle of money for a few and pretend to respect teachers.
Notice he throws in the “status quo”. Ask him to define that term. 12+ years of high stakes testing, ranking, stacking IS THE STATUS QUO.
It sounds like….(bad with typos)
There’s another asinine meme that has lately emanated from the E4E folks:
the “real” reason that teachers are leaving the profession is…
NOT because of constant propagandizing against and scapegoating of them…
NOR is it that their salaries, benefits, and job protections are being shredded and their unions busted…
NOR is it the de-professionalization of teaching executed by such orgs as the NCTQ and TFA…
NOR is it ballooning class size …
NOR is it having themselves evaluated and paid according to the dubious measures of their students’ test scores… and why put up with such a brutal, demanding job in the face of all these attacks.
No, no, no… none of that…
Teachers are leaving because they do not have “opportunities for advancement”…. a “career ladder” in which teachers will achieve the newly-created designation of “Master Teacher”, whereupon they may leave the classroom, either totally or partially, for more fulfillment and higher compensation… or other such nonsense.
(This is, in part, also a justification for Bill Gates’ and Erik Hanushek’s ludicrous idea of firing teachers who are less “excellent”—based on test scores, of course—then increasing the size of the classes taught by the remaining “excellent” “Master Teachers”, who will then be paid more, because… now, more students will be exposed to such “excellent” “Master Teachers”).
This moronic thesis was propagated in an New York Post op-ed by a ranking member of E4E’s New York City chapter. She cited the absence of this “career ladder” as her reason for leaving teaching for greener pastures of “education policy”—where thankfully, the heart-breaking agony brought on by her abandonment of her students will now fortunately be compensated with the significantly higher pay that comes with such a courageous move:
(NOTE: Ms Wheal—the E4E op-ed writer and a teacher with just a few years in the classroom—is a self-proclaimed “Master Teacher”, and who actually uses that improvised title for herself on LinkedIn and Twitter… don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back, Ms. Wheal):
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/why_nyc_can_keep_great_teachers_aySFH5cmkDYrnRxwXBnycK
Thankfully—and exactly one year ago today… August 1st—Ms. Wheal’s drivel was met with this withering response from a career teacher on his / her “Accountable Talk” blog (and also from some veteran teacher COMMENTERS that followed this… SEE BELOW):
http://www.accountabletalk.com/2012/08/note-to-lori-wheal-teaching-is-its-own.html
(NOTE, this blogger / teacher has very strong opinions on E4E, strong enough that he / she refuses to use call the group by its actual name, preferring instead to call it by a common nickname among The Big Apple’s veteran, non-E4E educators— “Asshats for Education”—“A4E”. I’m usually averse to such name-calling, but, in this instance at least, my aversion is considerably muted than it otherwise would be.)
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“Wednesday, August 1, 2012
“Note to Lori Wheal:
Teaching is its own Career Path
“Lori Wheal, member of ‘Asshats for Education’ (‘A4E’), regaled us today with the sorrowful tale of why she is leaving the classroom. In typical ‘Asshat’ style, she tells her tale of woe while informing us–repeatedly–what a wonderful teacher she is and what a shame it is to lose her. She tells us she is a great teacher ‘by all measures’. She lumps herself in with the ‘irreplaceable’ teachers the city loses every year. She talks about being in the ‘Master Teacher’ program, and refers to herself as a ‘Master Teacher’ at every conceivable opportunity.
“No, really. She uses the title on LinkedIn and on Twitter. She even got NY1 to refer to her that way.
“I don’t know Ms. Wheal at all, but I do know that people who feel the need to toot their own horns all the time are usually the weakest and most insecure teachers.
“So what’s causing Ms. Wheal to leave and put the entire NYC school system in jeopardy of imminent collapse? Well, she was (as you may have heard) a ‘Master Teacher’ at a turnaround school, and now that position has been eliminated because those schools will not be closed. This has left poor ‘Master Teacher’ Wheal hopeless, as her precious ‘career ladder’ has been yanked out from under her. Clearly, she has no option but to leave the system, because despite her ‘Master Teacher’ credentials, she no longer has any intention of teaching children and wants to turn to education policy.
“Maybe there’s a way to introduce ‘Master Teacher’ Wheal to Ruben Brosbe, another Asshat who had no trouble telling everyone else how to teach but headed for the hills when there was real teaching to be done.
“I’ve got news for the boo-hoo-ing Asshats like ‘Master Teacher’ Wheal: Teaching is its own career path. If you have gone into teaching because you hope one day to run a school district, you are in the wrong profession. If telling other teachers how wonderful you are is more important to you than getting in front of kids and doing the day in, day out work of actually educating children, you are in the wrong profession.
“I may not know as much as ‘Master Teacher’ Wheal; after all, I have only been teaching for more than twice as long as she has. But I do know that getting a gig in a turnaround school with a nifty title doesn’t make you a ‘master teacher.’
“What makes you a ‘master teacher’ is dedication to those children in the classroom. It’s sticking it out even when the going gets tough. It’s being dedicated to teaching as a career and not looking at it as a stepping stone to greater things for your own advancement. It’s knowing that every year in the classroom teaches you something you can use the next year, and the next.
“If you go into education with the view that being a classroom teacher is the bottom rung of the ladder, you are a disgrace to the profession and you should leave.
“That means you, ‘Master Teacher’ Wheal.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the asshat on the way out.”
————————————–
HERE ARE SOME GREAT COMMENTS (from non-E4E, veteran teachers) THAT FOLLOW THIS:
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Michael Fiorillo said…
As you correctly point out, this woman’s arrogance and self-regard is just beyond the beyonds, to say nothing of her blindness/indifference to using her colleagues’ throats as a career stepping stone.
In a less-debased, disinformed era, something like this would be published as a case study of public preening and vanity, instead of an “opinion” piece.
There must be an Organizational Psychology/Human Resources profile, questionnaire and checklist for deformers to identify and promote these people, since they’re replicating out of control:
— Self-centered-ness?
— Self-importance?
— Seemingly willful lack of awareness of how their actions affect others?
— Unquestioning willingness to obey authority and channel received opinion?
Check, check, check and check.
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AND THIS
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Anonymous said…
Lori Wheal couldn’t even keep herself engaged as a full time teacher. I wonder how many of those ears were actually spent full time in the classroom with a full teaching schedule. In my 16 years of teaching full time in Harlem, I have seen countless teachers come and go. Ms. Wheal is just another one.
August 1, 2012 at 12:37 PM
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AND THIS
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ASTRAKA said…
Ms Wheal, real “Master Teachers” don’t care for the title. They do not look to get out of the classroom for more money. They stay and teach 30-35-40 years.
Their colleagues know them and ask them for help whenever the need arises. You know you are a “master teacher,” when your colleagues respect you for your knowledge, and respect you as trustworthy person.
August 1, 2012 at 5:37 PM
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AND THIS
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BronxEnglish said…
I’ve been teaching for fifteen years here in New York City. It has NEVER come into my head to call myself a “Master” teacher. . . nor has it come into my head to enter that stupid “Master Teacher” program.
Why is that, you ask?
#1: I am a teacher because I want to teach students. I want to do the best I can, all year. I want to improve each year. If I run away from my students so I can get a couple thousand extra bucks, what does that say about me as a teacher? Not much. (Another concern was the DOE–everyone knows they try a new program, don’t wait to see if it works, throw it away, repeat. Why should I bother, even for one year?)
I am, however, proud to call myself a “veteran” NYC public school teacher. I think I’ve earned that moniker. But Wheal’s editorial reads like the bleats of a self-aggrandizing, pompous, self-serving jackass. I can’t imagine any of my colleagues writing a ridiculous column like that. She sounds like a big fan of my favorite deformer, Michelle Rhee.
How she can show her face to colleagues and pretend to be collegial after this debacle is beyond me?
Oh yeah. . . she’s so much smarter and more talented than her colleagues. She’s gonna pull a Brosbe and go into policy? Can’t wait for her edicts!
August 2, 2012 at 2:09 PM
My hypothesis is that the asshats and tfa types are actively recruiting YOUNG novices that tend to be sociopathic …which makes the antics of older sociopathics (Rhee , Bennett, etc…) even more deplorable.
I have seen a few 20 something teachers at my site teach for 3-4 years and then become ALL wise to the point of telling veteran teachers and 40 to 50 year olds that they are doing it wrong. The hubris is so thick you could butter your toast with it. Predictably they tend to hover around each other and toot each others horns. They are annoying, self-serving, ungrateful and rude as the day is long and havn’t the slightest clue about teamwork. One I am thinking of could not quite grasp the reality that they have had it easy thier first few years because VETERAN teachers have ( and for the most part still are) have been taking the hard ones from them so they can get a firm footing.
I have witnessed another one burn all the bridges in her department and then openly talk about their ambitious plan for themselves involves principal by 30 and maybe Super or some other high paying admin job by 35 or 40. All at the tender age of 25(ish). All I can think about is how wise and smart I thought I was at 25, but I WAS smart enough to shut my mouth and seek out the wisdom of the middle aged ones.
The point to this late night rambling is that the brain does not finish maturing till 26 and there are sociopathic people out there. Maybe tufa and the likes ARE LOOKING for these types.
But aren’t they all supposed to have high GPAs. How can someone with a high GPA have a “sociopathic” personality? ;)-
Is there any difference between an “asshat” and an “asswipe”?.
Of course, you silly Missourian. Don’t you know the difference between a head and a bum? Or maybe one gets the hat by extraordinary flexibility that permits one to have one’s head up one’s a**. Maybe someone mistook the fecal residue on the head for a hat. But if the hat were white, that would suit the circumstances better. Or white streaked with brown. In which case there is, as you opine, no difference whatsoever.
“Don’t you know the difference between a head and a bum?”
Well when I use worms for fishing I sometimes have a hard time telling the front end from the back!
A group of fifth columnists, ringers and naifs.
Seriously, Michael, in my two decades-plus as a teacher, I have gotten to know well some of the most dedicated and talented and successful (as evidenced by how their students turn out in terms of college degrees, careers, etc) educators there are out there, and I have never met a single one who agrees with one damn thing that E4E promulgates.
Not one of them says or thinks any of the following:
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“No, I don’t want small class size. I want my classes bigger and bigger, with more pay that goes along with that… ”
“Evaluations based on things like observations and parent satisfaction? No, I want to be judged on that one week of testing every year that my students take… ”
“Unions, you say? Bahhh… who needs ’em? I want to be an isolated, independent contractor who with no rights whatsoever, and who can be fired at will… Only lazy status-quo hacks need unions and Last-In-First-Out seniority. ”
“Salary increases based on years on the job like police, firefighters and other workers get? Or salary increases based on improving one’s pedagogy thru taking classes for professional development? No, I want merit pay based on test scores, where I compete ruthlessly with the other teachers in my grade level, and in my school! Collaboration and cooperation with other teachers is for collectivist wimps!”
“Salary increases based on advanced degrees?? Useless!!! Gates-funded ‘think tanks’ have proven this. Instead, bring on the test-based evaluations and merit pay!!!”
“I need a career ladder with career advancement where I can be designated a ‘master teacher’ and leave the classroom for some of all of the time, and/or with larger classes I can then get paid more… and leave the lowly position of being just a regular teacher with a small class size.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
This specious crap is dictated from the top-down from E4E’s funders—Gates, in particular—who pay these young, mostly TFA-ers to put on the facade that these things are what the mass of educators really want—with nonsensical articles written by the likes of Evan Stone, Sydney Morris, Ama Nymanke, and others such as—SEE ABOVE—“Master Teacher” and soon-to-be education policy guru, Lori Wheal.
Tony Brantley,
Of course you’ve never heard these things spoken by committed educators, since these people are dilettantes and frauds, lip synching opinions derived from the self interest and will-to-power of some very powerful people.
I can’t speak for E4ENY, but I get a different vibe from E4ELA. I’m 13 years in, NBCT, LA County Teacher of the Year, etc. I’m also active in our union. I feel like I’ve earned the right to speak with some authority. E4E has never pushed an agenda on me. They have, however, worked hard to get me a place at the table. They’ve helped me get meetings with board members and state legislators. At these meetings they never told me what to say. They’ve never turned anyone away from meetings for their beliefs. They do nothing in secret and always defer to the active teachers as the experts. And I know for a fact that I get paid way better than they do.
At some point we need to stop with the polarizing insult festivals and come together with all of the ideas on the table to do what’s best for our students. Calling someone an asshat does nothing to help improve education. New teachers shouldn’t have their opinions written off simply because they’re new.
I have a ton of respect for you Dr. Ravitch, but I have to disagree with your view of this organization. I think some of your comments are completely unfair, particularly the last line.
So, has E$E ever discussed the importance of lower class size, rather than merit pay and VAM?
Has it ever worked with the teachers union and community groups to oppose budget cuts?
Has it ever said or written anything that not derived directly from the Gates/Broad policy play book?
No, I didn’t think so.
I was in Sacramento with 2 E4E staff members and we definitely pushed for courageous decisions from those legislators on budget and the Local Control funding proposed by our governor. I was also in a meeting at the United Way with E4E and many other community organizations to discuss local education issues with our board member. And I helped write a policy paper on attracting and retaining teachers (its readily available on their website) with E4E that went far beyond VAM and merit pay. In fact, I was very clear in the process of writing the paper that merit pay alone was not a solution.
Having said that, there is no shortage of research and support for small class sizes. However, class size hardly matters when the quality of teaching is poor. Which union helps solve the problem of ineffective teachers in classrooms? None.
Our education system is broken – especially for poor and minority students. Do you think that job security should only be based on seniority and tenure? If so, it sounds like you support doing things the way we’ve always done them. That’s not working. Consider administrative observation as well? You know that doesn’t work either. People game and cheat those as well. I agree that testing is not the solution. I think it’s part of a solution though, just like its part of how we evaluate our students. So are seniority and observation. But I think we need to -examine how we use those tools. If you read the policy paper that teachers wrote and E4E published you’ll see this proposal of compromise.
Your face-to-face with legislative staffers is very nice: has E$E ever publicly stated its opposition to budget cuts to the public schools (meaning real public schools, not charters) and the public sector at large, and joined with other organizations in doing so?
Has it ever protested the laying of off teachers, other educators and school staff?
Has it ever called for increased taxes on the rich to pay for increased social services, arts education and community programs in real public schools?
No, I didn’t think so.
Regarding United Way, they are up to their necks in charter school development and privatization (readers should Google “united way,charter schools”), functioning as another non-profit front for the interests of E$E’s funders.
As for your policy paper, it’s going to sit in a file cabinet while E$E’s Big Bill continues on his merry way with VAM, Common Core, Danielson evaluations, and every other crackpot realist (to use C. Wright Mills’ term) piece of social vandalism that slithers by under the name of so-called education reform.
Here’s the essence of your error Michael Fiorillo:
“Has it ever called for increased taxes on the rich to pay for increased social services, arts education and community programs in real public schools?”
Why is this an error? The more you tax something, the less you get of it. Although progressive taxation is a HOLY DOGMA among anti-business liberals, who think they are entitled to other people’s money because they are virtuous, in fact massively progressive taxation won’t promote more jobs for all.
That’s weird. That policy paper is what helped get me another private meeting with the chair of the state Senate Committee on Education where I will talk about budget cuts, taxing, etc. And if you actually read that policy paper before trashing it you’d see plenty of public school teachers, myself included, listed as authors.
Note: we met AT the United Way. The organizations there were independent of them.
I keep giving you specific examples of how E4E has helped me promote the cause of public schools. All you’ve given me is the possible influence of one organization.
Jeff Austin,
You evaded my question. I didn’t ask about the contents of your discussion with legislative staffers or leaders; I asked if E$E, as an organization, had PUBLICLY stated its opposition to school and public sector budget cuts, and worked with other organizations to combat them.
As you well know, it hasn’t and it won’t. Why? Well, perhaps it’s because of that “one organization,” which you can’t even bring yourself to name, precisely because it calls the tune for front groups like E$E, while naive teachers such as yourself are used as window dressing.
Second, why do you think that Junior Achievement education reform groups such as yours even get significant face time with legislators, if not for the Gates Foundation provenance you bring? They know who’s really letting you give your oral report to the class.
Harlan,
Sorry, but you’re wrong again.
First of all, my comment did not refer to “jobs for all,” but teaching and other public sector jobs (which I know Tea Partiers have an aversion to, unless they are public sector jobs of the coercive, law enforcement/military sort).
Second, you are also wrong because, done competently and in good faith (yes, a big assumption, as I recognize), progressive taxation can lead to full employment and rising living standards for all.
If you doubt that, take a look at the tax rates under that Old Bolshevik, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, during what is universally called the “Golden Age” of US capitalism.
The great golden age of capitalism was before the pinkos, commies, and social progressives had fully taken over the country and its bureaucracy. The society still believed in capitalism. The operative example of growth from lowered taxes was under Reagan. Specious arguments, AGAIN, Michael.
[…] via E4E Gets $3 Million from Gates | Diane Ravitch’s blog. […]
If you just look at the fact that experienced teachers are leaving, by choice, by force, or by retirement, you can see that only the young will be left to teach. And, if they have no “old guard” there to soften the blows, they will be victims of this “impressive” change. Schools have been demoted to the status of businesses that are ripe for some Bain Capital type industrialist to pick and mash into a stew of sameness, with the outcome being more money for the “owners” who can bail and take the money to the Cayman Islands.
Each year thousands of new teachers enter the market place, hopeful of fulfilling their dream of changing the world. If they enter into a school system, wide-eyed and oblivious to what is happening, they will surely be compliant and do whatever it takes to have a job in this unfair market. That in itself is sad. But even worse is the injustice that will be served to the students.
Yes, this has happened all throughout the history of the profession, but not until now has the profession been demoted to not an art and science of reaching each child where he/she is on the developmental schedule, but to a training ground. If the presentation skills of the people who work for these companies, offering teachers PD are any example of their idea of thorough education, we are in trouble. Sleek presentations with no real applicable knowledge or skills offered is a shallow attempt to market their wares, not to educate.
I might add that the teahers who do willingly play the game in our district readily admit that if this is what education is coming to … a competition … (which some already view it as such) … then he/she will shut the door and refuse to collaborate or share. Some already do that, messing up every meeting with their own agenda. It is going to get even more cut-throat, sad to say.
I had to laugh out loud to myself, Deb, as I remembered those deadly before school professional development presentations, and even the meetings conducted by our own administrators. Those who employ us and can fire us or make life miserable for us are the worst teachers in the whole building. Does it make sense? No. But I’ve never seen an in-service that wasn’t a droner. And they try so HARD too. But they just can’t cut it.
On the question of the motivation of the bright eyed young teaching things whose minds have been warped into thinking that the purpose of teaching is to change the world. They, and the education schools, have it all wrong, which is part of the reason for the teacher frustration in public schools perhaps.
The PROPER purpose of education is to conserve and transmit the knowledge and achievements of the past. That’s all. How did so many educationists become so confused.
They are not Communists exploiting their control of the public schools to introduce Marxist ideas into the ignorant minds of the children, thus creating a political force sympathetic to the claims of the working men and women to a larger portion of the wealth produced by capital than they would otherwise get.
Or maybe, that’s exactly what DID happen. In the standard model public school teacher you won’t find any disagreement with the progressive agenda. If so, we have the blind (progressive teachers) leading the blind (ignorant kids).
Maybe that’s all the reformists are saying, that the teachers in the public schools have forgotten the special value and character that America is supposed to have with respect to freedom and money making and civil rights. That COULD be behind the steady push to divert the big river of public school funding into a number of tiny rivulets of charter schools, and even vouchers.
Maybe all they want to do is push the country back in the direction of being a constitutional republic rather than a democracy of union members.
Even a cursory glance at the Constitution would show that the CCSS violate the spirit of the constitution with respect to education. And yet my public school principal is incredibly gung ho for them. Of course, he’s an avowed Marxist, very big on equity for every kid in his building.
“The PROPER purpose of education is to conserve and transmit the knowledge and achievements of the past.”
Interesting, HU, that in Missouri* the purpose of public education as stated in the Constitution is: Article IX, subsection 1a: “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state within ages not in excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law.” How would your definition jibe with the constitutionally prescribed function of public education?
And, “. . . the teachers in the public schools have forgotten the special value and character that America is supposed to have with respect to freedom and money making and civil rights.” I can see the freedom and civil rights aspect but how would money making fit into the purpose of public education in Missouri?
“Of course, he’s an avowed Marxist, very big on equity for every kid in his building.” First what do you mean by “equity” in that statement? If it means making sure that each child gets a fair and just opportunity to learn and grow I’m not sure why that would make him “an avowed Marxist”. Why would he be “an avowed Marxist”.
*I use MO’s constitutional language because that is what I’m familiar with and I assume that most, if not all, state constitutions have similar language.
Good comments, Dwayne.
Thanks for the kind words!
Property rights are part of freedom and liberty, doing something with one’s real or portable property is the essence of money making. Pursuit of happiness requires property rights. No other way. Basic farming of one’s own land is the model. Haven’t you read Laura Ingalls Wilder? That’s the uniqueness of America. Owning land and having the (God given right) freedom to work it any way one wants. The government is supposed to guarantee freedom to do as one wants with one’s property, NOT to guarantee a crop. No public school teacher remember this. Influence of Howard Zinn I suppose.
My friend does mean opportunity for all, with catch up for those who need it. He admires Castro for the health care and education. He ignores the dictatorial tyranny which is intrinsic to equal positive rights for all, equity of results. Neither are required by our constitution. “Life” in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness does not refer to health care for everyone. It just means you have the negative right not to be killed. Tell that to the 4 million aborted babies since Roe v. Wade.
Hmm, “God-given” property rights (by which I assume you mean the typical Tea Party delusion of Absolute Property Rights) ?
I must having missed that one when we studied the Declaration of Independence and Constitution in school.
But then, I’m just a veteran public school teacher, so by E$E’s definition am nothing more than a kid-hating loser who came from the bottom of my (Good Heavens, no!) public university class.
After all, it’s only so-called reformers who are Excellent enough to really care about kids; the rest of us are just out for ourselves.
Yep, city feller, you got it right about God given right to property. Yep. Ab-so-lute. We gonna take back this here country from you pinko commie socialist types who don’t believe in anything but yer union. You may’ve THOUGHT you understood the Constitution and Decl. of In-de-pen-dence, but obviously you haven’t. You wouldn’t a lasted a year out in our Montana or Idaho schools. Calvin Coolidge was the last REALLY good president we had, who understood with ‘Merica was really about. God, guns, and private property. Anybody, even you, can jine in. Jes gotta believe in the constitution ‘stead a sum half-baked mixed up stew of Eur-o-pean materialist philosophy. Still not too late fer ya. How about comin’ out here to God’s country and lettin’ the former Vice-President and his daughter teach ya how to think?
Teach for America Apostates: a Primer of Alumni Resistance
By Owen Davis
Colonizer, carpet baggers, scabs?
http://www.truth-out.org/articles/item/17750-teach-for-america-apostates-a-primer-of-alumni-resistance
Educators for Excellence are exactly that. Educators. They are teachers who care about their students. They may have different values system than you, but I’m sick of teachers bashing other teacher rather than focusing on what matters–the students.
Open your eyes to the fact that SOME educators support standards in the teaching profession (whether or not it is based partly on test scores) and value the performance of students over the ‘job security of educators.’ It’s supposed to be about the kids, right?
The Gates Foundation also gave millions to both the AFT and NEA–how about you start bashing them next?
Thank you Jackie. Agreed.
If you’ve read the comments in response to Diane’s post about Randi Weingarten, harsh criticism of the AFT leadership is exactly what you would have seen.
My guess, however, is that you were too busy guzzling Kool Aid and congratulating yourself on how you are so much Excellenter than your colleagues, who’ve demonstrated what Unexcellent Losers they are by staying in the classroom.
Clearly, you and your E$E cohort are the ONLY one’s who care about kids, and the ONLY one’s who know how to teach them, since why would Bill Gates give you millions if it
Just ask Evan Stone of E$E: he was so passionate, so committed, so Excellent at teaching that he stopped doing it after having a cup of coffee in the classroom.
Apparently, Gates’ money provides validation for your vanity, arrogance and willful ignorance.
Funny how that pattern keeps repeating and repeating, with the Excellentest teachers leaving the classroom and promptly being promoted to positions of power, where they can close public schools, open charters and test, test, test to their heart’s (and funders) content.
Off topic here, but God didn’t give anyone any property rights. Our ancestors came here and TOOK property away from those who already lived here and weren’t all caught up in walls and ownership. But, hey, if people want to be selfish and feed themselves fantasies about what they are entitled to, oh, well. Ayn Rand has warped plenty of people. Sad. Delusion that God has anything to do with the selfishness that is so pervasive in this once great land with hope for ALL, not just for the few. I don’t think I can deal with these discussions. They are so off-topic at times that I become too frustrated to try to discuss.
I may employ an hyperbolic clownish style from time to time, but this question of the status of property rights is a serious one. You are, of course, correct in that Europeans came to this continent and displaced the aboriginal peoples. This does leave us with a difficult question of by what right Europeans took over and imposed European approaches to land ownership on this continent. I’m not enough of a scholar to actually know what attitudes the native America tribes had toward land, but at this point it’s only possible to ask “What ownership rules do YOU want to live by?” Do you, yourself “own” anything? Do you “own” a house on a lot? How much do you rely on the law of property in making your own personal decisions? If you are not a God following person, would you be able to accept it at least as a legitimate metaphor for your own assumptions about your own property? If you “bought” some land, and decided to make your living farming that land, would you assume as a settled matter that you had a right to the profit of selling your vegetables and fruit and grain and dairy because you mixed your labor with the earth and air and sun and water, in shorthand, because you OWNED that land? Maybe “God” literally did not give you the right to own your land, but if your education job disappeared and you had 40 acres in upstate New York, and you were trying to decide how to make a living, would you feel justified in assuming you had a right to use the fruit of the land, say firewood, to tide you over?
What does this “off-topic” discussion have to do with education funding? The connection is through taxing policy. What would YOU have to persuade a large number of voters of in order to get schools properly funded? That’s where we might end up.
Naive? Already to insults? I suppose when you have nothing useful to say that’s what you turn to. I posted merely to defend one branch of an organization that has been very supportive of what I’ve done. You think I’m naive simply because i don’t agree with you. You have no idea who I am or what I’ve accomplished. I guarantee its far more than what you’ve accomplished bitching on comment pages about lowering class size. If you want to take the gloves off, fine.
The fact of the matter is that you’re backing a failing system just so you can keep a job that you think you’re entitled to. Has E4E ever publicly called for smaller class sizes and ending budget cuts? I honestly have no idea and frankly don’t care. Those things are a given amongst teachers. Half of the time its people like you who could really care less about our students who complain about class size because it let’s you blame someone else for your failure. Anyone who knows anything about education knows that class size is hardly the biggest reason for our failing education system. If you actually read E4E’s mission statement you’d see that its focus is on giving teachers a voice in the system, not dealing with class size. As I’ve already stated, this has been my reason for working with them. When I go to these meetings I say what I want to say and they never stop me and keep inviting me back to speak. I know what works for my students, I put their needs first, I fight to get those things, I’m winning that fight, and E4E has helped me in this fight. Do they use Gates money to do this? Yep. Do I care? Nope. Meanwhile, you’re stuck here with your snarky comments, changing E4E to E$E like that’s some sort of funny/original idea that adds any credibility to your arguments, and your know-it-all attitude accomplishing what? Congratulations on your mediocrity. When I’m done meeting with these policymakers and actually get them to do something to improve education you can thank me. Or find something else to blame for your failure.
Wow, I’ve never realized that my sixteen years teaching in a high- poverty NYC public school, and a foot-thick file of thank you letters from current and former students, makes me a failure.
Thank you, Jeff, for showing me the error of my ways. I now realize that, after all these years, I don’t care about kids and am only out for myself and all the other greedy union thug teachers. After all, it’s only organizations funded by Bill Gates, unlike unions, that can give teachers a voice in their workplace.
Oh, how I loathe myself.
Thank you for your illuminating comments. I will now download E4E’s mission statement and genuflect on how I’ve wasted my life and destroyed the lives of my students.
The idea that we , through laws, imposed or adopted the idea of ownership as the “American way” is something man “gave” to us, not God. I didn’t state this as a non-believer! I do not believe God encourages Ayn Rand style selfishness. I believe that our country needs all people. All should contribute to the best of their abilities, given the fact that some have had much luck (via inheritance from decades ago, given to ancestors, etc.) Yet they law claim to that bigger piece of the American pie than others. In many cases, most of those people were white males, and the “birthright” has been passed on to the descedents. Others didn’t have the inheritance, the networking, the chances to succeed financially. Many are of non-white ancestry or of Appalachian ancestry, looked down upon by those who started this “game” with many advantages.
So, to me education has attempted to be a great equaliser. Now that is being undermined by the same people who want to “take America back” — refusing to let anyone but the seemingly “chosen few” to actually compete, keeping them down, oppressing them, and blamng the wrong people for their problems.
I am not saying that ownership is “wrong” – but God didn’t “grant” us any right to own it. Our government did that. With that ownershio, we have a responsibility to contribute to the society into which we were fortunate to be born. Some have lost sight of that. I see so much selfishness and greed being promoted in the name of God that I find it sickening.
I see a direct correlation with these attitudes and with what is taking place in education reform. I don’t think God is guiding these people. But I certainly see a dovetailing of those who have bought into modern authors of fictional theology and the prosperity gospel with the libertarian ideas of selfishness, coldness, and Ayn Rand’s brand of policies. Strange bedfellows indeed.
The backers of TFA believe that teaching should not be a profession where teachers are on a par with doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. No, they believe it should be a short term job like fast food, retail, temping, etc. In order to make a profit from the ultimately privatized education industry that they eventually plan to run, they need to lower the “overhead” costs, most prominently the line item of salary, benefits, retirement. You can only do that when schools are staffed by short-term temps with no collective power—i.e. unions—fighting for decent salary, benefits, retirement, etc. In essence, the TFA organization also functions as a scab organization to bust local teachers unions one at a time.
Indeed, when a TFA teacher is in trouble—from a harassment from an administrator; disruptive students out to the break the teacher; or whatever—they are barred by their TFA supervisors from going to the one source who could help them… that school’s teacher union representatives.
The TFA-ers are also programmed to attack the veteran, unionized teachers with whom they work. Check out this comment from Jeff Austin, a TFA member—also a member of an astroturf teacher group called E4E—goes at veteran teacher Mike Fiorillo on the issue of lowering class size.
NOTE: the TFA party line, as dictated by funder Bill Gates, is that class sizes should be increased… even though Gates sends his own kids to schools with small class sizes:
http://seattletimes.com/html/dannywestneat/2014437975_danny09.html
ALSO NOTE: Austin starts by saying, rightly, that the veteran teacher has “no idea who I am or what I’ve accomplished” as a teacher, as they are strangers from different states blogging to each other
Fair enough.
But then watch as he then immediately claims that he, on the other hand, possesses the power to “know” that the veteran teacher with whom he debates is a sucky teacher. Indeed, check out Austin’s Kreskin-like clairvoyance in being able to divine with absolute certainty that this veteran teacher—again, with whom Austin has ZERO first-hand knowledge or experience—
— is a “failure”,
— “cares less about your students so you can keep a job that you’re think entitled to… ”
— “complains about class size because it let’s you blame someone else for your failure.”…
— needs to realize that “anyone who knows anything about education knows that class size is hardly the biggest reason for our failing education system.”
And then he ends with “Congratulations on your mediocrity…. find someone else to blame for your failure.”
Note the TFA corps member’s total absence of irony—not to mention self-awareness—in blathering “you don’t know what I’ve accomplished” followed by his own bizarre belief and certainty that the veteran teacher is “a failure” and a “mediocrity” who “blames someone else for (his) failure.”
This spiel is all word-for-word the TFA programming at the institute and throughout their tenure… DOUBLE-CLICK on the hyperlinks in his brain that says, “lower class sizes” or “how to debate unionized veteran teachers” and, with word-for-word automaticity, out spouts this drivel:
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JEFF AUSTIN: “You think I’m naive simply because i don’t agree with you. You have no idea who I am or what I’ve accomplished. I guarantee its far more than what you’ve accomplished bitching on comment pages about lowering class size. If you want to take the gloves off, fine.
“The fact of the matter is that you’re backing a failing system just so you can keep a job that you think you’re entitled to….
“Half of the time its people like you who could really care less about our students who complain about class size because it let’s you blame someone else for your failure.
“Anyone who knows anything about education knows that class size is hardly the biggest reason for our failing education system.”
“… Congratulations on your mediocrity. When I’m done meeting with these policymakers and actually get them to do something to improve education you can thank me. Or find something else to blame for your failure.”
———————————–
Sure Jeff…. whatever you say. I like the veteran teacher’s response:
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MIKE FIORILLO: “Wow, I’ve never realized that my sixteen years teaching in a high- poverty NYC public school, and a foot-thick file of thank you letters from current and former students, makes me a failure.
“Thank you, Jeff, for showing me the error of my ways. I now realize that, after all these years, I don’t care about kids and am only out for myself and all the other greedy union thug teachers. After all, it’s only organizations funded by Bill Gates, unlike unions, that can give teachers a voice in their workplace.
“Oh, how I loathe myself.”
“Thank you for your illuminating comments. I will now download E4E’s mission statement and genuflect on how I’ve wasted my life and destroyed the lives of my students.”
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From Diane Ravitch’s blog—the COMMENTS section—at: