In reflecting on the sordid Anthony Weiner story, I wrote that civilization depends to some extent on the survival of a sense of shame. Shame makes people regretful of bad behavior and minimizes such behavior. Too much shame might be a bad thing, but none at all leaves us at the mercy of the whims and desires of others.
This reader thinks we are losing any sense of shame:
“We are witnessing the death of shame in this country (and maybe globally). Name anything reprehensible that someone in power has done and I’ll find a line of people vociferously defending it. Kill an unarmed teenager? Flash your junk to unknown women? Lie to Congress? Drone bomb civilians (even American citizens)? Bankrupt the country with toxic mortgage swaps? Not a problem. Now, of course, if you’re an ordinary citizen who doesn’t get off the street fast enough during a protest, well, it’s off to jail with you!”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And many presumably “religious” types … are fueling the fires with their prosperity gospel, somehow thinking that only THEY have the right and connection to peace and riches, because they know what to believe …
These things are forgivable only for the one percent.
I recently read somewhere: You can’t shame the shameless.
Good one!
I remember reading that and thinking at the time, “so unfortunately true,”.
Money and cockiness are difficult to fight against.
And they are politicians…to the MAX.
Cockiness. Heh heh. Pun?
And we haven’t even gotten to Eliot Spitzer.
For some….Money talks and integrity walks.
Our morals, values and conduct are now governed by $$$ more than ever, at such a fever pitch. If they make $$ and get away with it, if it was illegally acquired…then it’s OK!? Weiner continues because he can! He is also unemployed except for his campaign contributions -not bad, huh? Reality shows will be our societies’ record of our moral compass. How outrageous. We are being judged already by others via Internet and our entertainment, treatment of our children, elderly, sick and decent people. It saddens me as we try to make a difference for millions of children. Swimming against the tide is exhausting.
The original post and this comment made me think about our “zero tolerance” type policies and how they are applied.
Early in my career I taught at a very posh public school, and more recently at a Title 1 public school. The kids from “poshville” were mostly good kids, but they (and I must say especially the males) could do almost anything, and it was written off to “boys will be boys” or “high spirits” or whatever by the parents and the community. Bullying, theft, arson, breaking and entering, defacing public property, I could go on and on with examples of things kids did and how they were enabled by wealthy families and, to some extent, the school and community. There was not much in the way of shame on the part of the family or the kids. (Again, I want to be clear, not all the kids acted like this, but the ones that did were generally able to get away with whatever they did.)
Flash forward to my current school and even small senior pranks result in police, trips to lock up, threats of deportation, etc. Swift and severe punishments are called for by the community, and the school. These kids have to be “taught a lesson”.
It seems minority and poor children and their families are, indeed, supposed to feel shame.
YUP. Two sets of rules. One for the children of the elite. Another for the proles.
Thanks for re-posting this, Diane. I’ve been reading the speeches and writings of Martin Luther King and over and over again he stresses that the point of non-violent protest is not to defeat or humiliate the enemy, but to shame him into realizing the harm of his own behavior and get him to improve his behavior voluntarily. I guess things were probably the same in his day, but it just seems like no one has any shame. How do you shame the shameless? I guess he dealt with Bull Connor and his like and didn’t despair, so neither should we. Thanks again for this blog, Diane – it does help to keep from sinking into despair.
“Thanks again for this blog, Diane – it does help to keep from sinking into despair.”
Agree.
(and with the rest of the post as well.)
The examples cited also have to do with no personal discomfort as these actions play out in the public sphere.
Curriculum tragedies detailed on this blog illustrate how nearly impossible it has become for so many teachers to engender a democratic sensibility in their students. It is now painfully obvious that We the People don’t put our money where our mouth is. We talk a good game on C-Span but we vote to abandon inner-city & rural communities as we aggressively impoverish recreation centers, infrastructure, schools and health services, while inflating the budgets of prisons and war machines. Why behave respectfully in the commonwealth when the common good is no longer precious or pondered? But the tradition of vibrant public schools says differently and makes liars out of masterminds who dehumanize and objectify children for profit. Exactly why we must speak out now.
This post brought to mind a famous line that I am not too old to forget nor too young to remember: “Have you no sense of decency?”
Those words changed a society.
The power of the blog may prove mightier than the purse!
well said, Galton!
Shame sells.
It sells big time.
Look at the proliferation of horrible and just plain awful reality shows. People getting caught doing foolish things, people getting maligned by others close to them, people getting shamed and then defending themselves or giggling over it.
And shame continues to be glamorized, celebrated, and now financed.
Judge Judy shames people every day, but she herself, now a financial empire, is among the most shame based plasticine figures available on a daily basis for your viewing vomit.
Next thing you know, there’ll be a new reality show on people with serious illnesses, who are kicked off their health insurance or can’t afford a plan under or outside of Obamacare and are now facing a grim future. Nothing funny there at all.
Nothing is spared in the new no-profundity, all-profanity America.
Shame generates big revenues for the same networks that are anti-public education and pro-corporate reform. These networks sell shame every night: the more humiliating and mean, the higher the ratings.
Just ask Kim, her monster snake-haired mother, and her ghoulish sisters.
The talentless, vapid, socially worthless Kardashians are laughing at us all the way to the plastic surgeon’s and realtor’s office. Their shamelessness in selling the imagery of a silly milkshake lifestyle to the rest of us poor slobs is by far, among the most shameful displays of narcissism and imbalanced self love.
And with what the pols up on Capitol Hill are doing and the rhetoric they are putting forth for their own opportunism, it’s no wonder that the unacceptable has now become the norm.
Shame on most of these reformers. They haven’t a clue about excellence in education, nor are their interests really about children, families, and democracy.
I propose a new reality show with a panel of judges, and we can feature guest stars, like Ms. Michelle duct-tape Rhee, Mr. in-need-of-grammar-lessons Arne Duncan, Mr. Eli rotting Broad-kill, and those teacher-loathing, mouth foaming Waltons, all as the contestants who are placed into overcrowded public classrooms with low income children and malnourished budgets.
Who will fill the judges’ panel. We need five people. Who might they be?
The show?
“So You Think You Can Teach?!”
Let the shaming begin . . . .
Robert,
I blogged about such a TV show 2 years ago.
I called it “Teaching for the Stars”.
http://thelivingstonpost.com/teaching-for-the-stars/
Thank you, Dale.
I look forward to reading about it.
In days of old one did not wish to bring shame on one’s family. In some cultures this may still be true but I learned about 20 years ago that shame can mean different things to different cultures.
I was having a conversation with a group of high school students talking about fighting.
I told them I had never seen a fight while I was in grades K-12 and that involved several schools. I also said that if I had ever been in a fight, my seat would have probably been sore after I got home. The students said to me, “If we get in a fight and don’t win, we’ll get it worse when we get home.”
That is when it hit me that all parents don’t want the same things for their children. Yes, I am a slow learner.
I think political correctness or similar sensitivities have taken a lot of shame or stigma out of some circumstances. I try to spare my children shame relating to being incarcerated because so many of them have had parents in prison. That does not mean that I shy away from difficult discussions but I try not to make them feel bad about something beyond their control. I do hold them accountable.
Thank you for these thoughtful comments. I have also had the sad experience of students telling me that their parents tell them to fight as a way to “solve” problems. Why is the “Don’t back down/Stand your ground” philosophy revered by so many? I believe it is critical to study the examples set by Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, and Dr. King. Nonviolence is powerful. Too many young people (and older ones too, I suppose) have never considered the alternatives to violence.
I read recently that guilt is what you feel, and shame is how people react to you. So while you may feel ashamed, the shaming is done by others. Now, Weiner doesn’t even feel ashamed, or if he does, he keeps repeating the same behavior so that he is publicly ridiculed. The ridicule — the jokes about his behavior such as last week’s New Yorker cover — are the punishment that prominent parts of our society dole out for behavior that seems wrong but is not really harmful. Obviously, there are many behaviors that once would have been shamed — homosexual acts — that aren’t any more because mores have change.
I think Weiner feels shame and guilt like many others do. What’s notable about him is his ability and willingness to power through the shame where most others would pack it in. It’s a kind of relentlessness that I find inhuman, totally alien. But I think it’s increasingly common and arguably requisite among our national politicians. Perhaps Weiner’s extraordinary pathologies have just allowed him to test these qualities in ways less flawed politicians haven’t been able to. He may be worthy of joining Clinton in the Pantheon, even without a mayoral victory. (Clinton arguably benefitted from his era — a prime Bill Clinton in the age of Twitter could be unfathomably shameless.)
TRUE shame results in the person being shamed wanting to hide. Those who are on “reality tv” aren’t experiencing shame… they’re reveling in their 5 minutes of fame. The sense of shame is a result of having a conscience… and there seems to be a moral neglect that happens when children (who later become adults) are “protected” from feeling anything negative. When kids aren’t held accountable for their own behavior (and look whats’ happened in the reform movement… ONLY TEACHERS are held accountable, it’s never the kid’s fault for not completing homework, or it’s never the kid’s fault for disrupting the class… it’s the teacher for not keeping the child “engaged”), they never have to experience the unpleasantness of feeling badly for not doing what they are supposed to, or for doing something they shouldn’t have. When children are “protected” from that, their sense of right and wrong never develops… and their sense of being “the victim” of OTHERS’ wrongdoing grows. There’s a difference between people who are born WITHOUT the ability to develop conscience (very few people) and those who don’t develop one due to neglect of making those social/emotional connections (what we’ve seen growing in our current society – whole lot of narcissism).
And I’ve seen teachers try to place that shame on the parent. My kids know that homework is for them to do and not me. If they don’t do well on homework than they better start listening better in the classroom. I agree with you whole heartedly about the development of a conscience and I know mine came from going to church, having neighbors who cared what I did and told my parents, for parents who didn’t hide things that I did, but made me go and apologize and taught me manners. So it isn’t only TEACHERS I hold accountable, it is everyone who lives in a community to care and recognize right from wrong.
The problem with the Paul Vallas brand of school reform…excerpts here and link
After serving in Chicago for six years, Philadelphia five years, and New Orleans four years, Paul Vallas put the saga of urban superintendents in stark, if not humorous, terms:
What happens with turnaround superintendents is that the first two years you’re a demolitions expert. By the third year, if you get improvements, do school construction, and test scores go up, people start to think this isn’t so hard. By year four, people start to think you’re getting way too much credit. By year five, you’re chopped liver.
Vallas’s operating principle, according to one journalist who covered his superintendency in Philadelphia, is: “Do things big, do them fast, and do them all at once.” For over a decade, the media christened Vallas as savior for each of the above three cities before exiting, but just last week, he stumbled in his fourth district–Bridgeport (CT) and ended up as “chopped liver” in less than two years.
Vallas is (or was) the premier “turnaround specialist.” Whether, indeed, Vallas turned around Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans is contested. Supporters point to more charter schools, fresh faces in the classroom, new buildings, and slowly rising test scores; critics point to abysmal graduation rates for black and Latino students, enormous budget deficits, and implementation failures. After Bridgeport, however, his brand-name as a “turnaround specialist,” like “killer apps” of yore such as Lotus 1-2-3 and WordStar, may well fade.
In many instances, sprinter superintendents follow a recipe: reorganize district administrators, take on teacher unions, and create new schools in their rush for better student achievement. They take dramatic and swift actions that will attract high media attention. But they also believe—here is where ideological myopia enters the picture—that low test scores and achievement gaps between whites and minorities are due in large part to reluctant (or inept) district bureaucrats, recalcitrant principals, and knuckle-dragging union leaders defending contracts that protect lousy teachers from pay-for-performance incentives.
Such beliefs, however, seriously misread why urban district students fail to reach proficiency levels and graduate high school. As important as it is to reorganize district offices, alter salary schedules, get rid of incompetent teachers and intractable principals, such actions in of themselves will not turn around a broken district. While there is both research and experiential evidence to support each of these beliefs as factors in hindering students’ academic performance, what undercuts sprinter-driven reforms in these arenas is the simple fact that fast-moving CEOs fast-track their solutions to these problems, get spent from there exertions or create too much turmoil, and soon exit leaving the debris of their reforms next to the skid marks in the parking lot. Swift actions certainly garner attention but sprinters quickly lose steam after completing 100 meters.
Consider long-distance runners. They carefully scrutinize and adapt reforms as they get implemented. Behind-the-scenes, they build teacher and administrator expertise to put changes into practice, mobilize staff and community to support long-term changes in teaching and learning, and, most important, create a pool of leaders ready to assume responsibility for sustaining the ever-shifting reform agenda.
They ask hard questions that few sprinter superintendents ask:
1. Did policies aimed at improving student achievement (e.g., small high schools, pay-for performance plans, new reading and math curricula, parental choice) get fully implemented?
2. When implemented fully, did they change the content and practice of teaching?
3. Did changed classroom practices account for what students learned?
4. Did what students learn achieve the goals set by policy makers?
Sprinter superintendents neither have the breathing capacity nor motivation to ask and answer these questions. They are too busy eyeing the finish line. Marathoners spend time and energy on these questions although 2 and 3 get skimpy attention from even the best of the long-distance runners. Still, urban children are better served by superintendents willing to go the distance rather than those swift runners who flash by without a backward glance
Paul Vallas is (or was)* a sprinter at a time when marathoners are needed for turning around failing districts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/08/04/the-problem-with-the-paul-vallas-brand-of-school-reform/
“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12. Though a Christian sentiment, it certainly describes the reform movement.
I’ve been thinking of that very scripture for a long time now. Whether you are Christian or not, it seems that those in leadership at many levels (not just education) don’t care about people any more. It’s all about the bottom line: money, test scores, or whatever. People: students, teachers, consumers, ordinary citizens, etc. do not matter. It’s a scary time, because one cannot trust that those in power have the best interests of the people at heart.
30 years ago I never thought the world would come to this. And education, never. “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” These words describe the time in which we are living. the nightmare of big data, digital learning, and top-down management is upon us. Not only in education, but in other personal aspects of our lives.
Just remember if you play the Christian card, it can be played right back at ya; that is, nothing can separate a human from Christ. I am a church goer, but I would be careful going there in this education debate.
Look at the Old Testament. When Cain killed Abel God shamed him, but marked him to be saved at the hands of men and sent him into the Land of Nod, which means the place of wandering. So if we want to look at collective sin here, or rather the absence of collective humility, just remember God, as historically recorded (or mythologically whatever–in Genesis), spared even the one who killed his own brother.
Perhaps we are all sort of in a Land of Nod in sorting out our place in the shaken up educational landscape.
I think it better to just analyze it in terms of trends in leadership and politics, enlightened by history (and let faith be a personal thing that guides you through).
And because I mentioned the Land of Nod, East of Eden I can’t help but quote a song. Daniel Lanois. (I loved performing this song with my band Jibblin–powerfully spiritual). Perhaps “education” is the homeless daughter right now.
“Brother John, have you seen the homeless daughter? Standing there, with broken wings?
I have seen the flaming sword rise over East of Eden. . .
Burning in the eyes of the Maker.”
As I responded at the time, I think this is pretty much a classic case of historical amnesia. People have been lying to Congress as long as it has existed. (Perhaps the framers hadn’t contemplated this, which is why it took a couple decades before Congress gained contempt powers.) People — men, to call them what they are — have been “flashing junk” in fields and parking lots and whatever other venues have been available, likely for all of history. To believe that drone bombings are some kind of new low for America requires an astonishing level of historical ignorance. Thousands of women and children were targeted and murdered by Allied bombs in Dresden. And how many vaporized in Japan, still defended by most Americans today who repeat the shameless blather about what was necessary to end the War? As for the killing of unarmed teenagers by vigilantes, are we really so stupid as to think this is rampant, or that we are at some kind of historical crisis in this regard? How many thousands of unarmed teenagers were murdered in the first half of the 19th century? How many more thousands were openly lynched after Reconstruction? Who can read the FBI files and trial testimony about the murder of Emmett Till — a 14-year old boy, visiting Mississippi from Chicago, who bragged to his friends that he went to an integrated school at home, and that he talked to white women routinely, and took a dare to “get fresh” with a white woman in a local store, and was tracked down and pulled out of his bed by a gang of men, and put into a truck, and beaten and tortured and finally murdered and dumped in a river — who can read about this, or worse, remember it, and have the gall to claim that *now* is the time when shame has died?
I apologize for ranting, but this really does bother me on an emotional level.
With ya.
Humans do this over and over.
This is now. But now is part of a whole.
History’s not just a cycle, though. Important trends exist. But I have very little confidence in most people’s ability to identify them when I read stuff like this.
It is a cycle if you look at it from certain frameworks (Judeo-Christian, for example). But I think it far more pragmatic, in this case, to identify leadership trends (often enlightened by literature even–consider Shakespeare and the timeless commentary on human frailty offered there), consider how they turned out before, and proceed from there. Otherwise we paralyze ourselves with despair, or the gnashing of teeth. What is the framework? How do I fit into the framework? Am I powerless to change the framework? If yes, why? If no, how?
These are the questions to ask ourselves.
Diane, as usual you bring up an excellent topic for us all to think about. The shame is the result of a lack of ethical principles. Religion or not, we have lost the ability to know right from wrong, because the new “acceptable” and “unacceptable” have replaced our core values. However, just to prove the American system has veered off the core of its own educational goals, here is a grid of the 2009 New Jersey Core Content Curriculum Standards is Social Studies under “Civics.” Try to count how many politicians, celebrities, personalities and adults, have stayed within the curriculum’s goals, and then sigh with sadness at how truly lost we might be. The upside? We always have the opportunity to get back on track.
Content Area Social Studies
Standard 6.1 U.S. History: America in the World All students will acquire the knowledge and skills to think analytically about how past and present interactions of people, cultures, and the environment shape the American heritage. Such knowledge and skills enable students to make informed decisions that reflect fundamental rights and core democratic values as productive citizens in local, national, and global communities.
Strand A. Civics, Government, and Human Rights
By the end of grade Content Statement CPI# Cumulative Progress Indicator (CPI)
P
Citizenship begins with becoming a contributing member of the classroom community.
6.1.P.A.1 Demonstrate an understanding of rules by following most classroom routines.
6.1.P.A.2 Demonstrate responsibility by initiating simple classroom tasks and jobs.
6.1.P.A.3 Demonstrate appropriate behavior when collaborating with others.
4
Rules and laws are developed to protect people’s rights and the security and welfare of society.
6.1.4.A.1 Explain how rules and laws created by community, state, and national governments protect the rights of people, help resolve conflicts, and promote the common good.
The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantee certain fundamental rights for citizens.
6.1.4.A.2 Explain how fundamental rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights (i.e., freedom of expression, freedom of religion, the right to vote, and the right to due process) contribute to the continuation and improvement of American democracy.
American constitutional government is based on principles of limited government, shared authority, fairness, and equality.
6.1.4.A.3 Determine how “fairness,” “equality,” and the “ common good” have influenced change at the local and national levels of United States government.
There are different branches within the United States government, each with its own structure, leaders, and processes, and each designed to address specific issues and concerns.
6.1.4.A.4 Explain how the United States government is organized and how the United States Constitution defines and limits the power of government.
6.1.4.A.5 Distinguish the roles and responsibilities of the three branches of the national government.
6.1.4.A.6 Explain how national and state governments share power in the federal system of government.
In a representative democracy, individuals elect representatives to act on the behalf of the people.
6.1.4.A.7 Explain how the United States functions as a representative democracy, and describe the roles of elected representatives and how they interact with citizens at local, state, and national levels.
6.1.4.A.8 Compare and contrast how government functions at the community, county, state, and national levels, the services provided, and the impact of policy decisions made at each level.
The examination of individual experiences, historical narratives, and events promotes an understanding of individual and community responses to the violation of fundamental rights.
6.1.4.A.9 Compare and contrast responses of individuals and groups, past and present, to violations of fundamental rights.
6.1.4.A.10 Describe how the actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders served as catalysts for social change and inspired social activism in subsequent generations.
The United States democratic system requires active participation of its citizens.
6.1.4.A.11 Explain how the fundamental rights of the individual and the common good of the country depend upon all citizens exercising their civic responsibilities at the community, state, national, and global levels.
6.1.4.A.12 Explain the process of creating change at the local, state, or national level.
Immigrants can become and obtain the rights of American citizens.
6.1.4.A.13 Describe the process by which immigrants become United States citizens.
The world is comprised of nations that are similar to and different from the United States.
6.1.4.A.14 Describe how the world is divided into many nations that have their own governments, languages, customs, and laws.
In an interconnected world, it important to consider different cultural perspectives before proposing solutions to local, state, national, and global challenges.
6.1.4.A.15 Explain how and why it is important that people from diverse cultures collaborate to find solutions to community, state, national, and global challenges.
In an interconnected world, increased collaboration is needed by individuals, groups, and nations to solve global problems.
6.1.4.A.16 Explore how national and international leaders, businesses, and global organizations promote human rights and provide aid to individuals and nations in need.
“Religion or not, we have lost the ability to know right from wrong, because the new “acceptable” and “unacceptable” have replaced our core values”
Right, what we need is to replace “acceptable” and “unacceptable” with “highly effective,” “effective,” “developing,” and “ineffective.” With 60 percent of our (common) core values based on observations (possibly via video recording).
Thank you but I think you did not understand my post. What my point is that if we have to learn to live as decent citizens by contributing to an ethical society (see curriculum verbiage) in our own “curriculum” then why can’t our leaders, politicians, entertainers, etc. follow these simple objectives?
I’m not saying we need to live by the law of the common core. I also don’t believe in the teacher rating system.
The point of my post is that it’s IRONIC that our societies’ mores are so upside-down that the very civics we’re supposed to be teaching in school can’t even be followed by our country’s leadership.
Thanks again.
I’m just cracking a little common-core joke.
Ancient Greece was a “shame culture,” and they had two different words for shame. One word referred to the internal prohibition that keeps one from behaving badly; sort of like a conscience, or a sense of honor. The other word referred to the sense of disgrace or embarrassment one feels when one has done something disgraceful.
Our culture is lacking in both kinds of shame.
Yet I prefer ours without hesitation.
While I get discouraged, I see hope too. We have to change the wind as Jim Wallis has stated in a speech I heard of his. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9pdXzJB1l0&feature=youtu.be
I also have hope in the Move to Amend movement as they are also about working for a stronger democracy that involves integrity. https://movetoamend.org/
Those who have lost their sense of shame are those who are trying to capture all the $$$$$. They have the resources to buy their way into power and out of trouble.
Or they are like the proverbial farmers who have a surplus of crops. But instead of just giving the surplus to the poor, they want to build a bigger barn.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Part of the courage of protest is to accept the consequences of Jail..as in Nelson Mandela…you are not supposed to get off the streets fast enough, as in the lone citizen in Tianamen Square…you are to be a force in defiance of wrong
Diane-
Good point… It may seem old fashioned, but what of children born out-of-wedlock?
Can you think of a single trend that has been more harmful to urban education and the children of our inner cities? Daniel Patrick Moynihan warned of this and was excoriated as a racist. But time has proven him right.
It is now commonly bragged of. But statistics tell us otherwise. Here in The Bronx where the education stats are uniformly awful, I have heard that 85% of all births are to single moms here,
And we have a mayor and governor living with women who are not their wives, (although without children) the last Governor (Paterson) admitted that he was unfaithful, and the Governor before him, well the less said the better.
We’ve got Carlos Danger here in NY, Gov. (now Congresssman) Sanford in South Carolina, and on and on…
Well at least Carlos Danger may talk a good game, but doesn’t seem to follow through….
Andy
ANDREW WOLF, Editor and Publisher The Bronx Press and Riverdale Review Newspapers The Bronx NOW! Tourism Magazine 5752 Fieldston Road • Bronx, NY 10471 (718) 543-5200 or (800) 601-9594 x- 105
Andy Wolf,
Do you feel sure that Carlos Danger will stop sending lewd photographs after he is elected? This behavior is so self-destructive that it seems to be an addiction, meaning he can’t stop. If he is mayor, I don’t want to receive any of his tweets.
This is a classic case of what Moynihan called “Defining Deviancy Down.” Once we accept this behavior as okay, where do we draw the line, or is there any line left?
I thought this article presents a situation that typifies shame. NYS is not paying its early intervention providers, as far back as April. They say they want preschool for all but refuse to pay the providers of children with special needs. Now I think NYS gets the Shameful story for today. The area rheeformers want to go away is special education. They have no idea what to do and prefer to just ignore this population of society.
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Shift-in-pay-plan-is-sought-4702152.php
Our special education children are not considered as value added learners but rather a pool of money to stabilize the budgets. These are underfunded dollars for the most vulnerable of our students and it appears as the easiest of dollars to kite from one line item to another.
The jobs for these children don’t exist and the potential for the creating a job market for them does not exist either. They will be pushed through and dropped out to ………….
I have a formula that I see fulfilled every day LD=ED=JD=Jail.
These students don’t satisfy the charter, private, vocational schools acceptance criteria and the Inclusion before readiness classrooms are a throw back to the too many kids in a class and too often an untrained teacher for their unidentified (the mild LD kids are not even being identified and pretty much cease to exist) or identified needs (often mild to severe). According to ETS class support is approximately no more then 10 minutes per child in Inclusion settings. The For Profit Prisons offer the manufacturing jobs moved behind the walls or not available because they have been sent out of the country. Pretty bleak and opposite of all the hope offered by the pride of our country to be so balanced as to provide through federal mandates a level education playing field for the struggling and disabled learners.
Now we are being reshaped to meet the needs of the technological corporate workforce, global race to another universe and to a number one spot against everyone, fulfilling the education elitist
vision of who are worth the dollars, and a reversal of the American Dream and ideal of humanity. You really can’t shame the shameless egomaniacal greed and power mongering narcissist. Denial is living in the mind and hearts of those that would deny these students for the gifts they have and can offer. It is both stupid and uncivilized to turn a head and refuse to recognize these human beings.
To feel shame (or guilt, or responsibility), one must treasure or at least respect what one has broken. As the treasuring breaks down, so does the shame.
We live in a time of sprawl, where it is difficult to shut off communication, to stop working, to separate private from public life, to set apart one relationship from another.
Most of us come nowhere near the shamelessness shown by Weiner, but we are affected, nonetheless, by the problem.
I have written about it here (not about Weiner, but about the general problem, which I call the “lamentation sprawl”): http://dianasenechal.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/the-old-verities-and-the-lamentation-sprawl/
Definitely a great description of the problems and impossibilities facing us with online course work and success. We need to ensure that our systems are well prepared and that our students have all the tools they need. Our courses are often haphazardly designed in order to meet the rush of getting them going. What is the point to education and learning? Is it a rush to collect data or is it learning as much as we can, building a solid awareness of ourselves and others, and creatively working together to contribute to the wellness of our society as a democracy? I vote for the latter.