Jersey Jazzman has words of wisdom for Néw York Times columnist Frank Bruni. Bruni recently wrote, in defense of the Common Core standards, claimed that American kids are “coddled.”
Read his post in its entirety. He calls it “Dumb Things White People Say About Schools: Frank Bruni.”
This is how he begins:
“Let me start by apologizing to Tom Friedman. You see, for years I’ve thought that the Mustache of Understanding was the silliest, most wankeriffic pontificator within in the NY Times’s Op-Ed Page hierarchy of mandarins. But it’s clear to me now I was completely wrong. The proof?
Frank Bruni’s latest column, in which he jumps into the pool of education policy unencumbered by the water wings of knowledge.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Great piece! Speaks volumes about the bs so prevalent today. And on the subject of “dumb things white people say”… THIS IS A MUST READ in regards to Melinda Gates – another self appointed expert on public education whose own children attend a public school which does not follow common core or high stakes testing… hmmmm
http://teachersletterstobillgates.com/2013/11/23/teachers-parents-and-children-be-very-afraid-of-the-grand-high-corporate-reformer-melinda-gates/
artseagal: I keep hammering your point home.
The leading charterites/privatizers ensure a [supposedly] ineffective old-fashioned education—e.g., small class sizes, a plethora of athletic activities, rich offerings of the fine and performing arts, experienced teaching staffs with not a few holding advanced degrees, education abroad programs, to mention only a few—for THEIR OWN CHILDREN but are trying mightily to mandate for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN an education that is the exact opposite.
Don’t wonder if THEIR CHILDREN will be prepared for the jobs of tomorrow, i.e., the leadership positions in our society—it’s a done deal. For the vast majority of OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, if they are fortunate enough to find a McJob of any kind, they will be in the subordinate positions for which they have been “trained.”
The leading charterites/privatizers have a horrifying view of what constitutes education for our country. It’s just that the two-tiered education system—with its concomitant virtuous privileged few and unworthy impoverished many—is not something they proclaim to the four winds.
Bad pr. Hard to sell—but their high-stakes standardized testing that labels, sorts and ranks according to what natural and divine law ordain is a furiously vicious attempt to reeducate the general public into accepting a openly unequal state of affairs.
The importance of this blog. To make plain that they say one thing and think another, pretend to do this and instead do that.
One of those old dead Greek guys nailed this type to the wall over two thousand years ago:
“Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.” [Homer]
Guess the above won’t be on the latest bubble-ins…
Wonder why? 😎
KrazyTa… keep hammering! If the tool box gets big enough perhaps a real education system can be built from action!
Ahh, yes. Melinda French Gates who attended the exclusive Ursuline Academy for girls 9-12 in Dallas.
Melinda French Gates who graduated from a high school surrounded by literal brick walls and iron gates, as well as the figurative walls of price and social class.
Melinda French Gates who benefitted from teachers completely freed from standardized tests, stack ranking, and the needs of impoverished children.
The hypocrisy is stunning.
And Melinda French Gates who married her rich boss.
Jersey Jazzman! You had me at “water wings.”
“unencumbered by the water wings of knowledge”
Great line, but heck it seems more like Bruni jumped into the deep end of the pool wearing cement shoes cast of ignorance and intellectual laziness.
So sick and tired of know-nothing quasi-pundits spreading false memes about education.
Thanks JJ for putting one more clown back in the tiny circus car he never should have exited.
Never forget how Friedman beat the war drums, with his flat-lined wit, to enter war with Iraq – because
it was right.
“unencumbered by the water wings of knowledge”
Some people have such a gift for the turn of a phrase.
Thanks for that!