Mercedes Schneider has a terrific post in which she reviews Arne Duncan’s interview with U.S. News, in which he claims that American teachers “often come from the bottom of the academic barrel.”
His ideal of academic excellence? Examination hell in South Korea.
Schneider explains what Duncan finds so admirable. For one hing, his only way to think of education is test scores. Nothing else matters.
She wonders why Duncan is quick to blame everyone for what he sees as failing schools but never thinks about the ineffectiveness of the Bush-Obama policies. If they were graded, they would certainly be graded Ineffective. A dozen years of failed policy is enough!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“His (Duncan’s) ideal of academic excellence? Examination hell in South Korea.”
Most accurate and concise thoughts I’ve read this week.
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And awesomeness from Mercedes …
“Traditional teachers are an indispensable part of the fabric of our democracy, and it is about time for Arne Duncan to recognize and respect that fact.”
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There is certainly something troubling about teacher-bashing as a trend, especially when it comes from the top federal official dealing with education. I wish those who have historically supported teachers would dislodge their heads from the sands of “reform” and give some serious consideration to what they want.
More than that, though, policy makers need to stop leaning on the schools for solutions to broader issues of structural inequity. The decision to turn schools into the place where societal ills were solved has created a convenient rationale for teacher-bashers, and since organized labor has been defanged, we have no recourse to defend ourselves.
It is not fair to implement policies that are proven time after time to be entirely ineffective, all the while tasking teachers with solving the world’s problems without giving them the resources and societal support (i.e. a working social safety net) necessary to accomplish these goals, and then blame teachers for the failings of those well above our pay grade.
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Well, I suppose it’s because his true mission is the Destruction Of Education.
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Project much Arne?
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What an embarrassment this know-nothing Duncan is. It’s as Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church had been appointed as the president’s Science Adviser.
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Indeed. How can it be that a person is openly hostile to the very thing he’s been put in charge of, and was probably chosen for that reason?
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cx: What an embarrassment this know-nothing Duncan is. It’s as though Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church had been appointed as the president’s Science Adviser.
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I think Arne Duncan should take his children out of the Arlington Public Schools next year and put them in a title one PG County school so that they too can obtain the “benefits” he so aptly touts of all his “ed reform” initiatives. Let them test, test and test. Let them pre test, pre test and pre test. Let them say the “Pledge each day followed by some cookie cutter school promise they repeat day in and day out. Let them skip the PE, music or art to test or pre test. Let them eat the supposed “healthy” foods served in the cafeteria. Let them be students subjected to his “wonderful” policies. This man is NO ROLE MODEL for his own children, let alone a nation of children who need a real education leader who actually cares about them!
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Bottom of what friggin’ barrel
I will challenge him any day to take any test..Name it Arne…
I chose the profession because .I wanted to have the same hours as my children..
Bottom of the barrel?????..I think not.. I wish to heck I knew his IQ..not that it means a hill of beans….
By the way Arne
“Empty Barrels make the loudest noise”..In your case you make so much noise that no one listens..
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It is just snobbery coming from a guy who wouldn’t be able to get into Harvard undergrad today and he knows it. He wouldn’t even be able to get into a selective enrollment high school in his hometown. Certainly not without eliminating basketball altogether.
As a society, we should expect more of this. When we put our top students through the ringer, they come out assuming that they made it because they are the best.
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When we turned over the barrel……Arne fell out last!
To quote from the post….
“I guess being completely removed from the barrel prevents one from being “at the bottom,” eh?”
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Wish someone would recruit a few teachers to debate this man…..
Or..does he even know how to debate?
In my opinion…He knows how to spew ignorance…
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Arne is incapable! He is Secretary of NON-education. Obama chose him. Vote 3rd party.
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Letter grades say nothing about anything. In fact they usually demonstrate who is book learned without a lick of common sense. Isn’t it about time we judge teachers fairly, on an even playing field? Not how kids come to them, but what they accomplish while the kids are in their class. The only way to do this is through an assessment based on what kids can do and how much they improve from pre to post.
If a child comes in to your school not being able to follow the scientific method and shows later in the year that they can do such an experiment, that is a success. This has nothing to do with their being able to recite the scientific method. It’s actually doing something.
Actually I prefer teachers that have common sense rather than the book learned geniuses that are driving the current chaos. I prefer teachers that understand kids rather than those who see themselves as above the fray. And finally, I want teachers that understand kids need to be able to do something, rather than write about it in a test.
Taking a test is a completely different way of thinking. Kids must give our answers rather than discover their own. Who did discover America? Certainly wasn’t Colombus the butcher.
The test also takes memorization as well as deduction. I was able to do a test on Spanish, pass everything with 90% and not be able to speak any Spanish. Because it isn’t about learning. And then, of course the test is returned to teachers months later rendering them useless.
We need to pull the wool out from over our collective eyes and deverlp an assessment that shows what kids can do. Not the trivial pursuit game that currently exists.
as for the elitists than are driving this fiasco, I have had enough from snobs. Get kids hands on projects, let them ge tdirty and learn that life isn’t a text book
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I always have a comment but I am speechless at this post. There are NO words to waste on this egomaniacal fool. I WILL, however make sure that every teacher I know sees this and shares the post with every teacher he/she knows and so on.
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Great Post! Ditto
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That’s not even the worst Duncan speechifying this week.
Here he is extolling the work of education expert Amanda Ripley, while delivering a patronizing lecture to “parent leaders” on how their expectations are too low:
“That Number 1 spot is now occupied by – guess who? — South Korea. So, you may be asking: What are countries like South Korea doing for their kids that we aren’t? The answer is, a lot.
There’s a new book out called “The Smartest Kids in the World, and How They Got That Way.”
The author, Amanda Ripley, found an interesting way to compare American schools with those in top-performing countries.
She spent time with American students who did a year of school abroad, and with students from other countries who went to school in the United States.
One of the countries she compares us to is South Korea.
Amanda came away believing that these other countries are doing a lot better than the United States in education because – simply put — they’re more serious about it.”
I think we need a serious education secretary, one who practices the “rigor” he preaches and doesn’t behave like a 15 year old chasing the latest fad.
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I wrote a post about Ripley and her botched comparison of US poverty to Finland poverty:
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I am beyond frightened of any world where the fatuous Ms Ripley is considers knowledgeable about anything.
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The number one spot is South Korea? On a standardized test? But what can they do? Who is so stupid to think that a test defines intelligence and abilities? Only other pseudo intellectuals who are book learned without a lick of common sense
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I was hoping Ripley would reply to you Mercedes. Ripley and Diane will be at the same conference in February. Unfortunately, it is not a debate. That would be fun to watch. I would go if you were there to face Ripley. 🙂
http://iei.ncsu.edu/emerging-issues/teachers-great-economic-debate/
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Simply ponder one staggering fact: US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan genuflects to someone who doesn’t know the difference between a euro and a dollar.
It would be funny — if it weren’t so horrifying.
😎
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Arne Duncan was born on second base and thinks he hit a homerun.
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🙂 🙂
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I believe you are incorrect. He is asleep in the dugout and the game is over. (Or at least it should be).
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During the time Arne Duncan went to Harvard 90% of students received honors. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/most-commonly-awarded-grade-at-harvard-is-an-a/ easy to look down your nose when you get high grades just for attending.
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I’ve heard that teachers in South Korea are treated with great respect & appreciation – nothing like here! I’ve also heard that they are provided with all educational materials needed and that their students are too. Because of this, teachers there supposedly NEVER have to spend their own money like we do – for books, materials & school supplies, etc. I’ve even heard that their teachers would think it downright laughable that we have to do that. Food for thought: maybe Duncan could learn some things from them about how to treat teachers & students the right way!
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Duncan should be DONE, CANNED, and sent back to the Chamber of Commerce.
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On what basis is the claim that teachers come from “the bottom of the academic barrel” made? It’s untrue and a defamation of the profession. Shame on you, Arne Duncan, since you know so much about the bottom of the academic barrel, I’m inclined to believe that’s where they found you.
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So True
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Maybe Arne is basing his statements on his personal experiences with his own teachers. Unfortunately, it was the other way around. He went to a top notch school – could it be he blamed his teachers for his own ineptitude? I’m positive he is not in a position to judge.
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What about individuals who are put in charge of the entire department of education in a country with only a bachelors degree in sociology? Might one consider that under qualified? Is that competitive with heads of departments in Korea or China?
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“under qualified”?
His resume should be in the circular file
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Arne has now had massive power for 12 years, going on 13. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Chicago’s public schools in June 2001 based on the support he had from Chicago’s ruling class, not based on any record as a public school teacher, administrator, or executive. He was a callow product of that assembly line, rattling off scripted nonsense from his first weeks in office. I heard him being rehearsed by Peter Cunningham during that first month, because he didn’t know anything about the stuff he was to talk about (and go before the press about).
So… Of course he’s going to keep pushing that ever-shifting “bottom line”. He’s gotten away with it first in Chicago and now nationally. As long as the side of reason underperforms in the public debate (partly because of the treason over years from the AFT and NEA national leaderships, including now) and corporate media continue to act as assembly lines for cliche and nonsense, Arne’s “bottom lining” will continue.
As I watch him continue, I ask myself what the model for this is, the Scam of Scams that allows this stuff to live on and on. Of course it all goes back to “A Nation at Risk” (and those who suppressed the facts that debunked that attack on all of us 30 years ago) and has been adapted regularly since then. From another sector, we can ask, when viewing Arne’s hustle, how long people bought the Bernie Madoff schtick. Arne’s in the same league, with the same mindless wealthy people pushing his wares.
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Arne Duncan is a threat to the national security. He should be viewed as an intellectual terrorist.
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It would be a pleasant surprise to see Arne Duncan, for once, engage in the critical thinking skills that he says new tests will measure.
Duncan repeats the disproved and utterly ignorant statement that American student scores on international tests are the basis for the nation’s economic competitiveness. Duncan repeats the myth that a “rising tide of mediocrity” puts America’s economic and national security “at risk”…because of public education.
It’s almost as though Arne Duncan has been asleep for the last 30 years.
Public school students and teachers did not quadruple the national debt between 1981 and 1993 (Reagan and Bush1 did). Nor did they off-shore millions of jobs, or sell toxic, collateralized securities, or turn Wall Street into a casino, or engage in two unfunded wars, or double the national debt again between 2001 and 2009. Nor did they wreck the economy.
The World Economic Forum’s report on economic competitiveness shows the U.S. dropping from second in 2010-11 to seventh now.
The main reasons for the drop are weak auditing and reporting standards, questionable corporate ethics, high fiscal deficits, deficits and debt, lack of transparency in policy-making, and a business community that warrants little trust.
THESE are the things that threaten the nation’s economic competitiveness and economic security. We know exactly where to look to properly place the blame and the accountability.
Why is Duncan so unwilling to tell the truth?
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Agree.
I might add, why is EVERYONE so unwilling to tell the truth?
(Of course, by everyone, I refer to those in the media, and in power, those with a microphone)
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Looking for a microphone and gigantic speaker now haha Seriously, the media really doesn’t comprehend education and it’s purpose. We still need a viable alternative to get their attention. First the reformers will pick it a part, and then BAM, the truth will come out. ideas at http://www.wholechildreform.com
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“She wonders why Duncan is quick to blame everyone for what he sees as failing schools but never thinks about the ineffectiveness of the Bush-Obama policies.”
This is an EASY one! Our country’s chief education officer has absolutely zero credibility as a professional educator. Ohhh, the irony.
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Agree
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