In the car yesterday, I heard a report that Arne Duncan was stepping down. President Obama said: He did more than anyone else to bring American education into the 21st century, sometimes kicking and screaming.
I am paraphrasing but that is a very close approximation of what he said.
So this is what the 21st century will look like: boot camps for minorities; teachers with scripts; schools run for profit; school scams by corporations; education industry traded on Néw York Stock Exchange; high-yield online schools with high attrition rates; the monetization of public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Politicians Are Poody Heads and commented:
“The monetization of public education.”
That’s the money quote, and that is exactly what is happening.
Absolutely disgusting. What a horrific world we’ll be living in come 20 years time because of the wretchedness of our best minds bought and sold to the highest bidder and Obama, the man I hoped and dreamed would truly change things for the country and the world the largest disappointment of them all.
I once had that same hope and dream. Yesterday, as I watched Obama speak, all I could do was shout “Liar,” and other less polite words, as Obama spoke of Arne’s “accomplishments.” And all I kept thinking is how none of these “leaders” send their own children to public schools where these ridiculous, damaging policies exist. I agree, absolutely disgusting.
WordsMatter:
Your statement about the heavyweights and enforcers and enablers of self-proclaimed “education reform” never grows old—“none of these ‘leaders’ send their own children to public schools where these ridiculous, damaging policies exist.”
Thank you.
😎
If I may correct a bit of what you said “. . . the wretchedness of our BESTEST minds bought and sold to the highest bidder. . .”
If they were “our best minds” they wouldn’t have sold out so they can only be the BESTEST and never the best.
TAGO
Been teaching for over 20 years and I have never seen teacher morale so low. The saddest thing is that the new teachers will never experience the true joy of teaching.
We have two long term subs filling in for regular classes, and a shortage of day to day subs, who wants to teach? …morale is low, we need teachers …Duncan and his teacher rating, closing neighborhood schools (poor areas only get – on the bus).. and wanting to rate teacher ed schools and trace students from birth to adulthood…it has all been awful, inhumane, uncivil, undemocratic, and has reduced our education system.
Yesterday, I had a conversation with the mom of a former Newark charter school teacher. With a Masters degree, the pay was $30,000, and is still paying off student loans. Left for work at 7 a.m., returned home at 7 p.m., worked Saturdays. Had to attend useless professional developments. Was promised raises that never materialized because in order to get them you had to be in good favor with the admins. Said the faculty was a revolving door. Family was saying – quit this job, please. When finally transferred from downtown Newark to different location, the last straw was the carjacking. After 3 school years, this teacher is now unemployed and never wants to teach again. Go figure.
When charters treat children like future criminals, the teachers like indentured servants, no safety measures are in place, and profit is the bottom line……how can this be good for children, neighborhoods, the economy, and education?
Is this what Obama wanted?
Yes. The Friedman dystopia of the so-called Free Market, propped up and paid for with tax money, is exactly what Obama wanted.
Why?
To Involved Mom:
You asked, “Why?”
The testing and charter industries are very rich and have very good lobbyists. Lots of money to go around for both Republicans and Democrats. The leadership of both parties have been bought. My understanding is that Joe Biden’s brother even has his own charter chain.
Parents like you need to stand up and say you’ve had enough and that you won’t vote for any politician who favors the destruction of public education. The teachers have been trying to fight it for years, but we’ve been too vilified and no one will listen to us.
Really, the only people who can save public education now are the parents.
Gayeneh: I agree. Trying to do what I can.
Parents are the main line of defense left, and refusing the tests is a powerful strategy. If they try to come between parents and their right to protect their children, you will see a huge outcry and shift of public opinion.
The punlic school is slowly being destroyed by this administration. Wolf’s in,sheep’s clothing.
What a shame .
Obama has detached himself from the reality of public education. Having never attended a public school, he is ignorant of their impact and has no respect for them. He has probably heard some nightmare stories about underfunded urban schools so that is why he believes in the “no excuses” model is a step up for these poor students, but does he need to inflict destruction on all public schools? He probably does not realize that there are many fine public schools in urban centers as well as other great public schools throughout the whole country. At least both Bernie and Hillary are products of public education so we stand a chance of them understanding the mission and purpose of public education We don’t need more leaders that live in an elitist bubble. Even though Obama was not wealthy, he attended private schools like the rich.
John Kasich was a product of public education. Now that he made millions as basically a lobbyist and public employee, he is suddenly anti-teacher. Or maybe he always was due to some detention long ago. I do not hold much hope for Hillary or Bernie. To most politicians, education is that messy line item cost with vocal parents and activist teachers. Not as flashy as a stealth fighter or state dinner with foreign dignitaries.
“At least both Bernie and Hillary are products of public education so we stand a chance of them understanding the mission and purpose of public education ”
This is exactly why public education is doomed. We need to get DC OUT OF EDUCATION. We stand a chance of winning locally. You sheople will vote Democrat no matter what. And you wonder why your unions are so eager to support Hilary.
Well, since the Republican party has opposed public education, teacher unions, and fair pay for over a century, there isn’t much choice left except for Jill Stein of the Green Party. I can’t vote for crazy liars like Trump, Carson, Paul, Fiorina, or Graham and I won’t vote for corruption, so that leaves out most of the rest in both parties.
But what about Michelle Obama? Didn’t she attend public schools in Chicago? Why isn’t she getting this?
Obama’s and Duncan’s remarks from that speech are transcribed here:
http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/text-of-obamas-farewell-speech-to-duncan-and-duncans-response/
Frighteningly unAmerican and depressing. It’s like a bad movie about the future.
I refuse to vote for a politician who supports the status quo in educational policy. Stop privatization before we run off the cliff!
Thank you for this post.
And little children who are so f+++ked up that they want to kill someone? We have got to save our schools and our children……
We didn’t kick and scream LOUD enough!
I think you have a point. Although teachers are a small part of the general population,most parents respect the teachers of ‘their’ children, but, perhaps, not ‘other’ teachers. Had the teachers of ‘their’ children made the point, it might not have gotten this far.
Teachers try to be neutral. We ‘lead forth’, but we also listen. This is the difference between education and indoctrination. It is not surprising, then, that teachers try to stay out of divisive politics in public. We want to reach all of our students, not just Democrats or Republicans or whatever. And, so, we keep our private opinions to ourselves. Yes, we may ‘nudge’, but (hopefully) by drawing out from the student, not by stuffing in.
But, in this case, we really aren’t talking about politics. Instead, we’re talking about the principles of education (ours) vs. the principles of indoctrination and profit (theirs). We couldn’t (as professionals) afford to be neutral when the very meaning, the concept of ‘education’ is under attack, and pretenders most inaccurately try to gain power by using the term to promote themselves. We can’t, now.
However, much was done in secret, in State legislatures. Most teachers don’t have the time to sit in on State hearings. Our unions, however, have lobbyists there, so why weren’t we alerted and asked to act?. The AMA certainly responds and doctors shriek, the ABA does the same, as do the veterinary DVM’s, the Insurance industry, as so on. So, why no such action from those who represent us? In particular, I would point the finger at the NEA, by far the larger representative organization.
We seem to have a cultural (teacher culture) problem. We must understand that when we stand up for traditional public education, we stand up for the future of our society. We stand up for a proven, effective system. We must understand what we are doing and stand together to defend education, and understand that ‘training’ has a place (as it does in athletics), but education is the goal.
Amen!…Thank you!
There is a story that we don’t know. Why did the brilliant and well-educated Barack Obama (who knew what good education looked like for his own daughters) do such damage to our public schools, to children (especially minorities) and to the teaching profession? As the mother of a politician, this is what I think:
Obama was helped into office by billionaires who supported him in exchange for his promise to privatized education. Once in office, the president didn’t dare go back on his promises to these powerful oligarchs. How very sad for all concerned!
I don’t buy victim status for Obama. He’s too smart and cocky for that. He knew the devil and the deal and sold his soul freely.
Obama just said, “There’s a difference in running for president and being president.” When you run, you reference the middle class in your speeches, and say you support education. When you become president, you serve the corporations, still referencing the middle class, and crush public education.
When Obama wrote his Audacity book in 2006, he wrote exactly how he saw public education and what he would do if elected…and he did it all. We were not paying close enough attention.
So at this point, we had best HOPE that he does no more CHANGE.
Wasn’t it Maya Angelou who admonished us that when someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time? Or something like that.
Yes, Dienne…”believe them the first time.” When we first saw him as the keynote speaker in 2004, we were amazed at his gifted persona. But then in 2006 an article in Vanity Fair was not so complimentary. I still wanted to believe the fantasy…and learned too late to rely on critical thinking, not hype.
“We were not paying close enough attention.”
Who’s the we? Some of us were paying attention and did not vote for him. He made it known by his senate votes and further statements that he was a fool tool of the oligarchs. You may have not been paying attention and got fooled, now you know to do more research, eh!!
Vote third party!
Bill Ayers ghostwrote Obama’s first book, it would be consistent with his thinking – and Obama’s apparent lack of writing ability – to suppose that he also ‘helped’ with Audacity….so, whose idea of public education was that, Obamas, Bill Ayers? Does Obama have ANY convictions of his own?
The only president who could sell it lock stock and barrel to impoverished and disadvantaged neighborhoods is a black president. Obama was brought in to finish the job; it was thought that he could and would be trusted by people of color. The sad part is that people of color got duped, and are now paying the price for trusting Obama.
How smart of the rich old white men’s club, huh? Obama was a trojan horse.
Yep…a Manchurian Candidate.
That is what I don’t understand. How can Barack and Michelle Obama turn their backs on the neighborhood schools of their hometown, Chicago, and even ignore the Dyett hunger strikers who are following in the respected, peaceful civil rights traditions of previous black leaders?
Reposting my earlier comment from the Peter Greene thread:
“Yes, and a strong reminder that this is what Obama meant when he lauded Duncan as bringing public schools “sometimes kicking and screaming” into the 21st century — a century of so-called “free” market dominance ushered in and maintained by the technocrats who see themselves as the “smartest people in the room” and who have earned the right to dominate the rest of us due to their Ivy League degrees and vast hoards of ill-gotten wealth.
I daily regret voting for this man and will for the rest of my life. And he wasn’t smart enough to prevent being played over and over by an opposition party that totally resisted his neverending efforts to achieve bipartisanship and actually revitalizing that party when it was in its death throes 7 years ago, was he?”
And throughout the history of my lifetime I’ve seen the all the negative unintended consequences of the “smartest people in the room/best of the best people” (bestest) from Viet Nam through the current public education debacle. The isolation of the bestest of humans from the common folk (not that many in that genre aren’t easily manipulated by the bestest) results in a stunted intellect.
Good points.
One of our state senators in NC this month reflected on the actions of our General Assembly (who wanted to cut everything they could from our education budget) said, “how can we attract the best and brightest if we can’t retain them” (or
Hit send post too soon—
something like that is what she said and at first I cringed at her using that descriptor “best and brightest.” Then I thought maybe she’s using reformer verbiage back at them. Not sure. But sometimes the lack of thoughtful rhetoric in education is annoying. I know politicians and leadership have other topics they are focused on other than education, but the rhetoric becomes a mundane soundtrack after a while and contributes to the ruts we get stuck in nation-wide, I think. So good points about “best and brightest.”
Lord help us! Just read my small-town NY paper and let out a yell. Ex-NYS education commissioner, John King, is being named as acting education secretary when Duncan leaves in December?! I just don’t get it. Must be the law of ‘fumu’ (f- up move up).
I agree. I, too, am a retired teacher (special education).
At this point, given what has happened and is happening, if I were a young person today, I would not go into education. Not if I were a young person truly dedicated to educating children for the rest of my working life, as opposed to working in the field, like TFA, for a couple of years and then moving on.
Privatization. When did this become the “go to” answer for functions that should be responsibilities of the government and society, for the good of all?
They have privatized many prisons, they seem to want to privatize Social Security, and already our health care is largely privatized. And there are even politicians talking about privatizing the Post Office (which, by the way, would be against the Constitution).
And don’t even get me started on Rahm Emanuel’s slashing of special education services and teachers in Chicago (even though such services are required by Federal Law since 1975).
Of course, Rahm doesn’t have any disabled kids, and his kids went to the elite, private, University of Chicago Lab School, which Arne Duncan attended, and where he intends to send his own kids.
I don’t get it, either. 😦
New York Times today reported the same . . .
“Arne’s done more to bring our educational system, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the 21st century than anyone else,” Mr. Obama said at a White House news conference on Friday. “It’s a record that I truly believe that no other education secretary can match. Arne bleeds this stuff.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/us/politics/arne-duncan.html?hpw&rref=education&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
He may very well “bleed this stuff”, but it is left for everybody else to clean up the mess after him. I doubt that John King will do little but smear the mess around even more.
“Bleeding the Patients”
He dragged them kicking and screaming
The kids and all their teachers
Cuz Arne ‘s into bleeding
With testing and with leeches
One of your best, and that’s saying a lot!
Once again another HUGE disappointment. I never imagined that the 21st century would look like this. It reminds me of the scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when George Bailey visits Pottersville -a nightmare vision of what could have been the future. Though, in our case, Arnesville is for real! Arnesville is NOW.
I was a little kid back in the 1960s. It was a great but also terrible time to be learning about the world. The Vietnam War came alive every evening in our living room as we watched the news. Meanwhile, the riots here in the U.S. felt like they could be happening just down the block from our house. But truly heroic figures were fighting for justice and equality. Anything and everything seemed to be possible. I remember the day In our elementary school when the teacher wheeled this giant TV into the classroom and we watched astronauts headed to the moon. Wow.
Now our nation seems to struggle to accomplish even the most basic tasks. I was driving down a state highway this afternoon and it was a moonscape of bumps and slipshod patches. I’ve been taking my son on tours of colleges. How many of these great public campuses were built back in the 1950s and 1960s? What are college students getting now in return for the ever increasing tuition they face?
All the while, our leaders today are busy finding new ways to divide us every day. Bush squandered a historic opportunity to unite and lead, leaving us a foreign policy disaster and financial fiasco. And, Obama has been found wanting too, even lashing out at the very people who believed in his message of hope.
I have a wonderful though heartbreaking book of photographs by Paul Fusco, called RFK. It’s a follow up to the Fusco’s RFK Funeral Train, a collection of images the photographer took following Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968. I first read about the book in the New York Times. Many of the photos are of crowds gathered along the tracks as RFK’s coffin was carried through cities as well as small towns. I look at those photos, at all those faces, and I feel terribly sad for the people back then….and all of us today.
“Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.” Robert F. Kennedy.
John,
I share your sentiments regarding Bobby Kennedy. Quite often I go back and listen to his impromptu speech in St. Louis from the night MLK was assassinated. What a real leader can do to ignite positive change. It moves me. And to think he was killed only two months later.
Wow! That speech was one for the ages! Just reading it sends chills down my spine. It shows that ‘impromptu’ can be ever so powerful when delivered from the heart of a skilled person. I love jazz, and this was oratorical jazz at its absolute peak, so much more powerful than today’s scripted scores.
And, no riots occurred in St. Louis. The people knew, despite that vast social chasm between the poor in St. Louis and Kennedy, that here was a man who understood their plight. Most of the listeners had no idea who Aeschylus was, yet they understood the message and Kennedy’s passion.
Timothy:
I just listened to that speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoKzCff8Zbs
RFK said: “In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it’s perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.”
That is what we are doing now as a nation. The tension between the reformers and the public school supporters, the accountability folks and the opt-outers, the temporary teachers vs. the in-it-for-lifes is making this a very difficult time for education and for our children in this country.
What kind of a nation are we? In what direction do we want to move? Visionary questions back then, and still today.
“We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We’ve had difficult times in the past. And we will-we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it’s not the end of disorder.
“But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.”
And want good education for our children.
Thanks for the link, mathcs. Well worth the time to listen to on a Sunday afternoon.
RFK said “We have to make an effort to understand….”
That’s one of the things that’s so frustrating about Obama…..his unwillingness or is it inability to understand…..to listen. What a shame.
Yes John, no critical thinking skills there at all.
So well said, John! My sentiments exactly!
Thanks
“Rose did not learn of her third son’s death until the morning after. She asked her
chauffeur to drive her to Mass, then returned through the throng of reporters and photographers that had encircled the house. Quietly, she went upstairs and, after
a few moments alone in her room, went in to tell her husband, by herself, that Bobby too was dead. This time, he watched it all on television, in his room, refusing to allow anyone to turn off the set. Hour after hour after hour, he stared at the screen without blinking, without moving, without a sound. And he wept.”
David Nasaw
Well said, Diane and fellow posters. This dismantling of our educational system and the corporate wolves profiteering on tests and charter schools – very sad aspect to our president’s tenure.
Diane, I heard the same thing and was going to call this to your attention. I think a protest to very shallow reporting by NPR on this is in order. They need to do something other than just repeat the talking points given to them by reformers. It was a horrible spot and so inaccurate. They did not do justice to anyone on this.
John
John Inman Ed.D., M.A., Ed.M., DDPE Creating educational solutions where learners develop individual gifts and realize their potential Seattle, WA john@learningexceptionalities.com http://www.learningexceptionalities.com 425-954-7256
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“Empty R”
Read between the radio waves
To fathom NPR
The Gates Foundation pays their ways
And keeps them in a jar
Excellent! NPR has always been timid. In the lead-up to the Iraq invasion, several hundred thousand protested in DC (according to DC police, and they, with there helicopters and such, had the best view), but NPR reported ‘tens of thousands’. Yep, they were technically correct, 20 tens of thousands. Or, they could have said ‘dozens’, and still been technically correct (many, many dozens), but they gave the wrong impression. Why didn’t they simply use the DC police figure and attribute it to them? That would be reporting. Instead, they catered to those who wanted to minimize the protest, their big ‘donors’.
NPR would never bite the hand that feeds it. It is a dog wagged by the tail of money.
Dear Mr. President,
If your children are kicking and screaming, maybe you should stop dragging us. I’m sorry to be so condescending, but that’s not how good parenting is done.
Sincerely,
Justice and Democracy
And I just saw on Facebook that the NEA leadership,voted to reccomend Hillary Clinton for president. Could they be more tone deaf and unaware of the rank and file?
Chris in Florida..My thoughts exactly. Our own union leadership is throwing us under the bus.
And I bet all of you voted for him. I bet you all had tears in your eyes when he gave his speech in Grant Park. I bet you held on to every word with the silly Greek columns in the back ground. I bet you all made excuses. I bet each and everyone of you bought the left wing hype. And now you have it. You own it. A national education system under the dual control of Washington and Wall Street. This is what leftism wrought.
I call BS. Mitt Romney and John McCain are equally owned by the plutocracy and nothing much would have changed except, perhaps, they would have been nastier about it based on their histories. The reform movement is bipartisan and started with Milton Friedman, not boogeyman liberals that Fox viewers hate so much.
“This is what leftism wrought.”
Please define leftism for us. I’m not sure to what you are referring.
TIA
I think he means the kind of leftism that has no soul.
I am a NYC principal and I am an avid supporter of Barack Obama
However, his choice of John king was simply spiteful.
We should all stay home and informally protest the presidents choice. John king is wrong for the children,the parents, the educators and society at large. We need to collectively tell Obama that there is no room for spitefulness in our society.
“. . .a NYC principal and I am an avid supporter of Barack Obama.(sic)”
Perfect example of adminimal!
Sabine prosper, what have you specifically done to combat the educational malpractices in force today brought on by Obama and his Dunkster boy? Did you tell your staff to send the tests back unopened? Did you instruct you teachers to teach as they know best and not to allow test prep to dominate the teaching and learning process? Did you so focus on test scores and other nonsense data that your school became a test factory? What did you do to counteract the idiotic policies of the person whom you so “avidly” support?
“Ad minimal”
I’m on your side. I totally agree with you. I’m not the enemy and I support your views. Maybe next time you’ll read my comment in its entirety before you throw the book at me
Frater ally yours,
I read them entirely and stand by my questions of which you answered none. And for another: Will you be locking your school doors and leading the protest come Monday? Maybe take all the faculty and staff and students to the school’s stadium and explain what the action is about?
Take care😀
Hey, Duane.
Strong-arming people on our side isn’t the way to go. You might get further with less forcefulness. I wish we could all be heroes, but it’s hard when we have bills to pay, children to feed, etc. We try. I’m trying, too.
That was powerful Montana teacher! Your support and advocacy are qualities we need and is lacking in society today. Some people simply feel that yelling screaming and using their vocal muscles excessively is the way to go. I hope Dianne understands that I am so mad at the president arbitrary choice of king and his total disregard of the people’s voice. I was about to remove myself from this blog after reading Dianne’s rant, I’m actually feeling good now there are great educators who have progress in mind
Montana teacher,
For me it’s quite sad that you consider my asking a few strident questions of an “administrator” (who by not answering any of them puts him/her into my category of adminimal-lots of puffery and displays and feel good talking and no action to counteract the educational malpractices that are foisted upon the public schools. They are the “good Germans” who allow these “banalities of evil” to happen causing harm to many in their charge. And yes many students are harmed by these practices), to be “strong arming” even in a mental fashion. If that is “strong arming” then why the hell even have discussions about these malpractices and just give in. Action talks louder than words, and yes it draws the spotlight, I know, having been targeted more than once by supposed administrators who only know force and deception when brooking no tolerance. I’m not the strong armer, just attempting to awaken so many who purposely blind themselves to the daily evil they tolerate and enforce.
I see nothing in Sabine’s responses that shows any understanding of the harms he/she causes and should take responsibility for.
You are so far off from the truth. Speculating about an unknown is un-American.
Check my doctoral dissertation on “ableism”.
That should encourage you to stop rushing to conclusion. By the way your issue is not with whether I take actions or not. Your anger is more “Hannity -zed” due to the fact that I said I’m an avid supporter of the president.
I would love to read it. Do you have a link? TIA!
What is Hannity-zed? I don’t watch the boob tube, other than a sport game every now and again. I’ve seen Hannity many years ago but I’m not sure what Hannityzed means.
And yes, my beef is whether you have or haven’t taken any concrete actions to fight the cancers that are educational standards and standardized testing or if, like so many supes and admins who are Johnny come latelies because the nonsense has finally hit their districts. Silence and compliance has been the m.o. of almost all of them. And you’ve not dispelled me of the notion that your responses and actions have been any different.
Lol
We should talk. You do have valid points. But as Montana teacher stated, you should not make an enemy out of a friend. You and I we are on the same page.
Please feel free to contact me anytime at dswacker@centurytel.net. I know I am strident in what I say and ask but that is what I feel needs to be done by someone to shake all the GAGAers out of their stupor. Please don’t take it all too personally, you just happened to be the one (and you’re not the first either and won’t be the last) that has born the brunt of my inquiries. My desire is not to make enemies nor “strong arm” anyone but to ask direct and searing questions that hopefully jolt folks out of their complacency as that complacent attitude has allowed us to get to this insane point in educational malpractice time.
Again, I would like to read your dissertation, so if you would please direct me to it, that would be great. (hopefully, it’s not on one of the “pay to read” archives as I can’t afford those).
Take care,
Duane
P.S. I will be “on the river” over the next two weeks and therefore cannot access my email. I will respond, though, as soon as I am able.
I think you are so articulate. Thanks for sharing your email.
You can reach me at anakaonah@aol.com
By the way, what have you done
I am strong conservative, and I am not a Democrat. I have voted Democrat when he/she was better than the Republic candidate.
However, education reform is of the devil, and both sides have been swept into it.
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘strongly conservative’, but you are correct in implying that this is one issue which draws together odd bedfellows (perhaps to the benefit of future generations). As a result, it is important for those who ‘identify’ with the traditional political divisions to look beyond Party label.
But, PLEASE, you didn’t vote, “Democrat”, you voted for the Democratic candidate.
Yet, good for you. And, I think we all need to look at the record of candidates, not their TV ads and their Party affiliation.
Ya, 21st century.
“Death seed blind man’s greed
Poets’ starving children bleed
Nothing he’s got he really needs
Twenty first century schizoid man”
-King Crimson
Now, TC, you know that I’m not much of a “standards” guy but King Crimson’s “In the Court of the Crimson King” is truly a psychedelia standard!
Here is a story I have always thought of posting here, but I was too embarrassed. As a former teacher at the DOE, I applied for, and got, a position at the infamous Harlem Success Academy, in the the summer of 2008. I had to start immediately, in August, and three weeks of incoherent PD followed, consisting of 11 hour days. There were a lot of speeches about Eva and her disappointment in the “unattractive photos” of her by critics, “Eva doesn’t believe in unions,” and other Eva-centric PD sessions. The days were so long, it felt like they were using cult-indoctrination tactics. My union-activist father would cringe if he saw me in such a position. One day, Jennie Sedlis was talking about how important the upcoming Presidential election would be for charters. I asked what would happen if Barack Obama were nominated. Jennie drew a big smile and said that in the coming week, Eva and a group were going to Chicago to meet with him. I quit soon after, before school started. I monitored the election carefully, and told several people I couldn’t vote for Obama. (I had been a Hillary supporter, and at that point, she said she was going to dismantle NCLB.) With a heavy heart, I finally did the deed, only because of Sarah Palin. This, from a life-long Democrat. I knew that Obama, like Cuomo and others to follow, had been bought, lock, stock and barrel. At this point, I don’t know if Hillary can get out of it, and I don’t believe Bernie is up to speed on the situation. It’s up to this blog and a turn in the tide.
Sadly, I voted for Obama over Hillary and his total lack of understanding/but total support for what Arne and his gang were doing to education makes it a vote I totally regret. Is there anyone, anywhere in politics who is not corrupted by big money and idiots? I will support parent dissent any where until this is over — by then I may not be alive but I can hope.
I know people hate Palin. But you have give her points – her son is a public education student.
I did worse Benten.
I could not abide Hillary and her history from conservative childhood to Yale to Rose Law Firm to the Arkansas State House as Slick Willy’s very slick partner/wife to the WH and her crappy handling of the health care non-initiative, so chose to work for Obama in 2006, before he announced he was a candidate.
Got to meet him (with a mob of others) in LA in Dec. 2006 and Jan. 2007, and I was hooked with his smiling intellectual charisma. I ran multiple Obama meetups in both English and one in Spanish, and kept writing to Axelrod and Plouffe that we needed health care position papers…to no avail.
Skipping on through much angst over their demand that we field workers have Twitter accounts in April, 2007, and also his betrayal vote in favor of renewing and strengthening FISA despite his promise not to do so, foolishly I continued on, now as a member of his ‘Insider Group,’ and assigned to direct conversations in chat rooms and otherwise redirect ‘red neck’ conversations to what we all thought were the facts. I also, as a higher ed prof, worked on many So. Cal. campuses to whip up interest in students…and this 18 – 26 year old group carried the day for his, as new voters. I also was in Latino/Chicano neighborhoods registering voters….I was in a trance…I was one more damn fool who bought into his words rather than paying attention to his deeds. For over two years, Obama took over my life…and I gladly let it happen.
I even sat at my computer with my credit card propped against my monitor…and gave the limit…which NO educator could afford to do. I closed off the nagging voice in my brain when I saw the Goldman Sachs donor amounts, and the Hollywood glitz guys giving, and even Broad donor amounts…but prayed to Oden that this would all work out for the best since I wanted that erudite Patrician black man to be Prez. On election eve, I was on the phone all night with my friends, and all of us sending emails back and forth, and screaming in unison as the results came in.
Then we had our comeuppance on day one when every newspaper in the land showed the new Prez surrounded by the Goldman Sachs and Citicorp guys on either side of him, Summers on his right, Rubin on his left, with Orzag, Furman, etc., and with Paul Volker (the only voice of economic sanity) stuck way in the back….and I realized America had been snookered. I immediately changed the websites and meetups to Progressives Pushing Obama. And we all know how that worked out. The bitterest lesson of my life.
New boss, same as the old boss.
But I hung on until after his second election, thinking he was playing a ‘long game’, as Ali would say, a ‘Rope-a-Dope’. Nope, I was the Dope.
And, yet, what were our options? McCain (a proven), Clinton (also a proven). Hope was the only option, but change never followed.
Is Bernie up to the task? I don’t know, but if not, in my opinion there will be no change without a great deal of disruption.
My story is not nearly as bad as Ellen’s or Benten’s. I was in a quandary back then, wanting so much for an African American President or a woman President. I too was snookered by the speeches of Obama back then. I just wasn’t too sure about Hillary though, although I respected her for continuing with Bill even after his very public affair. But I did vote for Obama, as I judged an African American President to be an even greater step forward for America than a woman President would have been.
When Obama was elected that November, I brought three newspapers I had saved to show my students in our 87% minority middle school. The headline of one newspaper said “MAN ON MOON”. The next one said “KENNEDY IS ASSASSINATED”, and the last one said “OBAMA IS ELECTED”. I told them all three of these events are some of the top historical events in our country.
Living close to DC, I was happy when our school district gave us a day off on Inauguration Day. I woke up around 2 AM or so, hopped on the Metro, and went down to find a place on the National Mall to view our first African American being sworn in as President. I was pretty far from the action, down by the World War II Memorial, but I found a seat on a cold granite statue looking towards the Washington Monument. As I waited in the extreme cold that day, more and more people came, people of all races and ages and genders and cultures. Groups of kids from school huddled together under blankets. Steady streams of people walking down to the Mall to experience this great event. It got very crowded as we all were packed closely in there. Smiles abounded as he took the oath of office, and cheers erupted when he became President.
I skipped his next Inauguration. I will likely attend the one where we have our first female or Hispanic President. But I am a much smarter voter today, thanks to blogs like this one.
Thank you Lucy, Ellen, and Mathcs. It helps to hear other stories. I can’t forget Obama’s non-response to Walker’s anti-union stance, and I will never, ever figure out his first debate versus Romney. Obama has always been too Centrist for my tastes, and as Bill Maher asks, why doesn’t he praise Jimmy Carter instead of Reagan? While I can’t believe I got temporarily duped by a charter school, my inside experiences with Eva and Co. have been invaluable in understanding this abusive charter system.
Yes, Benten, Bill Maher is right! And, don’t forget that Jimmy Carter and his entire family strongly supported Obama in his first campaign! It’s just too bad that most people do not understand that if this country had been strong and followed Carter’s wishes in the 70’s regarding oil consumption, the reduction of our dependence, and the development of alternative energies, we would have never even heard of (and “W” wouldn’t have even had an opportunity to create) the Irag war! Giving credit to Reagan???!!! What a farce!! And, how insulting!!!
If the first female President is Warren, I’m with you on the Mall.
Benten, I think I started giving up on Obama when he refused to stand up to Walker (I got my MS in CS in Madison) and when the firing of the teachers in Rhode Island happened. I felt betrayed by him on both of those.
Not sure if you a looking to take it on, but if your were appointed to serve as the next Sec. Of Ed. how/what would you change? Would common core look the same as it does today? What, if any, mandates would be in place? How would you bring stability to the public school system? Thank you.
Jeff Peters,
If you are asking me, I would do very different things from what Obama and Duncan have done. I would support schools, not close them. I would remove the federal mandate for testing. I would cut all the federal funding for charters. I would spend more on health services for children and early childhood education. Read “Reign of Error.”
And cut funding for private religious schools?
One of the things I pointed out early in Obama’s term was that he was not a teacher and should leave education to the pros. I wrote him a letter about it and it got shuttled to the Dept of Education which assured me that Duncan had advisors who were educators. Unfortunately he got sucked in by Teach for America after some teachers said they knew some teachers who were incompetent. I don’t know why Education is the only field where it is thought that anyone can teach. I mean doctors need to go to medical school and lawyers to law school but teachers don’t need to be educated in their field?? The 2 things I disagree with Obama about are Education and tearing up the car engines. Otherwise I think he is a great President.
Great President? Wow Lord help us! There hasn’t been a great President in over 50 years. The choices you guys believe you have aren’t even choices at all as they all lead to the same place. Just look at the list of donors for each of these candidates and you will easily see that they are all funded by the same special interests which simply means both sides of the aisle are bought and paid for.
Yup. And here in NJ we have Booker and Christie, equally disgusting cowards to the 1% – each of them sharing the same donors. …and there you have it.
I did not like the car engine thing either … it seemed wasteful.
The reason we were ,and still are, “kicking and screaming” is becase millions of educators with advanced degrees are smarter than the president’s idotstick noneducator basketball buddy.
One doesn’t need an advanced degree to be smarter than the Dunkster. I know many who don’t have an undergrad degree who are quite a bit smarter than Blahrney. Most of the rest of us common folk are just not quite as “connected” as the soon to be ex-secretary.
Duncan is a hack … he just says whatever… no great thinking involved…just ed reform bs…
It seemed to be painfully obvious whenever he was called upon to give congressional testimony.
The Green Shadow Cabinet (http://greenshadowcabinet.us/about-green-shadow-cabinet-united-states) is led by Dr. Jill Stein, the Green party candidate for President. Here is their Secretary of Education:
http://greenshadowcabinet.us/member-profile/7551
Thoughts?
Have to see more about her thoughts on what needs to be done with K-12 public education.
Write-in for Diane and Anthony Cody?
The 21st century doesn’t involve kicking and screaming from autocratic, top-down leadership. It’s collaboration, cooperation, buy-in and bottom-up change.
Time will tell.
I hope that there is some way that parents begin to see that their local control will end if this happens.
Back when the news of the Atlanta cheating scandal broke, what was Duncan’s take?
Mehhh, it’s no big deal.
ARNE DUNCAN (blase): “This is an easy one to fix: better test security.”
Watch the August 2011 video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/atlanta-cheating-scandal-_n_892169.html
Oh, I’m so glad Arne got to the bottom of this whole problem, and identified the cure. We can all relax now.
This interview is great. Apparently, this was just some local Atlanta reporter, but she asked some pointed questions.
She asks him if the unrealistic expectations of NCLB are part of the problem, and he’s totally non-responsive… he doesn’t give a yes or no to this. Instead, he just says, “There are great teachers who are amazing… beating the odds… blah blah blah”
Later, she says that “a lot of this is about money”, and asks if punishments and monetary rewards “need to be de-coupled from student learning.” Instead of owning up and admit this obvious reality—painfully obvious, in the light of what just happened in Atlanta– Dun-an says… oh no… not at all. We need to do this MORE.
Check out this word salad (including the usual Duncan smarmy “snow job” of praising teachers and principles… the same folks whose profession Duncan has destroyed):
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DUNCAN: (at 02:30) “Well, I think rewarding teacher excellence is important. I think I would argue the opposite (i.e. don’t “de-couple”), that far too often we haven’t we haven’t celebrated great teachers. We haven’t celebrated great principals who are making a huge difference in students’ lives. You just want to make sure that they’re doing it honestly, and again, the vast majority of teachers are doing an amazing job, often in very difficult circumstances, in helping students beat the odds every single day. I think we need to do a better job of spotlighting that, and incentivizing that, and encouraging that, and learning from that.
“In education, we’ve been far too reluctant to talk about success. We just need to that. We just need to make sure that we’re doing it with integrity.
“Not too hard to do.”
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Really Arne? “Not too hard to do”? “Merit pay” and basing personnell decision on test scores has been tried countless times for over 100 years, and it has always failed.
What you claim is “not hard to do” HAS NEVER WORKED.
IT WILL NEVER WORK.
In fact, when it’s tried, it actually causes severe harm—narrowing of the curriculum, turning schools into test prep factories, etc.
Duncan’s corporate reform masters need testing to drive privatization, corporate profiteering, and union-busting, and so Duncan (and now King) will defend to the death the misuse, the over-emphasis on testing, the massive over-testing in general, etc.
Jack,
Right on.
Reblogged this on World's Greatest Detective of Education and commented:
What a dark vision of the 21st century. Thankfully some of us have a different one.
I often lament that the resegregation of schools is happening at such an alarming rate under the leadership of our first black president. It has been truly heartbreaking to witness.
Agreed–can anyone explain this?
The policies under the Obama administration do not focus on equity. The driving force is profit. Go from there.
Bravo! More needs to be said about the damage that this appointment has caused. Nothing is better in our schools , nor are things even on a positive trajectory. King is a huge supporter of charter schools so: Bush continues through Obama and Obama will continue too as we press to continually test out of poverty, force school districts to compete for scarce funds, and use so-called assessments for accountability not learning.
This is the inevitable result of capitalism run amok. The system is bound to collapse, but will do great damage as that is happening – and it is.
We have health care for profit instead of health; we have a corrections system for profit instead of justice. We are a sick society, getting sicker, and the only possibility, the only hope at all, is that good people will stand up in droves to stop it. And that still might not work, but it is the only hope, and a moral obligation, as far as I’m concerned.