Daniel S. Katz writes in this post that the battlefield of education politics has very little to do with the actual classroom where teachers teach and children learn. Millions are spent instead on public relations and spin.
He writes:
“Education reformers in the 21st Century seem incapable of seeing any problem as something other than a marketing campaign. Faced with growing grassroots opposition to the Common Core State Standards, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, backed with fresh cash from the Gates Foundation, launched a #SupportTheCore event on social media to try to make CCSS support look genuine and natural. As they felt control of the education reform narrative slipping from their grip, major corporate backers of standardized testing and school privatization handed $12 million to former Arne Duncan aide Peter Cunningham to launch The Education Post, a pro-reform blogging outpost, providing content for itself and editorial pages. Needing to dress up her campaign to destroy the collective bargaining and due process rights of our nation’s teachers as something more noble, former news anchor Campbell Brown set up her own web headquarters called The 74, referencing the estimated 74 million children under the age of 18 Brown claims she is defending from greedy unions. It seems that whenever they want to tackle difficult and contentious issues, reform advocates turn immediately to the tools of viral advertising and public relations to create the imagery of genuine, natural support rather than bothering with the hard work of building it.
“Cue #TeachStrong.
“Let’s agree to set aside the choice of a name that inevitably invokes one of the worst doping scandals in the history of sport (although, seriously? millions of dollars in expert branding experience and nobody thought about that??). “Teach Strong” is the name chosen by a new group of stakeholders organized by the Center for American Progress to make teachers and the future of teaching an issue in the upcoming election. The campaign launched this week with a splashy web site and social media campaign, which is is par for the course these days, and a declaration of 9 “principles” that they believe will “modernize and elevate” the teaching profession.”
This new organization consists of teachers’ unions and other members of the education establishment on one side. While on the other are the most persistent critics of those on the first side. Strange bedfellows indeed, as Lyndsey Layton if the Washington Post said.
Katz writes:
“I suppose representatives from the Center for American Progress, an organization that has long been on the reform side of the Common Core and standardized testing debate, would call this a “Team of Rivals” to match the famed Lincoln Cabinet. I guess that’s one way of looking at it. Another way of looking at it would be if the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics partnered with the Hormel corporation to design a school lunch program – you hope the more knowledgeable partner is guiding the work, but you strongly suspect that a lot of snouts and tails are going to get in there too.”
The post includes valuable links to earlier reports about the teaching profession.
When Education Is Commercialized —
Commercials Will Replace Education.
How much money in marketing would it cost to convince the world the sky is green? How much money to buy a lie?
I just Peter Cunningham’s craptastic editorial over at the HuffingtonPost, and I could not post a comment there as I do have a Facebook account, so will post here instead:
Peter Cunningham is NOT “pro-reform” – he is pro-destruction” for public education. This opinion piece above is total drivel, as is most anything that oozed out of the USDOE for the past 7 years of the Duncan Regime.
If one wants to improve the education of kids, systemic issues must be addressed FIRST – poverty, economic insecurity, homelessness, unemployment – these are the issues that are hurting kids every day – it is NOT so-called “bad teachers” – whatever that meaningless term implies.
If Cunningham, Duncan, Gates, and the rest of the so-called “reformers” were REALLY serious about improving education, they would focus on the issues I listed – instead, their goal is simple and callous – turn the public schools into privately owned “charter schools” operated for profit. I will believe their rhetoric when they begin to act on the systemic problems instead of blaming teachers for societal problems which can only be addressed by large-scale public investments – something that will NEVER happen with our current tea-bagger congress.
“The Arneanderthals”
The school “reform” was hatched
In agency of ads
And policy was snatched
From prehistoric fads
SomeDAM Poet: as I see it, there is no contest like that of the ancient Greeks when it comes to blog poet—
You wear the laurel leaves.
But credit where credit is due. I hesitate to remind you of this, but unlike the leading “thought leaders” and shot callers and enforcers of the self-styled “education reform” movement that endlessly recycle proven failures of worst management and pedagogical practices—
Among other notable achievements in long ago and faraway times was fire. And the wheel. And language.
Sliced bread—not so sure about that one.
😏
So in the future, when using your finely honed digital quill, please don’t leave the impression that “Arneanderthals” might have something to do with folks like the Neanderthals.
It leaves a rheeally bad and false impression of the latter. And in the most Johnsonally sort of ways too…
😵
After all, people might start to believe again that rheephormsters can walk their students on the educational waters from the 13th to the 90th percentiles. All by themselves: no help required.
Really!
😎
KrazyTA
Point taken about the Neanderthals — and I will be more careful in the future.
But one can also read “Arneanderethal” as “A meander tal” which means “A meander valley”, which I think pretty well characterizes Rhee-form.
And regarding the wheel:
“Un-inventing the (Square) Wheel”
To un-invent the wheel
This really has appeal
When wheel has been designed
By Gates and Coleman kind
Re #TeachStrong…
I’m inclined to just take that hashtag and use it in other ways. I don’t mean to use it in negative ways, but in positive ways that match my own opinions about strong teaching.
So now, when I tweet or retweet messages about the teaching life, messages critical of Gates et al, messages supportive of unions, messages against charters, etc…to all those I will attach the #TeachStrong hashtag, in an attempt to subvert and claim it for our own.
Who’s with me!?
In a billionaire’s blindfolded world, money, power, and spin doctoring replace research, reason and evidence.
On the 2013 tax forms posted at Fordham’s website, the Center for American Progress, was listed as a recipient of a sizeable amount from Fordham. Awhile ago, when CAP was pressured into releasing their list of donors, Fordham was an obvious omission about which, their reply was unsatisfactory.
Daniel, you are so right. And let’s mention, as well, the ridiculous amount of advertising ($$$$) that is spent on obtaining Pear$on $corer$, charter schools (esp. K-12 Virtual Charters: when they tried to snake their way into 18 Chicago suburban school districts, the B.o.E.s asked the K-12 presenters where all the money they’d drained from the public schools (BTW–some of these districts had, ironically, been named “Schools of Excellence” by the D.o.Ed.0 went, as it was noted that these schools did not have expenses of the brick-&-mortar schools, such as building maintenance, cafeterias (food, lunch servers, custodial help), gymnasiums, transportation, etc. Board members, administrators, teachers, parents & community groups had done their due diligence, & more than once pointed out that K-12 had spent $8 million on advertising alone.
Quite certain a great deal of money–that could be otherwise used directly at schools–is being used for #teach strong (or teach wrong, as I prefer to call it) advertising & spreading their “good news,” as well as on those individuals who have developed the reinvention of the wheel–but a worse wheel. In fact, the staff of the Dept. of Redumbdancy Dept.” Ka-ching!