This is an essay that was written by a South Carolina school superintendent named John Taylor in 2002. It was originally called “Absolutely the Best Dentists.” It was supposed to be a satire, but reality overtook the jokes, and it was retitled “No Dentist Left Behind.” It was reprinted again and again. It was supposed to be funny.
Imagine a government system to rate dentists by the number of cavities their patients have. When the dentist in the story says that he chooses to serve patients in a poor neighborhood, and he can’t control how often they brush their teeth or what they eat, he is too to stop making excuses.
A dozen years ago this story was a satire. It was laughable and absurd on its face. Now it is federal policy, an integral part of Race to the Top. No one is laughing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We need to be careful…there are some Presidential candidates who may think this is the real deal and make it a platform issue. And, don’t forget…there are some individuals at the USDOE who might jump on board, too.
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Reblogged this on Politicians Are Poody Heads and commented:
It’s funny, but at the same time, it’s not funny, because it hits so closely to what is now happening with teachers and the public schools.
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As a complement to this posting, I suggest viewers of this blog click on—
Link: http://www.jamievollmer.com/blueberries.html
It is entitled “The Blueberry Story: The teacher gives the businessman a lesson.”
Interestingly, it first appeared in the same year: EDUCATION WEEK (Volume XXI, Number 25, March 6, 2002).
Moral of the story: never send a fruit to do an animal’s job [google “pineapple” and “hare” and “Daniel Pinkwater”].
😎
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The Department of Education Website states “It is important to note that all Race to the Top funds not obligated and liquidated by September 30, 2015 will revert to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.”
All funds were expended a year ago. Race to the top is now history. Therefore the statement “Now it is federal policy, an integral part of Race to the Top. No one is laughing.” is no longer valid.
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Raj,
Race to the Top spent billions encouraging districts to close schools. We are not talking about the future. We are talking about now. We are also talking about the propagation of a failed idea. Red states with Tea Party governors and legislatures will continue to close public schools so they can be turned into private charters. Bad ideas die slowly. Sometimes they serve a purpose: greed.
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Diane you said
“Imagine you have no say in picking which police will protect your neighborhood.
Imagine you have to take the firefighters assigned to your neighborhood.
Imagine you have no say in which public park is closest to your home.
Imagine you have no say in where public highways are located when you have better ideas where to put them.
Imagine you have no say in monitoring the air or water in your city.
I can think of many things I can imagine where I count on public services.
I am sure I could do a better job running the subways, but no one asks my opinion. Nor do I have a choice.”
Please add the following to your imaginations.
They are more appropriate than your imaginations and because they happened to my family.
Imagine you have no say in the school where your children have to go except it is based on your housing.
Imagine you have no say in what teacher is assigned to your child’s class.
Imagine a scenario where you find the teacher letting all children play board game (monopoly) all day instead of teaching.
Imagine that you go to the principal and she says, the teacher has tenure, his union dues are paid up and she cannot do anything about it.
Imagine the principal says that she cannot and will not transfer your child to another class.
Imagine principal says if you do not like it here take your child to a private school.
Then imagine that one parent spends all day in class helping her child learn reading and math.
Now stop imagining and get real.
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Raj’s perhaps unintended evisceration of a great many charter schools is pretty brutal. With only slight rewording, these could be applied to a great many charter schools—except the excuse for “no-excuses” schools is that they can be be excused for anything because they don’t play by the same rules as public schools. Of course, at the same time, charter schools ARE public schools. Just the same, but better.
Rheeally!
😏
For example, “Imagine school staff constantly saying/counseling [backed up by suspensions/fines, shaming of child in school, constant calls home, etc.] that if you do not like it here your child would be a better fit at a public school.” *Caveat: only after the year’s money for the child is already deposited in the bank aka midyear dump.*
The difference only a few words make…
😎
P.S. It would seem to be obvious, but let me state the obvious: schools staffs, students and parents should be treated respectfully and well in all schools. Period. No excuses. And I do mean ALL schools.
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KrazyTA,
I meant public schools not charters. This was a long time ago during the late 70s. There were no charters during those days of absolutely no choice dogma. There was another public school of the same school district, a mile away from my house, but I was not allowed a transfer my child. Do you see my point now?
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Taylor didn’t extend the analogy far enough.
Imagine having no say in choosing a dentist. You are assigned one and that’s that.
Imagine not being able to sue a dentist for negligence or malpractice.
Imagine there was a much lower barrier to becoming a dentist, with noncompetitive entry to dental school, no board exams (or laughably easy ones), and hardly any requirements for recertification and continuing education.
Imagine that all dentists were paid the same, regardless of how many hours they work and how well they perform.
The other big problem with this argument is that dentists and doctors actually are frequently judged by and have compensation tied to things like whether their patients show up for appointments, whether they take their medications, whether their blood pressure and weight are under control, and so forth. The idea is that you treat the patients you have, not the ones you wish you have. The benefits to the patient are clear, even if the arrangement isn’t “fair” to the provider.
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“Imagine having no say in choosing a dentist. You are assigned one and that’s that.”
Ler me extend that a little bit more.
“Imagine having no say in choosing a dentist. You are assigned a dentist depending on where you live and he/she is available only part of the year and that is that.”
Overall a fair assessment Tim. Thank you.
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Raj,
Imagine you have no say in picking which police will protect your neighborhood.
Imagine you have to take the firefighters assigned to your neighborhood.
Imagine you have no say in which public park is closest to your home.
Imagine you have no say in where public highways are located when you have better ideas where to put them.
Imagine you have no say in monitoring the air or water in your city.
I can think of many things I can imagine where I count on public services.
I am sure I could do a better job running the subways, but no one asks my opinion. Nor do I have a choice.
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Tim,
Imagine if the only school in your neighborhood was a “no excuses” charter school. That would be frightening.
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This proves why we must improve STEM education in this country. None of the anti-VAM researchers would consider this argument even credible. The superintendent cannot even fathom what his calculus teachers are teaching: the derivative of a function. The number of cavities in the function. The formation of cavities among those of similar conditions in a given period of time is the slope. That is the equivalent to NCLB. The fact that a superintendent cannot even make an analogous argument to contradict VAMs is what is truly scary.
And herein lies the problem. Our “educators” are completely ignorant of math and science. We cannot have informed conversations when the very folks who are supposed to be “using data” and instructing our students cannot understand the very arguments that being proposed. It is truly depressing. And what’s worse? Taylor probably has no clue how ignorant he is or how foolish he looks in educated circles. Alas, I am also from South Carolina but I can guarantee that my calculus teachers would have shot down this foolish argument.
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Virginia,
VAM is junk science. Get over it. Virginia doesn’t VAM its teachers. No other nation VAMs its teachers.
You are a man obsessed. Find another hobby. It is over.
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Virginiasgp
I applaud your reasoning and intellect in spite of what Diane says. True scientists do not keep saying junk science at every opportunity. Instead they come up with coherent arguments against the thesis and let their peers agree or refute the thesis.
Whenever someone say something fact based he/she is putdown with extraneous info, opinion and speculation. This is very typical of this blog space.
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I am not seeing the proof. I taught Calculus, but would not attempt an ELA course. What is your conjecture, reasoning, and conclusion? Calculus, if you remember, is conceptually simple and elegant. Most students stumble on the intricate and complex algebra to solve the problems. Engineers, by and large, do not focus on analysis in the mathematical sense, but rather follow a very computational path. It tends to be a narrow, focused curriculum. Math majors, in contrast, study the beauty and foundations of math. Calculus and other areas are then approached from a very axiomatic, proof and reasoning focus. In our universities, education colleges prefer the math degree for all 7-12 teachers.
I’ve gone through both engineering and math. My enlightenment occurred when an experienced mentor-teacher demonstrated regardless of my honed engineering, math, and tech skills, teaching required a flexible, adaptive, and introspective approach – the antithesis of the rigid, test and punish, VAM based nonsense. Put aside the hubris and talk to real teachers.
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Deflection, avoidance and putdowns do not a pro-VAM argument make.
In fact, they simply reinforce a simple fact: VAM and its kin not only don’t work as advertised to make things better, they demonstrably work to make things worse.
For those all in for clumsy mathematical intimidation and torturing numbers & stats in the interests of corporate education reform and $tudent $ucce$$, rheeality Trumps reality no matter the facts, logic, consistency and intellectual honesty.
For the rest of us, reality trumps rheeality.
The numbers bear me out: walk on the waters of VAM and turn it into wine by skyrocketing from a 13th percentile to a 90th and rheephormsters can produce a hero greater than even the legendary Arne Duncan.
Although at the same time, that feat of mathematical legerdemain is proof of fraud and utter incomprehension of math.
George Orwell anticipated rheephorm math long long ago: “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
Go figure.
😎
P.S. MathVale: thanks for the missive from Planet Reality.
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Virginia,
Once again I find your comments to be inappropriate.
As a professional educator, a high majority of my fellow associates are highly qualified to teach in the profession they are hired for.
As for your love affair with VAM, this methodology is deeply flawed in evaluating educators.
Perhaps you would serve our country better through your service in the navy aboard the vessel(s) you have been stationed on.
It is wonderful that you have the free time to fasten yourself to arguments that come from “over the bow”, but quite often a “highly effective, or even effective” communicator accomplishes this through listening to professionals rather than spewing nonsense.
I posed the question to you some time ago, asking how the navy would be affected if it’s personnel were to be judged by VAM, and the lights aboard your ship suddenly went dark.
Once again, thank you for your service to our nation…but it would be most beneficial if we left matters to those best suited to deal with them.
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Raj,
Imagine if you have no say in which billionaire ( none of whom have been educators) wants to close your workplace, plan your curriculum, and privatize your pension. Imagine you work 55 – 60 hours a week trying to make a difference for poor families only to be told that your 50k a year is overpayment ( and funny, your student loans for your two degrees equal your salary) by someone who makes that per speech for vilifying you. Imagine if you have to listen to the bad faith rants of those who profit off the poverty of families, acting as high paid consultants, who do nothing that those “on the ground” do. Imagine the disdain you would feel for those carpet baggers.
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Theartistformerlyknownastitileonetexasteacher
I feel sorry for you, you are angry and it is not good for your health.
Have a merry christmas and wish you happy holidays.
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Dear Raj,
You are indeed such a gentle soul.
You remind me of the difference between Trump and the rest of the GOP contenders, all of whom are monsters. Trump is loud, vulgar, disgusting, and destructive. The rest are softspoken, polite, disgusting, and destructive.
So polite are you, Raj . . . .
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Virginiasgp,
“And herein lies the problem. Our ‘educators’ are completely ignorant of math and science.
Please tell that to the STEM teachers in my PUBLIC school district, which has a huge percentage of low income children. Tell that to the teachers and families whose children/students have accomplished the nationally acclaimed and prestigious Intel prize both in winning it and in becoming finalists.
Virginiasgp, let me tell you something:
You FAILED in the armed services (you don’t even have a pension from it after all your 6 years of hard work), you FAILED at being able to even occupy the premises of your children’s school to talk to personnel because they hate you there as well, and you FAIL here in the field of education.
Gather your failures – all three of them – and take them to the land of self aggrandizement where for the rest of your stagnant life, you can reside and occupy Loser-ville all you want. In fact, you can be its mayor, although, I don’t know who will listen to you without being bored to tears or laughing or puking their guts.
VAM is dreck, and you of all people should know what dreck looks like.
You have no real knowledge of what it means to teach and learn, and if you had any substance, which so much of your upbringing clearly did not provide, you would go back to school and become a teacher, and you would take on the most challenged populations.
Having taught for about 23 years, being an NBCT, and having completed a second masters degree – this time in educational leadership – I can teach you a thing or two.
Or maybe I can’t because no one can.
Either way, crawl back into the lower intesntines you came from before someone wipes you and flushes you down the American Standard . . .
Merry Christmas, Virginia. Yes, there is a Santa Clause. Just not for you.
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Robert
It is time you stop this diatribe. Attacking a person for his views shows that you do not have a good argument and fall behind the old diatribe methodology. Virginiasp has his right to express his opinion and please respect that and I do.
Stop saying that only educators have the right to every thing in education and all others because they have different professions are not allowed to have any opinion whatsoever.
To teach some one a thing or two you must first be humble and you are not.
We have a great society in USA because generally we respect each others right to express themselves.
Wish you happy holidays.
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