Paul Thomas has written a series of posts about how poorly the media covers education. In this post, he lacerates the New York Times for its interview with Ed Boland, who wrote a book after teaching one year, and leaving.
He writes:
“Ed Boland wrote a really bad edu-book that all the mainstream media adores because, well, you know, nobody gives a crap what a teacher thinks, but let ANYbody dip a toe in education who isn’t an educator and then everyone is all gaga….
This will be a short post, one that simply notes that I have told you so, again and again—mainstream journalism about education is godawful.
I also want to turn your eyes to the promise of the New Media, where two posts have addressed the bad journalism and bad edu-book very well, I think.
Thomas then quotes from two devastating reviews on blogs.
“Nobody Told Him How to Take a Cellphone Away from a Kid, Alan Singer
“My fear is that this will book will be used as another weapon in assaults on public schools and teacher certification programs. I have no question there are public schools that are not functioning and should be closed, although it would not be fair to make a judgment based on Boland’s report. Boland says he is in no way blaming the students, they are the victims of poverty….But that is not how it comes across in interviews or what sells books. The focus in “The Battle for Room 314” is on the horrors Boland feels he experienced because of the students and he offers a detailed description of their behavior, at least as he understood it.”
Education Tourists Can’t Save Anything or Anyone, John Warner:
“The desire for “control” runs through all of our education saviors. Mark Zuckerberg’s well-meaning $100 million gift to the Newark public schools assumed that they could move teachers and families out of the way to make room for his version of “reform.”…
“People like Ed Boland and these other reformers are not saviors. They are education tourists. Boland has used his year as an education tourist to launch a book that’s been reviewed everywhere, and is now a sought after public speaker, a supposed expert on education and our educational system.
“This is like a student pilot who crashes on his inaugural flight being asked by the FAA about aeronautical safety.
“More and more I’m starting to think we need someone who can save us from the saviors.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Loved the analogy of the student pilot crashing and then testifying about aircraft safety. As a former pilot, this head the nail on the head. I’ve always asked people how they would like to fly a commercial airliner piloted by a TFA pilot with five weeks of pilot training.
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… and TFA pilots never learn to land the plane.
Don’t need to, because they parachute out while the plane is still up in the air.
Lends new meaning to the classic career book “What color is your parachute?”
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The “reform” crowd and the media are looking for any sign of weakness to pounce on public schools so I am not surprised by the response. . My NYC suburban district hired several former NYC teachers. These were veteran teachers that had survived working in the south Bronx. They all recounted their frustration with how overwhelming the students’ problems were. They all complained about the class size and lack of books and materials. We cannot blame teachers for all of society’s problems, or for society’s failure to try to remedy the problems.
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The journalists follow Hollywood’s lead. “Let’s make a picture about a white woman who led bad students to salvation through writing and then left the profession.Make it sound like the kids are from a bad neighborhood (even though it isn’t).
Let’s ignore a real teacher who does this for her entire career in perhaps the toughest neighborhood in L. A. After all she’s African-American so it won’t appeal to white people and so where would be the drama?
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I am grateful for this particular discourse; these “hero teacher” stories, I have always thought, trivialize the work teachers do every day. Most of us aren’t looking to be apotheosized, just supported with the materials and facilities to do our jobs. In New York City, even that has become difficult to attain.
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I really wish people would stop calling Zuckerberg “well-meaning”.
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I have just posted a reaction similar to these on Ed Boland.. “in all fairness Dr. Ravitch” I really tried post.
Ed Boland has a PR machine and not much else to warrant all of the press attention.
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What is wqrong with this picture?
Boland failed/bailed after just one year, but is nonetheless now being sought out for interviews and the like (as some sort of expert?) and is even cashing in on book sales while the teachers who have stuck it out year after year (those who are real heroes) are basically ignored.
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Save Us From The Saviors would be a great title for a book…
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INDEED. ALL of the above
plus
the corporate media pushes their, corporate agenda, in so VERY MANY things, not just in education. It is appalling what is happening when a man like Trump gets so much backing by the American public. The media gave Trump exponentially more coverage than Bernie Sanders and now Trump’s own party is scared to death.
I have screamed about this for decades. [It sure has made a lot of difference.]
The media on TV gives 10 – 12 second sound bites, things taken out of context which promotes their wishes and then to top it all off, they talk not about issues but about the “horse race”, who is ahead in the polls, the polls which they have created by the kinds of “news” they promote.
Our recent history shows the tragedy of the ineptness of the corporate media – yet – they have claimed that the public schools are inept.
What hypocrisy!!!
The Iraq debacle we will never get over, the Wall Street fiasco in which we were mere hours away from a complete meltdown, world wide, that the media looked the other way. It goes on and on and on.
Indeed public education has taken a profound hit but it is not the only item we have to worry about.
NEXT: climate change which if not addressed NOW makes even the future of homo sapiens problematic. NOT my words but the words of our best climatologists.
AND
name one Republican who has made this issue a priority.
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“Save us from the saviors”
Save us from the saviors
All the superheroes
Duncan with his waivers
Chetty with his zeros
Save us from the Evas
Billionaires and pols
Save us from the divas
Save us from the trolls
Save us from the testing
Save us from the VAMs
Save us from molesting
Save us from the scams
Save us from the charters
Save our public schools
Save us from the martyrs
Save us from the fools
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Excellent post.
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Did someone say there was 100% turnover in seasoned staff at this school? If so, doesn’t this point to problems bigger than a newby teacher with no obvious street creds could even hope to solve? They must have been desperate to hire him. (My school was desperate when they hired me the Friday before classes started.) To be honest, I have not been following all of the hoopla nor have I read the book, but the gist of it seems to be that people are angry that he is making money off his failure. Yes? No? It would be nice if he donated the proceeds to a worthy educational cause, but he probably wouldn’t want to publicize it since he likely would be criticized for his choice. Yes, I am naive, but does he really deserve the same level of vitriol that usually gets reserved for major players in the reform movement?
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