I am reposting this exchange because one of Whitney Tilson’s readers found it annoying to read ALL CAPS and said it reads like shouting. So he changed the typeface and put my answers in blue, which made sense. So here it is again, in a more readable format. And I just learned how to change colors on the print.
Whitney Tilson is one of the founders of Democrats for Education Reform. He is a hedge fund manager. He is on the board of KIPP in the Bronx. He helped to launch Teach for America. He is not a likely ally for me. But he is a very intelligent and forthright person. When he lambasted the for-profit virtual charter chain for the inferior education it provides, he sent me his comments, and I applauded him. More recently, we have exchanged emails about the abominable bathroom bill in North Carolina, which he opposes as I do. I have never met Whitney, but our emails have been very cordial, so I consider him a gentleman (no matter what he has written about me on his blog). He was gentleman enough to suggest that we exchange views, and he initiated the dialogue by sending me a list of statements that represent what he believes. I responded, closing out the conversation after midnight last night. It seems that Whitney never sleeps, as he posted the exchange immediately this morning. He has promised to write a response to my comments. When he does, I will post them too. I must say that I was very impressed by his willingness to state that charter schools should be expected to accept the full range of children, not just those who are likely to get high scores. That is a big step forward, and I hope that his views resonate. I also hope that this exchange is widely read. My only regret is that I neglected to thank him for initiating it. It was a bold step and I welcome the opportunity to identify the areas where are in agreement and the areas where we disagree.
STOP THE PRESSES!!!
I’ve had a lot of interesting conversations in my life – and this ongoing one with Diane Ravitch certainly ranks up there.
If I recall correctly, we first exchanged emails a few years ago when I sent her my presentation about K12, the awful for-profit online charter school operator. I knew we’d have common ground there, as she’d also exposed K12’s misdeeds in her book, Reign of Error.
I reached out to her again recently because I knew we’d have common views on North Carolina’s hateful HB2 law (in fact, we’ve both now published articles in the Huffington Post on this; here’s mine: An Open Letter to a North Carolina State Legislator; and here’s hers: That Dumb Bathroom Bill in North Carolina).
Our common views got me thinking: how is it that two well-informed people can agree on so much in almost all areas, yet apparently disagree on so much in one area (ed reform)? Is it possible that we agree on more than we think?
So I sent her the email below, in which I wrote 24 statements about which I thought we might agree, and asked if she’d reply, in the hopes that we might both learn something, find more areas of agreement where we could work together, and, in general, try to tone things down.
She was kind enough to reply, so I have included her comments (in blue), interspersed and at the end of my original email (shared with her permission of course).
Overall, I was heartened to see how many things we agree on.
That said, we still disagree on many things, about which I will respond in due time. But in the interests of keeping this email to a manageable length, I’ll let her have the last word here – but not the final word, as we’ve both committed to continuing (and sharing) our ongoing discussion.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll find our initial exchange as interesting and illuminating as I did.
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Hi Diane,
You know, despite our disagreements on ed reform, I’d bet we agree on 95% of everything else. I’m certain that we agree that the Republican party has been hijacked by extremists, Trump is a madman, Cruz is terrifying, and there’s nothing more important than getting a Democrat elected president in November (and, ideally, retaking the Senate and maybe even the House as well).
We agree.
I’ll admit that this creates quite a dilemma for me: I want the teachers unions, which remain the single most powerful interest group supporting the Democratic party, to be strong to help as many Democratic candidates as possible win. But when it comes to my desire to implement the reforms I think our educational system needs, I usually want them to be weak.
I disagree.
I want the teachers’ unions to be strong so they can defend their members against unfair practices and protect their academic freedom. Teachers have been blamed for the ills of society, most especially, poverty. Today’s reformers have created the myth that great teachers–as defined by their students’ test scores– can overcome poverty and close the achievement gaps among different groups of students. I wish it were true, but it is not. The myth encourages lawmakers to believe that wherever poverty persists or test scores are low or achievement gaps remain, it must be the teachers’ fault.
Race to the top required states to evaluate teachers to a significant degree by their students’ test scores, which was a huge mistake that has cost states and districts hundreds of millions of dollars but hasn’t worked anywhere. This method has proved unstable and inaccurate; it reflects who is in the class, not teacher quality.
Scores on standardized tests are highly correlated with family income, over which teachers have no control. In the past few years, some states have eliminated collective bargaining, and there is no correlation between the existence of a union and students’ academic success. In fact, the highest-performing states on the national assessment of education progress–Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey–are more likely to have unions than the lowest performing states, where unions are weak or banned.
Some states have enacted merit pay programs, which have never improved education or even test scores despite numerous experiments. There have been numerous assaults in legislatures and in the courts on due process (called “Tenure”) and on pay increases for additional education and experience. I have often heard teachers say that they became teachers knowing they would never become rich, but at least they would have a secure job. Take that away and teachers serve at the whim of administrators who may or may not be skilled educators. How will it improve education if teachers have no job security, less education and less experience?
Sometimes it seems like the boys in the backroom are spending their time trying to figure out how to crush teachers’ morale and freeze their pay. The consequences of these anti-teacher public policies have been ugly. Teachers across the nation feel themselves to be the targets of a witch-hunt. Many teachers have taken early retirement, and the numbers of people entering teaching has plummeted. Even Teach for America has seen a 35% decline in the number of applicants in just the past three years. The attacks on teachers have taken their toll, and there are now shortages across the nation.
I believe unions are necessary, not only in teaching, but in other lines of work as well, to protect the rights of working people, to make sure they are not exploited and to assure they are treated fairly. Unions are by no means perfect as they are; some are too bureaucratic and self-satisfied, some are too complacent to fight for their members, some stifle any changes. But, in my view, unions built the middle class in this country. We are losing our strong, stable middle class as the private and public sectors eliminate unions. Income inequality is widening as unions shrivel. In education, unions are especially important to make sure that teachers are free to teach controversial subjects, like evolution, global warming, and contested books (you would be surprised how many classic books, like “Huckleberry Finn,” “Invisible Man,” and “Of Mice and Men” are on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most frequently banned books).
Do unions protect “bad” teachers? Yes, they do. One can’t know who is “bad” in the absence of due process. A teacher may be falsely accused or the administrator may harbor a dislike for her race, her religion, her sexual orientation, or her pedagogical beliefs. Those who wish to fire them after their probationary period (which may be as little as two years or as many as five years–and in many states, teachers do not have due process or tenure) must present evidence that they are bad teachers or that they did something that merits their removal. Probationary teachers have no right to due process. Teachers have sometimes been falsely accused. Teachers should be able to confront their accusers, to see the evidence, and to be judged by an independent arbitrator. If bad teachers get tenure, then blame bad or lazy administrators. The right to due process must be earned by performance in the classroom and should not be awarded without careful deliberation by the administrator.
Given the fact that a large percentage–as much as 40%, even more in urban districts–leave teaching within their first five years, our biggest problem is retaining good teachers, not getting rid of bad ones. Bad ones should be promptly removed in their first or second year of teaching. W. Edwards Deming, writing about the modern corporation, said that a good company hires carefully and then helps its employees succeed on the job. It invests in support and training. It makes a conscientious effort to retain the people it hired. Why don’t we do the same with teachers and stop blaming them for conditions beyond their control?
This dilemma isn’t new – in fact, it’s one of the reasons I helped start Democrats for Education Reform: because I wasn’t comfortable joining forces with other reform-oriented organizations that existed at the time (roughly a decade ago), which were mostly funded, supported and run by Republicans with whom I shared almost no views in common other than in the area of ed reform (and even in that area, I disagreed with their union busting and overemphasis on vouchers).
I served as Assistant Secretary of Education for Research in the administration of George H.W. Bush, but realized over time that I did not agree with the Republican approach to education, namely, competition, school choice, testing, and accountability. It is ironic that the Obama administration adopted the same policies as the Republicans, with the sole exception of vouchers. The Democratic party used to have a core set of educational principles at the federal and state levels: equity of resources, extra support for the neediest students, low college tuition to increase access, vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws, and support for teacher preparation. That approach comes closest to providing equality of educational opportunity.
I oppose the Republican approach to education policy for the following reasons:
A) They don’t support public education at all; every one of their presidential candidates has endorsed some form of privatization and said nothing at all about the public schools that enroll 90% of our students.
B) They would be thrilled to eliminate all unions; they don’t care about people who are poor or struggling to get into the middle class or to stay in the middle class.
C) The Republicans have swallowed the free market approach to schooling hook, line, and sinker, as a matter of ideology, not evidence. I don’t believe in vouchers, because I know that vouchers have not worked in Chile and Sweden, and they have not worked in this country either. Many states have adopted vouchers, though usually calling them something else (education savings account, education tax credits, opportunity scholarships, etc.). Most are used to send children to religious schools, many of which have uncertified teachers, inadequate curricula, and no accountability at all. Furthermore, the religious schools receiving vouchers usually teach creationism and other religious beliefs. I don’t think public money should subsidize religious schools. Vouchers have never won a public referendum, but Republican legislatures keep devising ways to get around their own state constitutions.
The creation of DFER helped resolve this dilemma because I could fight against union policies when I felt they weren’t in the best interests of kids, without fighting against the principle of collective bargaining, which I believe in. And I could happily limit my political donations to supporting only Democrats (reform-oriented ones, of course, like Obama, Cory Booker and Michael Bennet).
What Obama, Cory Booker, Michael Bennett and other corporate-style reformers have in common is that they believe in breaking up public education and replacing it with private management. They believe in closing schools where tests scores are low. I don’t. The highest performing nations in the world have strong, equitable public school systems with respected, well prepared, and experienced teachers. They have wrap-around services to make sure that all children come to school healthy and ready to learn. They don’t test every child every year from grades 3-8 as we do. They don’t have vouchers or privately managed charters.
So why am I feeling this dilemma again right now? Because the stakes are so high: our country is politically polarized, the Republican party is spiraling out of control, mostly likely nominating either a madman or extremist, and there’s an opportunity for we Democrats to not only win the presidency, but also take back Congress. The election in November will have an enormous impact on so many critical issues that hang in the balance: a majority in the Supreme Court, income inequality, healthcare, immigration, foreign policy/our relationships with the rest of the world, environmental issues/global warming, LGBT and women’s rights…the list goes on and on.
I certainly agree. The Republican party has lost its bearings, and its candidate is likely to be someone abhorred by its leadership.
As such, I’m going to be extra careful in my writings, when I’m critical of the unions, to make clear that these are policy differences and that I don’t support attempts to demolish unions altogether, whether in the education sector or elsewhere.
Writing about things I think we agree on outside of ed reform has gotten me thinking: what might we agree on within the area of ed reform?
As one of my mentors, Charlie Munger, always says: “Invert, always invert.”
So I have tried to compile a list of statements that I believe that I think you might agree with as well. I’m not trying to change your mind about anything or put words in your mouth – I’m genuinely trying to find areas of agreement, at least on general principles (the devil’s usually in the details of course, but a good starting point is agreeing at a high level):
• Every child in this country has the right to attend a safe school that provides a quality education.
We agree.
• The color of a child’s skin and his/her zip code shouldn’t determine the quality of school he/she attends.
We agree.
• Poor parents care deeply about ensuring that their children get a good education.
We agree.
• Sometimes the closest neighborhood school isn’t right for a child, so parents should have at least some options in choosing what public school is best for their children.
I pause here, because this is moving into school choice territory, where Republicans have sold the idea that parents should choose the school as a matter of consumer choice (Jeb Bush compared choosing a school to choosing what kind of milk you want to drink–fat-free, 1%, 2%, whole milk, chocolate milk, or buttermilk). Unfortunately, many choice ideologues take this argument to its logical conclusion and pursue an all-choice policy, in which the one choice that is no longer available is the neighborhood school. That is the case in New Orleans. It often seems that reformers–like Republicans–consider public schools to be obsolete and want to replace them with an all-privatized district.
• It is not the case that too many children are failing too many of our schools; rather, the reverse is true.
I don’t agree. I would say our society is failing our children and their families by allowing so many of them to live in poverty. We have the highest proportion of children living in poverty of the world’s advanced nations–about 22%. That is shameful, the schools didn’t cause it. As I said before, family income is the best predictor of standardized test scores; that is true of every standardized test, whether it is the SAT, the ACT, the state tests, national tests or international tests. If poverty is directly related to low academic performance, then target poverty and pursue public policies that will improve the lives of children, families and communities. At the same time, work to improve schools, not to close them. There is now a considerable amount of research showing that state takeovers seldom improve schools; that charters perform on average about the same as public schools; that voucher schools on average perform worse than public schools; that the charters that get the highest test scores exclude or remove students with disabilities, students who don’t read English, and students who get low test scores.
• Poverty and its effects have an enormous impact, in countless ways, on a child’s ability to learn.
We agree. The child who is homeless, who lacks medical care, who is hungry is likely not to focus on his or her studies and is likely to be frequently absent because of illness or caring for a sibling. It really hurts children when the basic necessities of life are missing.
• If one had to choose between fixing all schools or fixing everything else outside of schools that affects the ability of children to learn (poverty, homelessness, violence, broken families, lack of healthcare, whether parents regularly speak and read to children, etc.), one would choose the latter in a heartbeat.
I certainly agree because reducing poverty and its ill effects would improve schools at the same time.
• Schools should be rigorous, with high expectations, but also filled with joy and educators who instill a love of learning.
I might have agreed with you in years gone past, but I have come to see “rigor” as a loaded word. It reminds me of “rigor mortis.” I prefer to say that teachers should teach academic studies with joy and enthusiasm, awakening students to the love of learning and inspiring intrinsic motivation.
• Some testing is necessary but too much testing is harmful.
I agree that some testing is necessary. I believe based on many years of study of standardized testing that most testing should be designed by the classroom teachers, not by outside testing corporations. I would prefer to see more time devoted to essays, projects, and any other kind of demonstration of what children have learned or what they dream and imagine and create. Standardized testing should be used only diagnostically, not more than once a year, and it should not figure into the students’ grade or the teachers’ evaluation. I say this because standardized tests are normed on a bell curve; the affluent students cluster at the top, and the low-income students cluster at the bottom. In short, the deck is stacked against the kids in the bottom half, because the tests by their nature will always have a bottom half. Why not have tasks that almost everyone can do well if they try? Give children a chance to show what they can do and let their imaginations soar, rather than relying on their choice of one of four pre-determined answers.
I agree that too much testing is harmful, and it is also harmful to attach high stakes (like promotion, graduation, or teacher evaluation) to a standardized test because it makes the test too important. Standardized tests are not scientific instruments; they are social constructions. They favor those who come to school with advantages (educated parents, secure homes, books in the home, etc.) when the tests are high stakes, the results are predictable: teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum, cheating. When schools and teachers will be punished or rewarded for test scores, the measure itself is corrupted (Campbell’s Law). It no longer measures what students know and can do, but how much effort was spent preparing for the test. Teachers engage for weeks or months in test preparation, schools cut back or eliminate the arts, physical education, history, science, and whatever is not tested. Teachers, administrators, schools, even districts will cheat to assure that their scores go up, not down, to avoid firings and closures and instead to win bonuses.
All of this corrupts education, and in the end, the scores still are a reflection of family income and opportunity to learn. And children have a worse education even if their scores rise because of the absence of the arts and other important parts of a sound education.
• Tests should be thoughtful and cover genuine knowledge, not easily game-able, which too often leads to excessing teaching-to-the-test.
We agree.
• Expanding high-quality pre-K, especially for poor kids, is important.
We agree.
• Teachers should be celebrated, not demonized.
Yes, absolutely. Teachers have one of the hardest, most challenging jobs in our society and they are underpaid and under-respected. When I was in North Carolina last week, I was told by an editorial writer that the entry pay is “good,” at $35,000, but the top salary is only $50,000. Teachers should be treated as professionals and earn a professional salary that enables them to live well and send their children to college.
• They should be paid more, both on a relative and absolute basis.
We agree.
• Some teachers are phenomenal, most are good, some are mediocre, and some are truly terrible.
This spread is probably the same in every other profession. Those who are “truly terrible” should be removed before they achieve tenure; most, I suspect, leave early in their career because they can’t control their classes. We actually have many more successful teachers than most people believe; as states have reported on their new evaluation systems, more than 95% of teachers have been rated either “Highly effective” or “Effective.” Very few fell below those markers. Frankly, teaching these days is so difficult that it takes a very strong person to handle the responsibilities of the classroom.
• All teachers should be evaluated regularly, comprehensively and fairly, with the primary goal of helping them improve their craft.
I agree, although I think that teachers who receive high ratings from their administrators and peers should not be regularly evaluated. That is a waste of time that should be devoted to those who need help in improving. The top teachers should be offered extra pay to mentor new teachers.
• The best teachers should be rewarded while struggling ones should be given help so they can improve.
I don’t believe in performance bonuses. The research shows them to be ineffective. I agree that those who struggle should receive help so they can improve.
• If a teacher doesn’t improve, there needs to be a timely and fair system to get them out of the profession.
We agree.
• There should be a timely process to handle disciplinary charges against teachers so that there is no need for things like rubber rooms, which are a costly and dehumanizing embarrassment.
We agree.
• In fighting for the interests of teachers, unions are doing exactly what they’re supposed to – and have done it well.
We agree.
• The decline of unionization (which has occurred mostly in the private sector), has been a calamity for this country and is a major contributor to soaring income inequality, which is also a grave concern.
We agree.
• What Gov. Scott Walker did in Wisconsin as well as the Friedrichs case were wrong-headed attempts to gut union power, and it was wonderful that the Supreme Court left existing laws in place via its 4-4 tie in the Friedrichs case last week.
Agreed. I would say the same about the overturning of the Vergara case in California, which threw out a lower court decision intended to eliminate due process for teachers.
• Charter schools, like regular public schools, should: a) take their fair share of the most challenging students; b) backfill at every grade level; and c) follow comparable suspension and expulsion policies.
I agree to an extent. In the present situation, where charters compete with public schools for students and resources, I think these are fair requirements that ensure a level playing field. However, if we were to take your good suggestions, we would have two publicly-funded school systems, one managed by public officials, the other by private entrepreneurs. I see no reason to have a dual school system–one highly regulated, and the other unregulated, or as you propose here, regulated to a greater extent than at present. If charters do continue as they now are, your proposal would make them fairer and less predatory. In their current state, they are bankrupting school districts and skimming off the easiest to educate students, and that’s not fair.
I would like to see charter schools return to the original idea proposed in 1988 by Albert Shanker and a professor in Massachusetts named Ray Budde. Charter schools were supposed to be collaborators with public schools, not competitors. Their teachers would belong to the same union as public school teachers. They were supposed to have freedom to innovate and expected to share their innovations with the public schools. At the end of their charter–say, five years or ten years–they would cease to exist and return to the public school district. Shanker thought that charter schools should exist find innovative ways to help the kids who were not making it in public schools, those who had dropped out, those who were unmotivated, those who were turned off by traditional schools. I support that idea. We have strayed very far from the original idea and are moving towards a dual school system, one free to choose its students, the other required to accept all who show up at their doors.
• For-profit online charters like K12 are providing an inferior education to far too many students and thus need to be much more carefully regulated and, in many cases, simply shut down.
For-profit online charter schools are a scam and a fraud. They should be prohibited. I applauded your frank dissection of K12 Inc., which surprised me because virtual schools grab on to the coat-tails of the reform movement. For another great expose of the K12 virtual charter chain, read Jessica Califati’s outstanding series in the San Jose Mercury News, which was published just days ago:
Students who enroll in these schools have lower scores, lower graduation rates, and learn little. A study by Stanford University’s CREDO earlier this year said that they learn essentially nothing. Why should taxpayers foot the bill?
In addition, I would like to see for-profit charter schools prohibited. The public pays taxes for schooling and believes that the money will be spent on education, not on paying a profit to investors in a corporation. The purpose of a for-profit corporation is to make a profit; the purpose of a public school is to prepare young children to live a full and satisfying life as citizens and members of the community. There should never come a time when school leaders choose the need to show a profit over the needs of students. I would also stop spending public money on for-profit “colleges.” They have been chastised in congressional investigations time and again for their predatory practices, but they always manage to survive, thanks to skillful, bipartisan lobbying. I recommend a new book by A.J. Angulo, titled ” Diploma Mills: How For-Profit Colleges Stiffed Students, Taxpayers, and the American Dream” (Johns Hopkins Press).
• Voter IDs laws are a despicable and thinly disguised attempt by Republicans to suppress the turnout of poor and minority voters, which in turn hurts schools serving their children.
We agree.
So what do you think? Do you disagree with any of these statements? What have I missed? What do you believe that you think I would agree with? I think it would be productive and interesting to come up with a long of a list as possible.
Best regards,
Whitney
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Dear Whitney,
Here are a few of my beliefs that you may or may not share.
* I believe in separation of church and state. Public money should not be spent for religious school tuition. People should not be asked to subsidize the religious beliefs of others. Once we start on that slippery slope, taxpayers will be underwriting schools that teach creationism, white supremacy, female subjugation, and other ideas that violate both science and our democratic ideals.
* I believe that every child, regardless of zip code or family income, race, gender, disability status, language proficiency, or sexual orientation, should be able to enroll in an excellent school.
* I believe that an excellent school has small classes, experienced teachers, a full curriculum, a well-resourced program in the arts, science laboratories, and a gymnasium, situated in a well-maintained and attractive building. Students should have the opportunity to study history, literature, the sciences, mathematics, civics, geography, technology, and have ample time for physical activities, sports, and exercise. The school should have a well-stocked library with a full-time librarian. It should have a school nurse, a social worker, and a psychologist. The principal should be an experienced teacher, with the authority to hire teachers and to evaluate their performance. Teacher evaluation should be based on peer review and classroom performance, not on test scores.
* I believe that the primary purpose of public schools, based on my studies as a historian of education, is to develop good citizens. The most important job that citizens have in our democracy is to vote thoughtfully and to be prepared to sit on juries and reach wise decisions about the fate of others. Citizens must be well informed and knowledgeable. They should know how to collaborate with others to accomplish goals. They should care about the fairness and future of our democracy. They should be knowledgeable about American and world history. They should understand the basic principles of government, economics, and science so they can understand the great issues of the day.
* I believe that public education is one of the basic building blocks of our democracy. As citizens, we have an obligation to support a good public education for all children, even if we have no children or if our own children are grown or if we send our children to religious or private schools.
* Because I believe in the importance of public education, I oppose all efforts to privatize public schools or to monetize them.
* I believe that the primary responsibility for shaping education policy should be in the hands of educators, not politicians. Educators are the experts, and we should let them do their jobs without political interference.
* I believe that teachers should not only be respected, but should be paid more for their experience and education. I do not believe that education will get better if teachers have less experience and less education.
* I believe in school choice, but I do not believe that private choices should be publicly subsidized. Anyone who wants their child to have a religious education should pay for it. The same for those who want their children to attend a private school or to be home-schooled. Parents have a right to make choices, but they should not expect the public to pay for their choices.
* I would like to see today’s reformers fight against budget cuts to public schools, against segregation, and against the overuse and misuse of standardized tests. I wish we might join together to lead the fight to improve the living standards for children and families now living in poverty. I wish we might advocate together for higher salaries for teachers, smaller classes for students, effective social and medical services for children who need them, and excellent public schools in every neighborhood.
* I would like to see all of us who care about children, who respect teachers and want a great education for every child, join together to persuade the public to invest more in education and to consider education the most important endeavor of our society, the one that will determine the future of our society. Let us recognize together that poverty matters, teachers matter, schools matter, and that we must strive together to reach the goals upon which we agree.
I look forward to continuing the dialogue.
Diane Ravitch
Much easier to read. Thank you. Dr. Ravitch, your answers are comprehensive and thoughtful.
My favorite Whitney Tilson story relates to the keen stock advice that he’s paid to provide wealthy investors, such as the following (from his Wikipedia page):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Tilson
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When Google went public in 2004, Tilson stated in a 2004 Motley Fool article:
“Google with the same market cap of McDonald’s (a stock I own)?! HA! I believe that it is virtually certain that Google’s stock will be highly disappointing to investors foolish enough to participate in its over-hyped offering — you can hold me to that.”
Note: Since then (as of 10/18/13) Google has gone on to give its investors a return of over 1050%.
————
It’s so reassuring to know that the Whit-ster’s applying his same brilliant acumen and insights to “reforming” public education.
Here is a delightful convo with another popular expert on all matters, magical and benign
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/25/can-ai-fix-education-we-asked-bill-gates.html
@ Jack,
Whitney’s Google stock advice is a perfect example of why high stakes tests should not be high stakes! If he were to be evaluated on any random day with what his advice was on that particular day and that would then determine his outcome for the the long haul, I think he’d see things differently.
Walk into a museum retrospective of a famous artist. Most will see much of the work as just ok yet every now and then there’s a pivitol piece that stands out. Kids should be viewed in this manner but instead the testocracy rules the day.
CA new policy suggests conducting longitudinal studies on teachers. Seems they can’t understand why retention is a problem.
Diane, I am sure they should be talking with you. http://www.lao.ca.gov/handouts/education/2016/Teacher-Workforce-Trends-042616.pdf (see end of doc)
Now, if you could just eliminate Tilson’s statement of the obvious.
Are you sure you didn’t mean “Now, if you could just eliminate Tilson’s statement of the obLIvious.”
You could eliminate all of Tilson’s statements of the obvious above (stuff like “Expanding high-quality pre-K, especially for poor kids, is important,”,”Teachers should be celebrated, not demonized.”) leaving only Diane’s text and absolutely nothing would be lost.
But the post would become easier to read, just as it became easier to read when Diane’s comments were changed from all caps.
Almost nothing to which one could take exception here, but now we need to move to the details. Three questions then:
1 ) Presumably we need to know the cause of poverty, before we can remedy it. What then do we assume is the cause of poverty?
2) If the purpose of education is to make citizens, what is the fundamental value of the American system of government which should be taught in schools?
3) Is there any case whatever to be made FOR voter ID laws?
1. Capitalism.
2. Freedom (and, no, that’s not synonymous with capitalism – quite the opposite, in fact).
3. No.
I agree about Freedom, but what is it?
I agree with Dienne, as usual, but would simply amend #2: “liberty and justice for all.”
Can’t disagree. Equality before the law is what the system is supposed to deliver. But beyond that, into economics, what is Freedom? And how do the schools prepare students to understand it and demand it.
HU,
Great to see you back posting. Hope all is well (even though I’m not sure about the 96/8? oxygen level except I would advise not smoking around it) If you would like to read my discussion of the purpose of public education as outlined in the states’ constitutions, email me at dswacker@centurytel.net and I’ll send it to you. It’s Ch. 1 of my upcoming book.
Duane
Shouldn’t #2 include democracy? Freedom/ liberty and justice for all were goals of founders, yet early Americans included neither women nor slaves to be part of “for all”. But the system of democracy they set up to implement freedom allowed adjustments to incorporate changes in social mores.
1. Inequality in many forms. Whether voter suppression, stereotyping, or rigged system of laws favoring the wealthy, we need to ensure everyone, including labor, has a voice in government. Money has corrupted.
2. That we can always do better. Too many people accept the status quo and any suggestion of improvement to America’s system of government is treated as blasphemy, not constructive dialogue.
3. Voter ID laws currently are thinly veiled voter suppression. Voter fraud is barely perceptible as an issue in our elections. Current voter ID laws have shades of Jim Crow laws or persecution of Catholic immigrants in the South. I can sign a contract with just a signature, that should suffice. Parties are free to legally investigate alleged systemic voter fraud, if they can find any. That is where the burden of proof should lie, not as we do now and deny citizenship. Having people constantly prove citizenship has chilling parallels of past repressive regimes in history – “your papers, please”.
Democracy is part of freedom. Guess I should have said “self governance”.
bethree said: “yet early Americans included neither women nor slaves to be part of “for all””
Then that’s not liberty and justice for all 😉
Diane’s quote:
* I believe that an excellent school has small classes, experienced teachers, a full curriculum, a well-resourced program in the arts, science laboratories, and a gymnasium, situated in a well-maintained and attractive building. Students should have the opportunity to study history, literature, the sciences, mathematics, civics, geography, technology, and have ample time for physical activities, sports, and exercise. The school should have a well-stocked library with a full-time librarian. It should have a school nurse, a social worker, and a psychologist. The principal should be an experienced teacher, with the authority to hire teachers and to evaluate their performance. Teacher evaluation should be based on peer review and classroom performance, not on test scores.
Exactly! What I am observing in the schools is the opposite. Standards- and testing- based reform is disrupting the lives of our children. Children are corralled in front of computers like livestock, to watch math videos and work on tedious word problems in math, or perform repetitive language arts exercises, to prepare for state standardized testing. In some schools, typically in low income areas, this test preparation model goes on all year. It’s inhumane! Our children are not reading the classics in full and enjoying lively discussions face to face. They aren’t researching and experimenting scientific concepts in depth. They aren’t learning to love math. They aren’t performing or debating. How are these children supposed to find their inner passion? form opinions? invent? create? fit into a civilized society?
How can anyone argue against small class sizes, the most proven and most obvious strategy for improving achievement? Why are we wasting so much money and risking so much on these failed reforms?
I don’t mean to offend, I just really don’t understand how anyone could be for education reform
I agree. The quality of public education will always be subject to the assignment of priorities applied to the available budget. Why not have the foremost priority be the one most often proven to have the most impact on results? Let economies, efficiency etc be applied starting w/lowest priorities & working upward.
Fascinating! Inspiring of hope. I hope this is the beginning of DFER listening to reason. I am especially weary, however, of reformers during election season. Obama took the ’08 election with the help of the NEA, after he said to them he opposed high stakes tests. His total reversal after taking office still hurts. A lot. If this conversation goes afoul after November let there be hell to pay. Forevermore.
Come to think of it, he even wrote that he wants unions to be strong during elections and weak at all other times. Not acceptable.
Reading the sideshow is well worth it. The guy points out that only 10% of enrollees are suited to online classes. Lots of great quotes.
(1) On-line schools harm the brand that Wall Street is selling, (2) On-line school debt doesn’t return 10-18% to Wall Street, like bricks and mortar charter schools do and (3) On-line schools provide fewer taxpayer-funded assets for Wall Street to exploit and plunder.
No surprise, hedge funds don’t like them.
Whitney Tilson may well be a gentleman and I applaud him for some of his political positions, especially his opposition to the carried-interest loophole tax benefit that he and other hedge fund managers benefit from.But I can’t help but wonder whether his effort to reach out to you isn’t, in fact, the beginning of an effort to rewrite history where many “ed reformers” have staked out positions that are increasingly hard to support. Wilson now says he’s against charter school creaming; but as recently as March, he was writing full-throated defenses of Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy, which have raised creaming to an art. Indeed, in NYC, I’ve heard more than one charter supporter question Moskowitz’s credibility on this front. Also, lets not forget that in New Orleans, the pro-charter Tulane-affiliated Education Research alliance recently found that charters there systematically cream students.
Here are some excerpts from WT’s recent posts that contradict what he’s written to you.:
Tilson claims he’s against “too much” testing, but in April, WT wrote the following on testing:
WT rebuts President Bill Clinton’s contention that “ESSA’s requirement of annual testing doesn’t make as much sense as investing the same amount of money in helping the teachers to be better teachers.”
Instead he quotes Andrew Rotherman:
Meanwhile, President Clinton’s comments on testing are complicated. He’s not correct about accountability and measuring growth absent annual testing. You need annual testing for these kinds of systems to be implemented in a rigorous way and the analytic leverage they provide for educators, parents, and policymakers is hard to overstate
PLEASE note: you can’t be against “too much” testing and favor annual testing. Imagine how much money could be redirected to kids and teacher development if kids were tested just every other year.
WT, on March 16, wrote a paean to the “brilliant” Eva Moskowitz and Meryl Tisch who “will be missed” and was a leading advocate of standardized testing…
The same post included a shout out to Cami Anderson’s pay-for-performance formula despite numerous studies–most significantly from Vanderbilt U–that merit pay scheme don’t work. Merit pay works as long as there’s plenty of $$ in the pot to reward most employees. As soon as budgets are cut, merit pay is meted out to fewer and fewer employees which in turn, depresses morale. Check out W. Edwards Deming, the management/systems expert, on performance pay.
Deming would also have argued that meaningful improvement in all systems happens at the point closest to the process and only with the knowledge and input of those who are closest to the process and who have been properly trained–in the case of schools, that would mean teachers. This has been a hard fought lesson in industry, and one completely ignored by ed reformers likeTilson who see teachers as the problem, not the solution to better schools.
Thank you Andrea for reminding everyone what Tilson had written on his blog only weeks ago. Surely he could not have changed his position on his core believe system so rapidly, and surly he still loves and lauds Eva..
Wanna join his classes for clients on how to profit from charter and public school investments? Everyone should subscribe to his blog to decide who and what this influential plutocrat really supports.
The Center for Media and Democracy, in March, published “How a Democrat-Led, Education-Focused PAC Channels Out -of-State Dark Money. The article claims that DFER-linked ERN (Education Reform Now) received a million dollars from Fox’s Rupert Murdoch and the Walton Family Foundation.
aagabor: thanks for the heads up.
Sadly, you may well be correct that this is just a self-serving self-defensive move in rewriting history.
☹️
Whitney Tilson is well-meaning, but when he talks about “choice” he is absolutely misguided about what “choice” means when it comes to charter schools. He still is presenting a scenario where the choice to educate a student is handed over to private operators who can “choose” to make them feel misery until they leave.
The bottom line is that Mr. Tilson supports privatization that allows charter schools to throw away unwanted students because public schools will always be obligated to teach them. That is precisely what did NOT happen back before charter schools proliferated. Your local elementary school could not get a child off their books by throwing them into the street. If they didn’t want certain students in their elementary school, they had to pay tens of thousands of dollars to find a private school to teach the child. They couldn’t just put them on a “got to go” list because they knew how to get their parent to “voluntarily” return to their fallback public school.
Mr. Tilson supports a program where charter schools are incentivized to get rid of any expensive child because the public schools are always there as a fallback. In fact, the real solution is to do exactly the reverse.
If Mr. Tilson really cared about failing schools and the children in them, he would support charter schools ONLY receiving the students who were failing and sent there from public schools. Since the charter schools claim to offer a better education, they should be working with the students who struggle most in public schools. That way, the teachers in public schools would be able to focus only on the students who want to learn. And if they don’t, then the public school can send them to their local charter school that achieves those miraculous results. That way EVERY child benefits. Every single student in public school benefits because there are no longer any difficult kids taking away the teacher’s attention. And every single difficult kid gets that charter school advantage that Mr. Tilson seems to believe is there. Of course, that might show there is no charter school advantage after all.
Agree with every thing you’ve said, except that Tilson is well-meaning. There is no evidence to support the conclusion.
^^^never mind about my calling him “well-meaning”. After reading the post above about his support of charter schools where 40% of the low-income 2nd graders are mysteriously MIA for 3rd grade testing**, I see that he is simply desperate for the support of the teachers’ unions that he so obviously despises with every fiber of his being.
**Success Academy Bed Stuy 1 had 103 2nd graders in 2013-2014 and 68 of them were economically disadvantaged. The next year, ONLY 76 3rd grade students were tested and only 41 were economically disadvantaged. So 27 out of the 68 economically disadvantaged students disappeared before testing — that’s 40% in a single year. But interesting that the number of NON-economically disadvantaged students was 35 in 2nd grade and remained at 35 when they took the 3rd grade test the next year. Hmmmm……..I wonder why Mr. Tilson is so impressed! They keep all their middle class kids and “only” lose 40% of their poor kids in one year! And he hopes those schools continue to proliferate and if 40% of the students are MIA, well Mr. Tilson doesn’t seem to think they are worth caring about.
Mr. Tilson is a well versed, elegantly articulate, and etiquette-minded fraud.
Don’t fall for the feats of derring-do in which he sees the GOP as his primary enemy and that we have to protect education and children from that horrible party.
No, Mr. Tilson. We need to protect public education from the GOP, DFER, and most other Democrats. Sorry, but no one here is falling for your holier-than-thou approach to selling your venom when you the enemy are merely dressed up in costume as the super hero.
We are all far too smart for that one.
And for the most part, Diane, large education unions have NOT done their job with regard to education reform. They have done reformers’ jobs. But you would truly had to have lived and breathed and experienced true union leadership moves and voting actions in the last 25 years as a member of the union to understand that. It would be inappropriate for me to expect that from you. It’s NOT your fault.
You are a lady, as Mr. Tilson’s response to you has a gentleman-like quality. But aside from both your gentilities, your differences lie in political and economic orientations and are deeply rooted in the ability or inability to be moral and ethical.
With regard to Mr. Tilson, you can put the devil in an expensive and beautiful Armani three piece suit and have him dine on fine caviar and champagne, but at the end of the day, he is still the same monster who consumes rotten flesh and sells his diet as a good thing for others, especially others who are disadvantaged, marginalized, ignorant, and vulnerable.
Manners don’t make you moral. In fact, too many manners have promoted and facilitated immorality and decay in American culture for probably almost half a century . . . .
Everyone has been so nice, so courteous, so genteel. . . . until you see that they use that niceness to further agendas that are violent and quasi terrorist in nature. Niceness and civility steal or buy human dignity. Dainty, refined, almost hushed, genteel criminals strewn with fresh rose petals . . . . That’s precisely what Mr. Tilson embodies.
Manners are a form of politeness.
In “A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues” Andre Comte-Sponville explains how they are a pseudo virtue in that they have the appearance of virtue and that we use them for children to learn how to get along in society because they don’t have the mental capabilities to completely think through their actions/words but for adults manners/politeness in essence are vacuous. Using CS’s example of the polite Nazi holding the door open to the gas chambers for the victims and greeting them with a “Good Day” or the polite to your face bastard that will pick your pocket as soon as you turn around.
Manners certainly aren’t everything. They are a start to more virtuous behavior but cannot in and of themselves ever replace virtuous behavior.
I agree with you, Duane.
Diane –
A reader didn’t like the way you posted something on your blog. He showed you a better way to do something, you accepted his counsel, and then noted you had learned something.
A role model, indeed! If only those guiding our nation’s educational future would follow your example.
I think, given the multiple and very public humiliating losses in reforminess, Mr. Tilson is making an effort to win us over. This is not the first time I’ve seen reformies do this. He’s trying hard not to appear insane by tempering his language. However, I’ve read Mr. Tilson’s blog. I’ve read what he’s said about me in my nom de plume, NYC Educator, and about Diane. I absolutely believe that’s the real Mr. Tilson.
I am unpersuaded by his stated support of union, as I’ve seen him on video being bullish over both Walmart and McDonald’s. Any informed person who truly cared about working people, or indeed the children who will grow up to be working people, would be unable to support such enterprises.
I’m also going to disagree, with all due respect, that union is doing a good job fighting for our interests. Were that the case, MIchael Mulgrew would not have helped write a law that mandated junk science rating for New York teachers. Were that the case, UFT would not have supported mayoral control not once, but twice under the execrable Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Were that the case, the UFT would never have accepted second tier due process for ATR teachers. Were that the case, the burden of proof at 3020a hearings for incompetence would be on the city, always, rather than having working UFT teachers guilty until proven innocent.
I could go on but I will leave it at that.
100%
The list of reform FAILS grows daily.
The slippage is palpable.
Revisionist philosophy spewed by guys like Tilson have zero credibility.
Tilson, Rhee, Gates, Broad, Klein, Duncan, King, Coleman, Brown, Cuomo, Tisch, Kasich, Bush, Obama, Pondiscio, Petrilli, et.al. are all stuck on the wrong side of education history.
And no line of BS will move them to our side.
You’re wrong, Arthur,
Tilson does support collective bargaining and the formation and expansion of unions.
He support then as long as they basically exactly do what the ownership class wants them to do and don’t make any waves. In a Tilson model, unions are decorative, cosmetic, and nominal. In his mind, their appearance is conflated with their substance. But we know the difference and cannot be fooled. In Tilson’s polite, tea and finger sandwich world, unions are but an extended branch of upper management.
Don’t fall for it . . .
“In Tilson’s polite, tea and finger sandwich world, unions are but an extended branch of upper management.”
Well cooked, very edible claim. 🙂
Thank you, Professor Wierdl.
Robert Rendo says that “large education unions have NOT done their job with regard to education reform. They have done reformers’ jobs.”
Basically, he’s right.
Sure, there are people like Whitney Tilson who’ve done all they can to promote “reform.” Their brand of “reform,” however, usually has a research base that’s as anemic as Tilson’s hedge fund returns.
One of the latest is Laurene Powell Jobs (Steve Jobs’ widow) who is offering up $50 million to five “winners” ($10 million each) for high school “reform.” Powell Jobs is tied to the New America Foundation (funded by the Gates and Walton Foundations) and Teach for America (funded by a host of conservative foundations and big banks). She has helped to fund a “network of small private schools” that has extensive staff ties to Teach for America, and she helped to finance the purchase of Amplify from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. It appears that Powell Jobs’ conception of “reform” is really not very different from that of Whitney Tilson, or Wendy Kopp, or the other ed “reformers.”
The network of schools Powell Jobs is helping to fund seeks to apply a “reform” formula “not only to other AltSchools, but to private, public, and charter schools across the country. Of course, they’re also money-making operations.”
See, for example: http://www.wired.com/2015/05/altschool/
Thousands of public school districts have applied for the Powell Jobs (XQ Super Schools) grants. The top executive at Powell Job’s “reform” entity is Russlyn Ali, a former top aide to Arne Duncan, who is also ensconced as a “senior partner” with Powell Jobs. Ali supported No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. She wrote that California should not suspend Common Core assessments because “The Common Core provides the promise and the opportunity for California to again lead the country in education.” Otherwise, she asked, “Will America be ready to compete?” It’s pure nonsense. But many have responded enthusiastically to it. They respond even more enthusiastically – it seems – when the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) bogeyman is invoked.
As Rendo noted, the unions and professional organizations have abdicated their responsibilities to public schooling.
For example, Randi Wiengarten said the Common Core is a “foundation for better schools” that will prepare kids “success in college, life and careers.” Lily Eskelsen, vice-president of the NEA, said “We believe that this initiative is a critical first step in our nation’s effort to provide every student with a comprehensive, content-rich and complete education.” Byron V. Garrett said the “National PTA enthusiastically supports the adoption and implementation by all states of the Common Core State Standards, which were recently released in final form.” It gets worse.
The National School Boards Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principles, and the American Association of School Administrators issued a joint statement on the Common Core standards that made it abundantly clear that public education in the United States is in deeper trouble than many thought. These joint statement said Common Core “tests are necessary” for “use in teacher and principal evaluation,” though they’d prefer some delays and the inclusion of other “timely data.” How pathetic.
Generally speaking – and this gets lost in all the blather – public schools are pretty darned good for most students and the data all show it. What is undeniably true, though, is that the type of “reform that the “reformers” crave all based on “college and careers” and “competitiveness.” It’s all misplaced.
We keep getting a new version of the same old thing. Remember A Nation at Risk, which warned that “a rising tide of mediocrity” threatened American economic competitiveness and national security? Then cameNo Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Before it was scrubbed from the Common Core website, the rationale for it was the restoration of American economic competitiveness.
If we need reform it’s is education for democratic citizenship. As University of Chicago social scientist Earl Johnson wrote, “the supreme end of education in a democracy is the making of the democratic character.” And that means that public education is seen “as an instrument to even out social inequality,” not as a tool to perpetuate it.
I do not understand some of your replies.
For example
Standardized testing should be used only diagnostically, not more than once a year, and it should not figure into the students’ grade or the teachers’ evaluation.
So you’d allow kids to take standardized tests once a year? Why so frequently? My understanding is, Finnish students take one standardized test in K-12. Why would US kids need more than that, and perhaps even 12? Who standardizes these tests? Who administers, grades these tests? The federal government, or each state, or each school district?
Most importantly: What do these tests supposed to diagnose and how? What can they diagnose?
Are these tests supposed to be written tests?
Another one is
I agree, although I think that teachers who receive high ratings from their administrators and peers should not be regularly evaluated.
High rating implies a (linear) rating/ranking system, doesn’t it? Isn’t rating the root of all evil? It’s one thing to say “A is a great teacher, so is B” and it’s very different if we say “A is a better teacher than B”. A student might say this, but another student may have a different opinion. Rating is pretty much subjective, isn’t it? I can be an effective teacher for one student and less so or even ineffective for another.
Agree, MW. Those two responses jumped out for me as well.
Teacher-designed assessments have always been frequent during the school year. Data-capture via standardized assessments can be efficiently managed with grade-span natl tests (I like every 3 yrs).
Teachers like any employees deserve regular feedback from the boss, at minimum via annual evaluation. This should be done by department heads in a hierarchy populated by educators. Rather than an undue burden on principals as today, deptl observations/ evalns would be a natural outgrowth of (as Diane recommends) a system where principals rise from teacher ranks, & srs mentoring jrs are part of the system.
Why doesn’t Tilson “disrupt” his own industry?
“Economists Brad DeLong, James Kwak, and Noah Smith have all weighed in on the question of why Americans pay so much for advice that typically turns out to be nearly worthless. The discussion was launched by Kevin Drum of Mother Jones, who simply asked why monopoly rents were being collected by a finance industry so competitive that its profits should long ago have been “reduced to zero, or close to it.”
They’ve taking 2% off the top and adding no value. That’s up from 1% 20 years ago. They’ve doubled what they skim.
People would have a lot more to invest in education if we “disrupted” finance.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-investment-fees-20160425-snap-htmlstory.html
They are not only “skimming,” but they are scamming. It all comes at public expense.
For example, there’s the market-rigging scandal(s) in the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) – which affects several hundred trillion dollars of assets and loans – and the ISDAfix, which is “a benchmark number used around the world to calculate the prices of interest-rate swaps.”
The emerging evidence is that some of the world’s biggest banks and trading companies gamed a “market” of some nearly $400 trillion of these trades, and not in favor of the public. Not surprisingly, some of the very same players –– corporate and individual “investors,” bankers and hedge-funders –– were engaged in both the LIBOR and ISDAfix scandals.
Even more recent disclosures reveal that traders and bankers have rigged the foreign exchange (FX) market, one that involves daily transactions of nearly $ 5 trillion, which is “the biggest in the financial system.” As one analyst noted, this is “the anchor of our entire economic system. Any rigging of the price mechanism leads to a misallocation of capital and is extremely costly to society.”
Many of these entities fund public school “reform.” Many of them avoid paying taxes and hoard cash off-shore.
They want to cash in on pubic schools too.
oops, pubLic schools….
These people do not provide anything of value themselves, but just live off the value that others (teachers, firemen, artists, small business entrepreneurs, etc) have created. Worst of all, like many biological parasites, they weaken and eventually kill their host (the real economy).
Many a southern “gentleman” was also a slaveholder. And I bet as the imminent death of slavery became more apparent to many Southerners, many of them probably attempted to approach some of the abolitionists on similar “gentlemanly” terms to try to find “common ground”.
“Robbin The Hood”
Robbin the hood
Of public schools
Replacin’ with flood
Of charter tools
Over the hedge
With his Merry Men
Robbin The Hood
Has struck again
“Robbin the hood” -perfect
Robbin Hood and other inspirational fairy tails for leadership enthusiasts
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-paisley-chandler/on-leadership-robin-hood-_b_7587714.html
The people churning reform only know how to make money by cutting costs (Walton heirs and hedge funds). As people, their defect is an inability to add value.
ALEC’s education bills and stricter sentencing laws, permit theft from kids and money-making from the misery of prisoners, mostly poor and minority. How can it get more depraved than that?
The combined total of votes for Bernie and Trump are an omen for the richest 0.1%.
Tilson appears to be a confused individual: he wants to be a democrat but he supports the antidemocratic agenda of a few.
No surprise, though, since he himself is a philanthropist, the kind of people who think they can use their money to push for ideas dear to them, without consulting the public.
It doesn’t matter if a philanthropist is funding an idea dear to us. Only the public will matters.
So it’s irrelevant that Tilson agrees with Diane on many issues and perhaps he puts money into supporting those issues. He is a good guy only from our viewpoint. What matters more is that he is trying to achieve his goals via antidemocratic means while Diane doesn’t. In this case, the end doesn’t justify the means, because what’s happy end for us, may not be that for others.
Similarly, we cannot say “Gates’ philanthropy is sometimes good and sometimes isn’t, depending on what he is funding.” No, it’s all wrong since the concept of philanthropy is wrong.
Piketty points out that philanthropy (Gates’ philanthropy) is seductively efficient while the democratic process isn’t. So what? Efficiency is not a fundamental criteria to decide if a human activity is right or wrong.
Philanthropy, starting with Carnegie and Rockefeller, have been destroying millions of lives. It’s time to outlaw it, branding it as an antidemocratic activity.
The venture philanthropists are “Impatient Opportunists”.
Most of them are actually robbertunists.
“The Robbertunist”
The opportunist makes
The most of every day
The robbertunist takes
The most in every way
I think “seductively deficient” would be a much better way to describe what Gates produces, whether it be operating systems and other software or philanthropy.
Gates has always been a marketeer, marketing mostly crap. He’s very good at it, which is why he is so rich.
“Devalue Added Model”
Gates is to value
As white is to black
As any can tell you
His stuff is a hack
You are correct, Poet, efficiency is a relative concept. From our viewpoint, Gates’ impact is deficient, for him, very efficient as measured by his ever growing wealth, aka the “Economy”.
Here’s a question you’ll like “Will Gates’s wealth grow infinitely? If not, what will be the limit and who’ll set it and when?”
Poet’s a genius.
Mr. Tinson
He can be bipolar . Like Abraham Lincoln, supposedly he was democratic but he was republican. I’m really confused about that as Mr. Tinson this is the end of the movie.
I mean by 2 . Republican or democratic ? Abraham lincon ?
I know he was a good person .
Josh Mandel, who was Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s opponent in the last election must have been irritated that Brown scooped him, by staking out the hedge fund-backed charter school territory, first.
What’s Tilson’s expertise in education, anyways?
Whitney Tilson (born 1966) is an American investor,author, and philanthropist. Tilson manages the hedge fund Kase Capital (formerly T2 Partners LLC). Tilson co-authored the books, The Art of Value Investing: How the World’s Best Investors Beat the Market (published in May 2013) and More Mortgage Meltdown: 6 Ways to Profit in These Bad Times (published in May 2009), has written for Forbes, the Financial Times, Kiplinger’s, The Motley Fool and TheStreet.com, and was one of the authors of Poor Charlie’s Almanack (ISBN 1578645018). He is a CNBC contributor,was featured in a 60 Minutes segment in December 2008 about the housing crisis that won an Emmy Award, was one of five investors included in SmartMoney Magazine’s 2006 Power 30, was named by Institutional Investor in 2007 as one of 20 Rising Stars. He has appeared as a guest on Bloomberg TV and Fox Business Network, and was on the cover of the July 2007 Kiplingers. He has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal and theWashington Post. Tilson co-founded the Value Investing Congress, a biannual investment conference in New York City and Las Vegas, and Value Investor Insight, an investment newsletter.
Tilson was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1966 and spent much of his childhood in Tanzania and Nicaragua (his parents are both educators, former Peace Corps members, and have retired in Kenya). He attended Bing Nursery School while his father worked toward his doctorate in education at Stanford, . . .
. . . and was one of the children that took part in the Stanford marshmallow experiment (also see: Don’t! The Secret of Self Control).
In 1985 he graduated from Northfield Mt. Hermon School, where his father was Academic Dean, and then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor’s degree in Government in 1989. After college, Tilson helped Wendy Kopp launch Teach for America and then spent two years as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. He earned an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School in 1994, where he was elected a Baker Scholar (top 5% of class).
When Google went public in 2004, Tilson stated in a 2004 Motley Fool article, “Google with the same market cap of McDonald’s (a stock I own)?! HA! I believe that it is virtually certain that Google’s stock will be highly disappointing to investors foolish enough to participate in its overhyped offering — you can hold me to that.” Note: Since then (as of 10/18/13) Google has gone on to give its investors a return of over 1050%.
What’s Tilson’s expertise in education, anyways?
He attended school.
“He attended school.”
Then why do we pretend that his views on education matter one bit? The fact that he thinks that his views matter is laughable at best, but (should be) insulting in reality.
Hey, Newton, Einstein,
Listen, I need to share with you some exciting news.
I am a venture capitalist and my background in physics is what I learnt in school. This means that I am a general expert in what’s needed for the economy and hence I know what the American people and their science need to succeed in the 21st century. So let me give tell you about some of my views and ideas in science and I think you’ll agree with them 95%.
The most important thing to do is freshen up your theories, and this needs to be done urgently, if we don’t want to fall behind other nations in the Big Race.
For example, I sort of agree with E=mc^2 but I do not like F=ma one bit. Need I say more than F=ma is four hundred years old? And let’s face it, E=mc^2 is over 100 years old too. So I came up with the equation F=mc^2 for the 21st century. This is new, innovative, yet simple. This unification of your theories makes common sense, and, of course, it’s rigorously research-based since all the people I talked to (and I talk to a lot of people) liked it and they even confessed to me, they were surprised that my equation didn’t occur to other people earlier.
I guess other people didn’t think about applying general business principles in science.
Anyhow, I already made the necessary steps to popularize the new F=mc^2 formula: my foundation sponsored a model legislation in ALEC, and the king-secretary of education set up a committee last month with the specific purpose of putting this new equation into all textbooks, starting with those sold to the neediest children in the urban areas. Due to the urgency of this update to science, we expect full adoption in all public schools no later than January.
But this is just the beginning. I have some other ideas which I implemented without delay. Probably the most exciting is a software to create new scientific formulas from old ones. This allows the user to arbitrarily (but rigorously) modify scientific theories as they please. They can do this at their own pace, ensuring individualized learning at the highest level.
The coding of the software will be done by the end of May, and the new bill to mandate to purchase of this software for every public school, including kindergartens, in Tennessee has been already accepted by the legislation almost unanimously.
So you see, I am a doer by nature, and this enables me to do a lot of good in the world. I see y’all are approvingly turn in your graves, and this gives me great encouragement to shape the future of mankind even faster and more efficiently.
OK, gotta run, do stuff, invest in stuff,
Tilson
Oracle and Man of Action
yes, Rage, but not just any school.
Haaawvid.
And, like everyone who goes there, he graduated magna fy loudly
…which makes him an expert on everything.
SDP: Don’t discount his seat time at Bing Nursery school.
Oh, I didn’t.
That’s undoubtedly what got him into Haawvid.
Mate
The cummulative public school teaching experience of the Top 20 Most Influential Ed Reformers does not exceed 5 years.
It is obvious that Tilson needs to be in the public eye. He has pontificated about the wonders of charter schools, misunderstood research about them, has assumed that think tank reports from charter supporters have valid information. He has blogged about education since 2006 and he has not learned much.
Rather than take the time and energy of the owner of this blog, I suggest he go back to school, dump his hedge fund activities, and educate himself about public education almost any where except Harvard and with almost any focus other than management.
As far as I can determine Tilson is trying to polish his brand as if a credible scholar and policy critic about education…and by association with the distinquished owner of this blog. He is being given more time and courtesy and publicity on educational matters than he deserves, unless of course, he could offer insights into the role of hedge fund managers in undermining attention to the common good, including public schools.
“He is being given more time and courtesy and publicity on educational matters than he deserves”
And herin lies the problem.
Diane .
Priofesianals people are always ready to dialogue . Whitney Tison is not the problem , I respect persons like that .
( Diane . Profesionales personas hacen lo que tú hiciste , dialogar con Whiney es muestra de tu profesionalismo y muestra de tus tantas cualidades . Respecto y personas como Whiney deberíamos ser todos . Witney is no el problema .
I trust in a person ( Chatters schools ) until they prove me wrong .
CHARTER’S HAN DEMOSTRADO Y HAN ACTUADO TRAICIONERAMENTE QUERIENDO DESTRUIR COMPLETANTE A LAS ESCUELAS PÚBLICAS . LA MAYORÍA DE PERSONAS QUE ESTÁN EN CONTRA DE LA ENSEÑANZA PUBLICA , SU CONOCIMIENTO , SABIDURÍA Y AMOR QUE SE LES EDUCÓ LO APRENDIERON EN LO QUE HOY ODIAN .
Lovers of they self , lovers of money , boastefull , unthanfulls , not open to to any agreement . CHARTERS SCHOOLS PROVED HAVING AN APARENCE OF GODLDENESS BUT PROVING FAKSES TO TO HIS POWERS
DETRÁS DE LOS CHATERS SCOOLS , ESTÁN PERSINAS AMADORES DEL DINERO ….. Y NO DE NIŃOS ..
Reibelcastiilo,
Usted esta correcto, como siempre!
Gracias tu encomio . ¿ Como se describen las personas que ayudan a otros ? Así lo describo yo , usted es alguien con mucho amor y deseo de ayudar a los necesitados . Aunque no nos conocemos . Has actuado como un hermano muy querido .
Buenas noches Roberto , espero que se encuentre feliz y que su vida siempre sea como el vino , el buen vino cada año se pone mejor . La inteligencia y sabiduría son superiores al vino . El vino es un licor . Usted sabe la vida antes más tranquila , familias más felices , nuestros hijos no eran anudados en las escuelas . La divinidad se ha ido desapareciendo . Esos maestros de escuelas públicas , los veo como familia , aún el amor existe pero como existe el bien también el mal . Dios no es malo , las escuelas públicas nunca han odiado , la sabiduría de arriba es justa , casta , no es cruel .
Quiero ilustrar al mundo malvado hace un rato estuvimos ; mi esposa y yo aprendiendo , la sabiduría de este nuevo mundo por decirlo así , el malvado sistema escolar ha corrompido a nuestros hijos , charters schools
Si Dios no se apodera , abusa e ignora , todo es de él , y no hay mejor enseñanza la que han dejado al olvido , Dios siempre usa
la sabiduría de forma única . Es imposible que el dinero y humanos imperfectos se están apoderando de algo que no es de ellos , la educación no es invento , están correctos el mundo entero está dirigido por leones rugientes . Qué lástima esas personas tan orgullosas que están detrás del invento que ha destruido a la sociedad , el dinero de los pobres de buen corazón se los han robado , se lo han llevado todo . Esta vida , estudiantes con brillantes mentes , sufriendo porque la verdad no se esconde , todos los niños , mis hijos se han desendiosado por ver cómo las autoridades permiten que adinerados y arrogantes , han engañado la verdadera senda justa y que siempre será recordada aunque los charter schools parecen Palacios , mi niña puede decir papi a mi hermano lo considero como , si estuviéramos en tumbas bien limpias y blancas por fuera , pero el cementerio más
Grande es hialeah Education Academic . INC .
Ilustración en la que hace más de 2 mil años .
El sistema aumentará de mal en peor , mi niña entró y vio una vez como es una tumba por dentro y es donde a su hermano lo engañaron .
La falsedad y la mentira .
Son tumbas muy blancas y brillantes ( las paredes afuera ) pero por dentro , Son oscuras sucias , Hialeah Education Academic . Inc .
Mi hijo no puede ya ver , ni oler , porque no puedo salir con vida dentro de una tumba .
Que sufrimiento es ver perder a un ser tan querido como a un adolescente .
Un policía que casi mata a mi hijo y a mí su compañero . José momentos , un sargento de la cuidad de hialeah se llevó una luz roja , no paró y la bicicleta que andaba mi hijo hoy está destronada y mi niña casi la secuestran , la destruyeron un oficial , lo perdono por culpa de los dueños de un Chatter school me quedo sin hijos .
Mi niña no ha podido jugar más en el parque público , donde la secuestraron y a su hermano no lo vio más .
Ese parque está rodeado de corruptos oficiales han grabado mis autos y si entro al parque slade park , rápido me arrestan los mismos sienten , porque me quieren matar ? Enviar a prisión ?
Mi esposa está enferma , mi niña sin hermano , la policía de hialeah la traumática inestabilidad ha hecho creer a los niños que Hialeah es un lugar como Cuba .
La única institución educacional que no le falta hacer ningún cambio para llegar a ser como fue escuela militar sin democracia más visitada en el sistema marxista – leninistas – Castrista . Niños se adoctrinan a odiar a sus padres , amigos y ya la educación pública de hialeah Fl está destruida y el Alcalde es llamado Carlos Castro .
Mi sobrina , me dijo celebraron como si fuera el día de la independencia , es un abuso usar fondos públicos , helicópteros , eventos festivos en parques para decir que la única escuela que está
Custodiada por aire y por tierra es la única en que se invitan a figuras prominentes , un Charter School no puede , usar un parque y privatizarlo y mucho menos para apoyar a la campaña , la ciudad de hialeah .
Si el alcalde Carlos Hernández , el City Hall , a un reportero nacional lo sacaron como un criminal , el alcalde Raúl Martínez , por 25 años , es odiado por el Peor y Cruel alcalde de esta ciudad . Raúl Martínez y Julio Martinez , la education y los niños los protegían , los parques y escuelas públicas eran bellos , los policías no protegían a ninguna propiedad privada , no . Pero se fue Raul Martínez por 25 años los testigos de Jehová eran respetados , las escuelas redoraban los derechos , después del 2009 . La ciudad de Hialeah es como si estuviere cumpliendo profecías .
City of hialeah Education Academic . Inc
But know this last day critical times hard to deal will be here .
For Men lovers of money , of them self , blasphemes , fierce , puffed of pride .
Unthankful , disloyal , having no natural affection , no open to any agreement ( la intimidación , el abuso del poder , las austeridades no quieren que yo salga a defender a mis hijos o me quieren enviar a prision , han entrado a mi hogar detective ( 2 invadieron mi hogar , me obligaron a que firmara un papel y han acusado a mí por crímenes no cometidos , ellos me acusan porque yo les estoy dejando saber a la nación que la escuela el Charter School ( Mayors Crimes are to much )
La Policia me dijo que quería que saliera como presidente Donal Trump para que deportara a todo el que no fuera de este país . El detective Elosegui, con otra oficial me trataron como trataban a los Judios , a los alemanes , Elosegui es un detective muy agresivo , apariencia de un pig bull trainer to kill , that detective es racista quiere ser como era la era donde querían desaparecer a la rasa humana , no hay diferencia entre Tromp , white , blue or green , ojos , estos son como los crueles nacis , Hitler no era aleman , era Austriaco , no era grande ni de ojos azules , y quería hacer una sola rasa y desaparecer , la suya .
Este alcalde quiere desaparecerme , me lo han dicho , el jefe policial , el alcalde y muchos policías corruptos , han tratado de evitar que no se sepa que han acosado sexualmente a niñas de solo 12 años en Chater Shool CITY of hialeah Academic . Es un negocio corrupto y abusan de niños y niñas y de padres , no es justo , Si Dios no es cruel , 1777 Rosenberg , Fredon of religión , También Martin L . King .
Raul Martinez , Julio Martinez y Juan Santana han tratado de cuidarme del alcalde Carlos Albsrez y de los policías corruptos .
Raúl Martínez , por 25 años de alcalde nunca abusó , y este alcalde odia a Raúl y todos los que me ayudan
Robert por favor ayúdame , me eliminaron de World Press .
Puedes ayudarme a expresarme ?
Si es posible ?
No hay libertad de expresión ?
Por favor …
Gracias
Tilson, one of reformers, described by Philanthropy Roundtable, “…reformers…declare ‘We’ve got to blow up the ed schools’ ” ?
What a disingenuous right-wing troll Tilson is. This was clearly an attempt to raise his profile and spread his poisonous ideologies by feigning a “reasonable dialog” with Professor Ravitch, solely because she’s actually someone worth listening to. It’s a shame he was afforded a platform here, he doesn’t deserve the time of day from working people.
Here is a delightful convo with another popular expert on all matters, magical and benign
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/25/can-ai-fix-education-we-asked-bill-gates.html
And so ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce our panel of education thought leaders. From left to right we have David Coleman – architect of the Common Core and current President of the College Board, Arnie Duncan – former Secretary of Education, Campbell Brown – founder of the Partnership for Educational Justice and the co-founder of The 74, Whitney Tilson – hedge fund manager and founder of Democrats for Education Reform, and Micheal Petrilli, Executive Editor at Education Next, President at Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and Research Fellow at Hoover Institution.
That’s a very impressive panel of education experts ladies and gentlemen, let’s give the a hand before we proceed with our discussion. And I would be remiss in failing to mention their qualifications, each and every one of our guest thought leaders has spent time in classroom as a student! Quit impressive.
Don’t burns bridges yours bribes behind you ( Charters Schools did ) warning that you should never acrimoniously or irrevocable sever persons connections ( i , e briges ) to people or organizations when changing your situations , such as leaving a job , etc .
The proverbs comes from an irreversible military tactic – .
Charters corporations will regret that tactic , put them in really bad field position , running out the time . Creating and enemies an enemy who could end up hurting you is not wise , ( Charters rulers are not wise , wise people never make a wrong move , I’m sorry Charters Rulers Diden’t make only one wrong move . That is why the have no way out .
I’m not from American but . Never negotiate with terrorists I think is it’s just Ameican policy . Who said that ? It’s pretty sure clear it was Ronald Reagan who first say that maybe 1980 Campaign , or maybe later . I won’t trust in Charters school .
Only in GOD I trust .
Thanks . I hope America wake up and blow out that weak team . Money can’t defeat United .
Smart people I pretty sure agreed ..
No comprehensive understanding of DFER is possible w/o first reading, Mercedes Schneider’s “Who’s Who in the Implosion of Public Education”.
[…] we mostly agreed on in our first exchange of emails (sent a week ago and posted on her blog here and my bloghere) and started engaging on the many issues on which we […]