Steven Singer has noticed that the hired hands of the billionaire “reformers” like to play the role of victim.
They are bravely standing up to those teachers’ unions on behalf of “the kids.” All they have on their side are the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Waltons and a long list of other billionaires who want to privatize public schools and get rid of those unions.
Who is Goliath? Who is David?
Who are the real grassroots activists?
Don’t be fooled.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is very troubling that the ordinary folks don’t see through this rhetoric by the 1%. We really have the power and must be more proactive.
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Charles, of course I agree that the govt lies. I remember my mother (1928-2014) telling me her generation was raised to trust in the govt– her trust was betrayed by the ’50’s U2 incident, when it became evident that the govt had lied to the public about Gary Power’s mission.
However, your response “political actors use deception” to a comment about posted dark $ disguised as grass-roots politics misses the mark. This is a fairly recent development– moneyed natl orgs w/an ideological agenda succeeding at disguising themselves as local actors– legally– thanks to Cit-United decision & 501(c)4 tax loophole. True, political actors use deception, but it has only been recently that our laws provide cover for such deception, making it far more difficult to discern the actors & their agenda.
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Thanks for seeing my point. Just because I point out the fact, that politicians, and people involved in government use lies and deception, does not mean that I advocate for these tactics. The current developments in the Alabama senate race, are disgusting beyond belief. The federal government deceived the American public during the Indochina conflict. Nixon and his crowd pushed all types of lies, during Watergate.
This is the reality of the world we live in. I personally, believe in honesty and fair dealing, in my personal and professional life. Citizens should hold their elected officials to a high standard of ethical conduct.
My parents were brought up to trust the government. I was not.
“Government is like fire, a dangerous servant, and a terrible master”- George Washington
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Political actors use deception. Stop the Presses.
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Should anything be done about that deception, Chas?
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The use of deception, goes back many centuries. You should read Sun-Tzu and Machiavelli. Even Richard Nixon. The nature of politics and war, and almost any conflict, will involve deception.
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Charles,
You advocate d3ception. I advocate honesty. Many readers here are teachers. Which should they teach?
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So your answer is “no” and that anything goes.
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I do NOT advocate deception. I just state that it exists. It has existed in politics, war, and all types of conflicts, for centuries. Just because I state that deception exists, does not mean that I advocate deception. Just let that die.
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Charles, you certainly keep telling us that deception is just part of the way things are. Live with it.
I have higher standards. I don’t de dive or lie. I expect the same of others. You don’t. Teachers and parents should teach their children that honesty is part of good character and we should all strive to be honest and ethical.
Those who knowingly deceive are liars and should be called out.
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I understand that pointing out those facts are not the same as advocating and/or doing those things. You did not answer my question though-Should (or even can) anything be done about that deception?
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Teachers should teach “realpolitik”. In 1938, in Munich, Hitler lied to Neville Chamberlain, and the as the result of the appeasement, Europe went to war in 1939. The Vietnamese lied to Henry Kissinger, and the Vietnam accords were sabotaged, and South Vietnam was taken over by the communists.
I don’t care if teachers teach honesty or deception.
But they should teach reality.
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Charles,
You don’t care. But I do. We should all strive to be honest, not deceptive. That’s the life I try to live. That is what I taught my children. Liars and deceivers should be named and shamed.
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Please explain what “realpolitik” means. Thanks.
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I am all for character education. Teaching children to be honest, is indeed a noble goal. No argument.
There was some good, to come out of Watergate, and Vietnam. We learned, or we should have learned, that governments do not always tell the truth. Governments sometime deliberately tell lies, and mislead the citizens.
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Stop cheering deception and lying with quotes from Machiavelli and others. You have done it many times
That’s loathsome
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“that governments do not always tell the truth. Governments sometime deliberately tell lies,”
No, that is not true. It is people, real people, working in various government positions that “do not always tell the truth. . . deliberately tell lies, and mislead the citizens”. By assigning the blame to the amorphous concept of “government” you absolve those individuals who do that deception.
Just as I do not like the usage of the term “corporate” education reformers, those supposedly with a “corporate” agenda-the term corporate becomes meaningless in that context, just as your usage of “government” is meaningless in this context.
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I neither “cheer” nor “advocate” deception. Where did you ever get that idea?
I am just stating that deception and lying exists in this world. Politicians deliberately mislead people. To believe otherwise is dangerously naïve.
If you find my embrace of reality, and my cynicism to be “loathsome”, that is your privilege.
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Charles, at least twice a week, you tell us about the virtues of deception. I have no reason to believe anything you say. You deceive.
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Be Fair. There is no “virtue” in deception. I am not stating any such thing.
Just because lying and deception exist, does not mean that I practice these concepts.
I do not push falsehoods here, nor anywhere. I am not a politician, and I am not saying that lying, cheating, misleading, etc. are noble pursuits.
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Charles, stop digging when you are in a hole.
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“There is no “virtue” in deception.”
Virtue, by definition means a “human good”. So that the acts of deception used by those folks who sheltered their fellow citizens from being snatched up and killed by the Nazi regime were not “virtuous”?
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Seems like no matter what I say, I will get clobbered.
The US Army used deception, to fool the Germans into thinking that the invasion was going to be at Pas-de-Calais.
Deception can sometimes be used for good.
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See, Charles, you always defend and laid deception.
Of course, it is needed in wartime, not in daily life.
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What I was getting at, Chas, was that blanket statements such as your statement are very rarely true or are easily rebutted/refuted.
At the same time, your statements on the use of deception seem to imply that “well, that’s just how it is” and various sources, especially those you use, which refer to life and death situations should be looked to as guidance for far less than life/death situations. In other words, your sources of “authority” do not “fit in well” with the subjects we are discussing.
For example, in our country, citing the Bible as the ultimate source and reason for political decisions can’t be (and doesn’t according to our laws) seen as a proper justification due to the very sectarian, non-universal nature of faith beliefs. Much in the same way, quoting militarists and their thinking cannot be accepted as legitimate for social peaceful quandaries such as we generally discuss here about education.
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Thank you, Duane.
What people do to survive in war is not the same as daily interactions among friends, strangers, and family. Deception is not the default response. Honesty is.
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see
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/realpolitik
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Q So your answer is “no” and that anything goes. END Q
Do NOT put words in my mouth. Can we just let this topic die?
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Of course. Hold politicians to a high standard of ethics and morality. Clinton was impeached for allegedly committing perjury. Nixon was almost impeached. The citizens must keep a close watch on government.
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Along with half the state legislatures in the country, who will happily rubber stamp every plan and policy elite ed reformers propose.
Ohio lawmakers are apparently incapable of saying “no”- whatever the ed reform lobby wants, the ed reform lobby gets.
You can predict it- Jeb Bush pushes some crackpot privatization or blending learning scheme, it’ll show up in Ohio law 6 months later.
If it wasn’t for teachers unions there wouldn’t be a single person in that place working on behalf of the NINETY PER CENT of students who attend public schools. Somehow “public education reform” became completely and utterly irrelevant to the VAST majority.
I wish they would quit completely in Columbus. Public schools in this state would be in better shape if none of these people ever came to work again. We can give teachers a raise and bring back field trips on what we save from NOT hiring ed reform consultants.
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Nicely put, and I must say that it is this that most sickens me about these people.
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I’m thrilled that labor unions pay lobbyists in statehouses. If they weren’t there this entire “debate” would be conducted between lobbyists paid by billionaires and our clueless representatives who have zero interest in the schools 90% of families use.
If teachers didn’t pay dues I’d donate to labor union lobbyists. They are the only public school advocates left. If ed reformers get their way and abolish labor unions the unfashionable and much-maligned “public school sector” won’t be mentioned at all.
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Is there a single person who works for an hourly wage on the ed reform “apprenticeship task force”?
Why are millionaires designing programs for working people? DeVos hasn’t had an hourly wage worker in her family for 3 generations. She knows…WHAT, exactly, about skilled trades?
You know, this is contempt. It’s disrespectful to skilled trades to EXCLUDE them from apprenticeship policy. They will KNOW if they’re excluded from their own trades.
Congress got input from Ivanka Trump, Betsy DeVos and CEO’s. Not one of those people has ever worked in a trade or even KNOW anyone who works in a trade.
They’ll ruin the many existing apprenticeship programs in the US and replace them with cheap, cut rate garbage cooked up by people who have no interest in this other than race to the bottom wages. Please, just find something else to do. Don’t take one of the few bright spots in the US landscape for young people who don’t go to college and turn it into gimmicky, trendy garbage.
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When faced with resistance from parents and/or communities, the billionaires try to blame all those “union agitators,”even when unions have little to do with the opposition. Unions are a convenient scapegoat for corporate privatizers. The good news is that more people are catching on to the lies.
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Corporate reformers are Goli
aethFixed.
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“David and Golieth’s”
Reformers are Golieth
They lieth like a rug
And Dave should never buyeth
Golieth’s lying mug
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I love you, SomeDAM Poet. Truly awesome.
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A wonderful post with some great links to show the hypocrisy of Jeanne Allen and the super-rich who want to get rid of democratic governance and collective bargaining.
Should I pity the billionaires and millionaires who think they have a right to control the education of children in addition to monetizing and privatizing every public space and activity? Not at all.
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There are many legitimate “Davids” and they are in the classrooms all over this country. Teachers, combined with concerned parents, are a force to be reckoned with. The time to take a stand beyond words, is now.
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A few big piglets trying to suckle at the teat of public education. Taking those monies for profit off the backs of the most innocent in society, the children. Blood sucking leeches would be a nice term to describe the Broads, Waltons, Gates, Allens, and their bought off paid whores in the media and “philanthrofoundations”.
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