Bill Bennett was Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Education. He went on to become a multimillionaire from the royalties “The Book of Virtues” and other books. He is a hero to conservatives and homeschooling families, even though he admitted that he has a serious gambling habit, gambling millions of dollars. After the gambling story came out in 2000, he cut back on the moralizing.
But now he is back, chastising teachers for hurting children by striking. Bennett wrote an article in Education Week with Karen Nussle, president of Conservative Leaders for Education, an organization I never heard of. They speak out against striking teachers.
They warn that continued strikes will turn the public against public schools, but they don’t admit that they don’t believe in public schools and are devoted to vouchers and choice, like DeVos.
Here comes the moralizing:
“There is a fundamental problem in education that has been on vivid display recently: confusion about whom our schools exist to serve. Our public school system exists to give our children a foundation in literacy and numeracy and to help them become informed citizens. It is not the purpose of the public schools to use children as leverage for the gains of others.
“Only that base misconception could drive mass school closures and disruptions right in the midst of a critical time in the school year. Only that misconception could lead adults to go on strike, thrusting chaos and untenable choices on the most vulnerable families least able to cope with abrupt changes in the routines of their children.
“When coal miners strike they lay down their equipment. When teachers strike, they lay down their students’ minds.”
We strongly believe in the importance and honor of great teaching and teachers. We believe policymakers should set budgets so that the best teachers are attracted and retained. Those decisions must be made at each state and district level.
“We strongly disagree that adults in our public schools should use systematic disruption of students and families—that is, strikes or walkouts—as a tactic to secure financial outcomes. There are several basic reasons for this:
First, abrupt school closure interrupts and damages the progress of students. We either believe that school and teaching time matters, or we do not. Teaching time does matter, and we should be very reluctant to interrupt it. Strikes (and walkouts) do exactly that. When coal miners strike they lay down their equipment. When teachers strike, they lay down their students’ minds.”
Second, they write, teachers should act like professionals. Professionals don’t strike. Professionals politely ask for higher compensation.
When you are a multimillionaire, it’s easy to sneer at people earning $40,000 a year and working two or three jobs to make ends meet.
Hypocrisy is not virtuous.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I remember years ago when William Bennet labeled Chicago schools as the worst in the nation. He’s fine with slamming schools but offers no help to those who are struggling from the affects of poverty.
I looked up “William Bennett Quotes” and found these doozies. [Looks like Trump wasn’t the only one to pick a bigoted incompetent for Secretary of Education.]
“I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could – if that were your sole purpose – you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.”
“Our schools should get five years to get back to where they were in 1963. If they’re still bad maybe we should declare educational bankruptcy, give the people their money and let them educate themselves and start their own schools”
“When we were attacked on Sept. 11, we knew the main reason for the attack was that Islamists hated our way of life, our virtues, our freedoms. What we never imagined was that the free press – an institution at the heart of those virtues and freedoms – would be among the first to surrender.”
If William Bennett’s mother had aborted him, the nitwit rate would have gone down for sure.
This guy was paid by the Koch bros to put out this fake news. Simple deduction. Gambling debts you say? No problem the Koch bros are her to help.
Just write a bogus fake news story about hurting teachers and make them look silly so the public goes against them and well give you some $$$$$$$! yeah debt paid off.
After the gambling story came out in 2000, he cut back on the moralizing.”
The gambling problem must have been very bad indeed if someone like Benett chose to cut back on moralizing rather than gambling.
I wonder if he now attends Moralizers Anonymous meetings.
According to the New York Times story I linked, he lost $8 million gambling in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. But he replied that he also won a lot. Unrepentant.
Denial by addicted gamblers is how casinos stay in business.
I used to work in the gaming industry. Of course, there are compulsive gamblers, who are addicted to the “rush” of gaming. But you are mistaken, if you think that casinos, etc. are dependent on compulsives to remain in business.
Casinos love winners. The house takes a percentage on the games in their house. The percentage is usually between .5% and 1.5% . The house has an advantage in all of the games, and they get their “cut” whether a person wins or loses.
The mainstay of casino gaming, is the casual weekend gamer, the retired person who gambles $200 or so on a weekend, the housewife who can stop by during the daytime. The tourist who only goes to a casino once or twice a year.
Saying that casinos depend on compulsives to remain in business, is like saying that liquor stores depend on alcoholics to remain in business.
Compulsive gamblers and compulsive alcoholics and compulsive drug addicts forfeit the right to lecture others about ethics an morality.
Who does he have to “repent” to? He is a grown man, and he gambled away his own money, of his own free will, and then he “outed” himself. Furthermore, he got the help and counseling that he needed to contain the addiction.
When did he “out” himself as a compulsive gambler? Please document your claim.
Of course, Charles, you worked in the gambling industry.
You’ve done everything, been everyone, worked with everyone in the private and public sector, been married to everyone, have had every illness in the world, and have overcome every type of tragedy from natural disasters to international terrorism to QVC scams to internet dating stalkers whose picutres never matched their persona.
You are such a know it all, and you know it ALL the time.
HOW do you do it? It’s, like, preternatural.
Wow! You’re SO cool.
I wanna be like you!
SO amazing!!!!!!
Groovy and intelligent!
I call for a Charles pride parade with Charles as the grand marshall.
Charles, are you in?
I’M in!!!
Yes, & then he wrote this so-called book of “ethics” for children (to make some money, because, boo-hoo, he’d lost $8 mill.). Which–in & of itself–was unethical; all the stories were basically cribbed from others (amongst them, Aesop’s Fables). He put them together as the “editor.” I’ll never forget how much we razzed a colleague who was a sucker & had bought the book to read to her students!
I am not 100% certain that Mr. Bennett “outed” himself on his gambling problems. I do know that it became public around 2003. His gambling never put himself nor his family in financial jeapordy. Read more about it at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett
https://www.weeklystandard.com/jonathan-v-last/bill-bennetts-gambling-problem
You didn’t read the post. The linked article in The NY Times was published in 2000 as an expose. Bennett did not tell the media that he lost $8 Million as a gambler. Someone told.
Maybe his wife did.
“It is not the purpose of the public schools to use children as leverage for the gains of others.”
In this moralizing statement meant to slam teachers, Bennett is describing the essence of “reform.” We have seen legislatures deny governors a budget unless they agree to charter expansion. We have seen mayors close functioning public schools and ignore protests. We have seen rules requiring the bottom 5% of students on tests be sacrificed to privatization while protests are ignored. We have seen unscientific and capricious evaluation systems that have caused teachers to lose jobs. We have seen too much harm and damage from forced privatization, and students have not even been considered. “Reform” is a corrupt political snake pit with extortion, pay to play and heedless disruption as its typical tools. Bennett can keep his moralizing to himself!
THANK YOU!!! That was the sentence that made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention.
That sentence describes all the experiments on “other people’s children” as perpetrated for–what–two decades?–by reformers like Eli Broad, Bill Gates & the usual suspects. Oh, & Pear$on, of cour$e, doing some psychological mumbo-jumbo (w/o any parental permission whatsoever) in their last test sessions, as described in an earlier post on this blog. Not to mention the years of lousy, invalid, unreliable & pointless te$t$ & te$t preps.
The reformers have done nothing BUT “u$e children as leverage for the gain$ of other$.”
Wonder how much he was paid by Ed. Week, because I don’t imagine he’d give ANY of his rock-solid, virtuous “advice” for free.
Is this gasbag still emitting exhaust? I say to him: enough, sir!
“There is a fundamental problem in education that has been on vivid display recently: confusion about whom our schools exist to serve. Our public school system exists to give our children a foundation in literacy and numeracy and to help them become informed citizens. It is not the purpose of the public schools to use children as leverage for the gains of others.” — William Bennett’s
“Only that base misconception could drive mass school closures and disruptions right in the midst of a critical time in the school year”
abrupt school closure interrupts and damages the progress of students. We either believe that school and teaching time matters, or we do not. Teaching time does matter, and we should be very reluctant to interrupt it [eg, with standardized testing]
“We strongly disagree that adults in our public schools should use systematic disruption of students and families…”
Is he referring to charter operators?, tech company CEO’s? Wall Street hedge fund operators? billionaires? or just “Reformers” in general?
Teaching time does matter, but at this point in the year most students are watching the clock and marking time. The teachers were most considerate to walk out near the end of the year. If they really were vicious, they would have walked out in October or during standardized testing.
I just noticed that you noted the same thing I did above: that Bennett is essentially describing (albeit unwittingly) the “disruption for the gain of others,” that is at the core of “reform”
Bennett’s entire statement is very ironic.
Good catch!
“If they really were vicious, they would have walked out in October or during standardized testing.”
I think walking out for a good cause sets a good example for kids. Taking abuse from politicians without acting is a bad example for kids.
Hence walking out in April or October makes no difference. The lesson is the same and it’s a valuable lesson.
Glad to see that Bennett still has the “virtue” and stamina to pull himself away from the slots and attack teachers.
And please tell me again why anything this pathological specimen has to say should be published, let alone listened to.
Ask the editors of Education Week. Since EdWeek is partially funded by Walton, that may be the answer.
The comments on EdWeek blast the editors for publishing the non-sense. A dozen comments there so far and all are negative, with excellent points.
How do you know he pulled himself away from the slots?
He could have dictated that to his smart phone. One hand holding the phone, the other on the lever and eyes on the fruits.
When the rich drop their tax burdens, they lay down students’ minds.
Rick Hess wrote a version of this, but unlike Bennet’s, Hess’s even goes so far as to claim that actually the phenomenon of parents and citizens turning against striking teachers has already happened. He cherry-picks anecdotal quotes from un-named parents as the data backing this up:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2018/05/teacher_strikes_morph_from_pocketbook_clash_to_partisan_street_theater.html
Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, the public in each of the states with striking teachers is still backing the teachers in their goals and demands in percentages ranging from 70-85%, depending on the state.
What is WRONG with those people?
Hess is not covering what’s really happening, but trying to create a reality through this article that parents and the public are turning against traditional public school teachers when in fact, they ain’t. If tens of millions of dollars to make and promote WAITING FOR SUPERMAN and WON’T BACK DOWN couldn’t pull off this feat, I don’t think bought-and-paid-for pieces by Hess and the rest of these corporate whore-wonks isn’t going to work either.
Oh, and I tried to leave a snarky post in the COMMENTS section of Hess’ screed, but it was predictably deleted.
However, for your enjoyment, I saved it and am posting it now:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
CORPORATE MASTER: (out to Privatize Schools): “Get Hess in here! On the double!”
(RICK HESS runs in the office.)
RICK HESS: (almost out of breath) “Yeah, boss?”
CORPORATE MASTER: “I need you to write an article that claims that parents and citizens are now turning against striking teachers! I figure that if we get enough pieces like this out there, we can make it happen for real.”
RICK HESS: “That’s just so crazy it might work.”
CORPORATE MASTER: “Make sure you cherry pick enough stuff to make it sell.”
RICK HESS: (enthusiastic smile) “I’m on it boss!”
(RICK HESS runs to his laptop and starts typing furiously)
(I know you guys monitoring the EdWeek COMMENTS section are going to delete this ASAP, but I couldn’t help myself. Best of luck to you either way! Cheers!)
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
I seriously doubt the average person even knows who Rick Hess is.
He’s essentially a nobody writing drivel for an extremist right wing propaganda outlet (AEI) that most people have never even heard of.
In short, he is irrelevant and I suspect he even knows it at this poinf.
Jack, what’s the source of your numbers on public support for teachers?
“Hess is not covering what’s really happening, but trying to create a reality…” SO many long years of exactly this in our national media: citizens allowed to hear endlessly about the false “failing” schools narrative and only briefly, if ever, about the possibility that the public school system has crucial merit.
“Professionals don’t strike. Professionals politely ask for higher compensation.”
Yeah, and this approach works … NEVER.
This reminds me of the hypocrisy advanced by Fox News commentators during the 2008 recession. Protesting teachers in Wisconsin were portrayed as selfish, self-serving and unappreciative of their privileged position which earned them $70k a year plus benefits. Within weeks the channel’s commentators were defending the Wall Street bonuses funded by the government’s TARP bailout. After all they argued, $250k a year while living in NY and putting two kids in college “is not a lot of money.” Those bonuses, they pointed out, were contractual obligations that could not be broken. A position they argued weeks after advocating that teacher contracts should be broken for the good of the Wisconsin citizens. They then had the gall to point out that if you wanted talented people on Wall Street and in banking, you had to pay them the big bucks. Perhaps this is the acid test for true supporters of public education: are you willing to pay teachers the “big bucks” that will attract the most talented people into that profession as well?
Good memory of a tough time! It was hard to watch the Democrats ignore the plight of the Wisconsin teachers while they implemented the Wall St. bailout and jailed none of the big fraudsters.
Ugh, Bill Bennett, I had forgotten all about this right wing/libertarian gargoyle. When teachers politely asked for better working conditions they were ignored or laughed at. Teachers don’t want to go on strike but after decades of being ignored and dumped on, the only way to get the attention of the local school boards and administrators is the strike. Bennett mentions coal miners as if he gives a damn about them. Coal miners had to shed blood before their right to strike was even recognized; the troops were called out on striking miners, they were shot, gassed and even bombed in pursuit of better wages and work conditions. Bill Bennett and Don Blankenship, perfect together.
Was there any connection between Bennett and the Sizer report (a recent subject here)?
If I’d been found to have a serious gambling program, and had suggested that aborting all “black babies” was the solution to reducing crime rates, I’d probably take a knee on the moralizing. But that’s just me.
This is a little off topic but I think it is important. We need more people who stand up against our Great Leader who lies repeatedly and then Tweets something nasty if he’s called out for his acts.
………
BREAKING NEWS…NYT
Rex Tillerson issued a thinly veiled rebuke of President Trump, saying the U.S. is threatened by a “growing crisis in ethics and integrity”
Wednesday, May 16, 2018 5:22 PM EST
In what appeared to be a rebuke of President Trump, former Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson warned on Wednesday that American democracy is threatened by a “growing crisis in ethics and integrity.”
“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom,” he said in a commencement address at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va…
Well, Tillerson should know all about that “accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts” like maybe the amount of oil spilled in any one of many spills, eh??
This is a disaster…money for nuclear weapons, fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Now we can rest in peace knowing that there is a good chance we’ll have more nuclear weapons and more fossil fuels. They also don’t want money for energy efficiency or renewable energy programs.
Don’t these idiots ever think about anything but more money for corporations ? Nope. $$$ for the wealthy and screw everyone else.
………………………………………………….
HOUSE PANEL PASSES $44.7B ENERGY, WATER SPENDING BILL: The House’s appropriations bill for the Energy Department and water development advanced Wednesday when the House Appropriations Committee passed it 29 to 20.
The bill for fiscal 2019 would give a $1.5 billion boost over the previous year, focused in areas like nuclear weapons, fossil fuels, nuclear energy and the Army Corps of Engineers’ infrastructure projects. The total cost of the bill is $8.2 billion above Trump’s request…
The panel defeated proposed amendments from Democrats that would have restored funding levels for the Energy Department’s energy efficiency and renewable energy programs and the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E)…
Sad, actually worse than sad.
Yeh, you just gotta love T- Rex Tillerson lecturing ANYoNE about reality and truth when he once headed Exxon-Mobil, who denied and whose policies ignored the reality of human caused climate change for DECADes, in direct contradiction with what their own scientists were saying internally.
YEP!
“Professionals don’t strike. Professionals politely ask for higher compensation.”
Reading between the lines:
Wage slaves do not strike. They ask politicly for higher pay and then we fire the messenger to spread fear among the rest of the wage slaves so they fall into line and shut up. Then we will punish the wage slaves we didn’t fire by increasing the workday to 12 hours for the same pay we gave them for 8 hours of work. In fact, we will charge them for the paper and toner we buy for the copy machines.
I read that’s what the coal mines did before labor unions. The coal mine owners paid about $3 for a 12-hour work day and then subtracted all by two cents by charging the workers for the tools they used, tools that belonged to the coal mine owner. The workers were not allowed to bring their own tools to work.
Two cents a day.
Bennett’s book is titled “The Book of Virtues.”
By a VERY virtuous person.
&–BTW–carolmalaysia–I had the exact same first reaction you had–I will NEVER forget him pointing his finger (at a press conference at some lux downtown Chicago hotel–certainly not at a Chicago Public School!), blustering, “Chicago has the WORST schools in the nation!” & my immediate thought was, “Yeah, & what are you gonna do about it?”
(Nothing, of course, other than point a finger.)
Good G-d, as Sec. of Ed., it was the man’s JOB (salary paid by we, the people) to traverse the country & HELP those schools–in other words, WORK…earn his keep.
I thought he was the worst Sec. of Ed. ever.
Until Arne Duncan, that is.
If given enough time, until Betsy DeVos, eh!
And the worsts had a summit too to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Big Lie, The Nation at Risk. Imagine all the brain power together!
https://www.the74million.org/a-nation-at-risk-turns-35-schools-leaders-led-by-five-former-education-department-secretaries-headline-summit-on-tract-that-launched-a-movement/
Brain power?
Certainly not enough to light a small LED, eh!
The title should have been “Book of Vultures”
Wasn’t Bennett one of the heroes behind the Nation at Risk era, which now turned out to be a big lie? So why believe anything such a big liar says?
No, Bennett was not Secretary at time of Nation at Risk. Terrell Bell was. Bennett was at the National Humanities Center.