John Merrow asks, who makes the rules? Who decides? He describes the many elementary classrooms he has visited over the course of his four decade career. Usually there is a posted set of rules for behavior. Not at all complicated. Some classrooms, however, have rules that the children devise, which end up looking very similar to the rules posted in other classrooms. It seems everyone wants an atmosphere of respect and good behavior in which to learn and play.
But then, he says, there are the “no excuses” charter schools, which have long lists of offenses that can bring suspension, even expulsion. He uses Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy as a leading example of a punitive environment where children learn to follow orders without question.
The flip side, the draconian opposite that gives children no say in the process, can be found in charter schools that subscribe to the ‘no excuses’ approach. The poster child is Eva Moskowitz and her Success Academies, a chain of charter schools in New York City. A few years ago on my blog I published Success Academies’ draconian list of offenses that can lead to suspension, about 65 of them in all. Here are three that can get a child as young as five a suspension that can last as long as five days: “Slouching/failing to be in ‘Ready to Succeed’ position” more than once, “Getting out of one’s seat without permission at any point during the school day,” and “Making noise in the hallways, in the auditorium, or any general building space without permission.” Her code includes a catch-all, vague offense that all of us are guilty of at times, “Being off-task.” You can find the entire list here.
(Side note: the federal penitentiary that I taught in had fewer rules.)
Does being able to help decide, when you are young, the rules that govern you determine what sort of person you become? Schools are famously undemocratic, so could a little bit of democracy make a difference? Too many schools, school districts, and states treat children as objects–usually scores on some state test–and children absorb that lesson.
Fast forward to adulthood: Why do many adults just fall in line and do pretty much what they are told to do? I am convinced that undemocratic schools–that quench curiosity and punish skepticism–are partially responsible for the mess we are in, with millions of American adults accepting without skepticism or questioning the lies and distortions of Donald Trump, Fox News, Alex Jones, Briebart, and some wild-eyed lefties as well.
The question, I suppose, is whether a democratic society wants “discipline” or “self-discipline.”
Go to The Merrow Report to find this article. I could not create a link for some reason.
You can try this link:
i know I sound like a broken record, but was Merrow “just following orders” when he aired the live firing of a principal? Or did he do that on his own initiative?
Ha ha ha.
That was exactly the same question that popped into my mind before I read your comments, Dienne.
Me, too.
By filming and then airing the firing of the principal, Merrow encouraged Rhees dispicable behavior.
There’s lots of stuff that people will watch if you give them the chance including executions, but that does not mean a journalist should be airing it.
Importantly, at the time Merrow aired that segment, he was still very much a supporter of what Rhee was doing.
Or was he swallowing orders?
I’m guessing that he got sucked into it without realizing until in the midst of it, if then, how horrible it was. You can say the same thing for everyone involved in the segment. What made them all go along? What narrative did they buy into without really examining it? That is a question we seem to have to ask daily. How many times do you find yourself saying, “What were you thinking?” knowing full well that the answer is, “Not much.” How many times do you find yourself on the admitting end that thought wasn’t much involved in your behavior? I am a card carrying member of the foot in mouth club, and there is certainly more than enough that I have no business opining on. Feel free to point out my missteps as you see them, but please know I try to be on the side of angels. Unfortunately, that isn’t always as obvious or easy as I would like.
I don’t think Merrow ever thought (or still thinks) it was “horrible”. He has said how it was “great fun” covering Michelle Rhee, and I believe he specifically included that event.
Dienne
Merrows “it was great fun covering Michelle Rhee” comment did indeed refer specifically to her on air firing of the principal.
That’s a very weird comment for anyone to make (indicating enjoyment at others expense), but it is especially weird for someone who is supposed to be a journalist.
No real journalist would ever make such a comment because it indicates a profound bias.
The scene, which I remember well, was disgusting and showed Rhee as a cruel, heartless person.
As for Merrow’s comment, I assume he meant that she was “fun to cover” because she was a showman, an actress, a wild card, someone who was so unpredictable that you never knew what she would do next. That doesn’t mean that he thought that she was adorable while she fired the principal, but that she was not boring. It must be fun–in a horrifying way–to cover Trump because you never know what idiocy will come from his mouth next.
I’m not a journalist, but if I were, I’m pretty sure I could find a way to cover Trump in a way that would show how horrible he is without specifically giving him a platform to do horrible things on national TV.
Anytime you show Trump and allow him to speak, which you pretty much have to do to cover him, you facilitate his vitriol.
I think there’s a difference between allowing Trump to spew and show how horrible he is, vs. Merrow letting Rhee do something specifically horrible to a specific person who had to endure one of their most painful and humiliating moments on national television.
Merrow didn’t “let” Rhee do it. She was intent on firing the principal and she invited him to film it. I can’t think of any minute in her life in which she put her inhumanity on display with more clarity.
I don’t blame John for filming it. The principal’s face was hidden. Filming it was like taking a picture of a brutal execution or some other gruesome scene. It revealed Rhee. It certainly didn’t make her look good.
Perhaps we should let Merrow speak for himself:
“It was great fun following her for 3 years on the News Hour, all twelve segments are posted on the News Hour, including the one where she fired someone, she let us film that…”
At 3:45
Not my idea of great fun.
Nor mine. Like Leni Reifenstal.
Okay, so Merrow is an irredeemable scumbag. What incident in your lifetime defines you as a worthless human being from which no matter what you do (or have done) in the following five or ten years still defines you by your worst? I’ll admit that I have never participated in what amounts to an example of extreme bullying as a perpetrator or a bystander. I was a target as a kid and still have no fondness for the bully or those who stood by. I don’t expect that principal to ever feel great fondness for Merrow, so I understand your dislike of him. So don’t like him, but don’t dismiss the work he has done since he reversed his stance.
Do you feel the same great animosity for those who had to support or participate in that report? should they all be dismissed from their jobs?
I will defend John Merrow. I think he was wrong about Rhee for a long time. Too long. But in his last PBS special “The Education of Michelle Rhee,” he exposed her as a cheat. Some here want a public confession of error. He is not going to do it.
I was wrong for many years. I said again and again, “I was wrong.” I have taken up arms to fight policies I once advocated.
But I am not as swift to judge people who have stopped sinning. I am just glad to have John on our side and I won’t demand that he make a public statement of repentance as I did.
Thank you, Diane. My comment was made out of frustration. If we want to change people’s minds and hearts, we cannot vilify them over past mistakes every time they do something in support of public education. Who in their right mind is going to actively support someone who kicks them every time they open their mouth? Is it any wonder that we all aren’t out on the street confessing our past sins?
Thank you, spedukr!
Merrow made mistakes but filming the firing is what journalists do. It would have been wrong for Merrow to cover Rhee – even if he thought she was terrible – and decide to edit out the firing because it made her look bad. Merrow made a flip and insensitive remark about covering Rhee and some posters seem intent on mischaracterizing him as unrepentent when he has spent the last years trying to bring light to very important issues.
There are people here who posted over and over in 2016 that Trump was absolutely no worse than the evil HRC who needed to be stopped from being elected at any cost.
Two far right Supreme Court Justices and hundreds of other far right federal judges later – lifetime terms! – not to mention the myriad of destructive policies that may take decades to clean up – I think we can all safely say they were wrong. They made a mistake. They did not apologize nor admit their mistake.
Nonetheless like John Merrow, the people who were wrong then have many good ideas and good perspectives on educational issues which I am glad they feel comfortable sharing and defending. I would just ask them not to demand apologies from people who have been wrong in the past because it seems rather hypocritical. Merrow was wrong about Rhee and never apologized for it. Other people were wrong about Trump and never apologized. We are all human (I hope). The point is whether NOW they keep doubling down on how wrong they were or if they’ve joined the reality based world. And Merrow has.
Thank you for your sincere expression. There will be NOTHING THAT CAN BE absolute right or wrong in all matters on earth.
There is hardly either civilized or savage like black or white; The truth in reality that we have many shade of gray color from the mix-up BETWEEN intellect and experience.
You can criticize my following to Dr. Ravitch’s intellect and experience in history and education. Some educator thinks that I am a troll because I admire Dr. Ravitch.
IMHO, whenever I admire a person, I will only find the best in everything that he/she writes, talks, sings and suggests. I will definitely love to repeat everything that I admire about.
In short, I admire that you have a courage to admit that you agree with Dr. Ravitch’s defense for about a journalist’s past mistake, Mr. Merrow. I hope that you will watch the attached link about the New York Congresswoman AOC from 46:01 to 48:15. Back2basic
Please note that nobody is perfect, BUT we admire people who sincere and enthusiastic in lifting up spirit of compassion to all. Mostly, we NEVER take for a granted of our degree, privilege, and experience to put down or isolate others.
“Why do many adults just fall in line and do pretty much what they are told to do? …with millions of American adults accepting without skepticism or questioning the lies and distortions of Donald Trump, Fox News, Alex Jones, Briebart, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan and some wild-eyed lefties as well.”
Fixed it for John.
I’m sure there was probably a time just a few short years ago ( when Diane was criticizing Rhee and Merrow was still cheerleading for Rhee) when John Merrow considered Diane Ravitch a ” wild eyed leftie”
Yes, SDP, there was such a time. I’m not sure what characterization of Rhee he used, but there was a long period when Rhee was the hero of the media, including Merrow. She was great “copy.” When I wrote “Reign of Error,” I began reading all the clips about Rhee so I could write a chapter about her, and it is funny (and awful) to see the articles in journals like The Atlantic, Time, Newsweek, etc. where she was hailed as the AOC of education. Every word out of her mouth was treated as a pearl of wisdom (teachers need to be fired now!) and think tanks were slobbering over her.
My wonderful Rhee story happened after she left DC and was a freelance celebrity on the lecture trail. Lehigh University in Pennsylvania wanted us to debate. Each of us had lecture agents, and they negotiated the terms. Rhee said, yes, but she wanted a second. I agreed. Then Rhee said she needed a third, and I agreed. Then she canceled. I went to Lehigh and staged a mock debate, playing her and me. I won the debate.
Is Wild-eyed leftie” one of those objective categories that good journalists come up with?
Sounds more like a label like “conspiracy theorist” whose only purpose is to dismiss the arguments of a person out of hand without due (or any) consideration whatsoever.
Diane.
It’s funny
In that same video, just before Merrows “it was great fun following Rhee” ( about 3:27)
Merrow said
One blogger said “she’s a blip, she’ll be forgotten, she’s just a BIZNess model of education that never works”
Sounds like he was referring to you, and quite dismissively, especially when he turned up his nose and said BiZness model.
Of course, whoever that blogger was, they were right and Merrow was wrong.
Ha ha ha!
Haha, I’m still here and Rhee is gone but not quite forgotten. Those who remember her think of her with distaste if not contempt. She lives on in the hearts of those she abused. People will have to read my books in the future to find out who she was. Books are a form of immortality.
Speduktr
I agree that everyone falls into this at times.
But there are a couple major differences between Merrow and the rest of us:
Merrow is supposed to be a journalist, who is PAID specifically to question (or at least supposed to be paid on that basis). Merrow got well over. Million dollars from PBS for his coverage of Rhee. No Small potatoes and no small difference from the average Joe.
Second, Merrow had a very large audience via PBS and therefore had a responsibility to question and challenge Rhees claims from the getgo.
John Merrow never even repented as far as I am aware.
🙂 🙂
How much of “no excuses” is actually some theory of education? It also operates as a very effective sorting mechanism, does it not?
I mean, my public school could do this. Develop a long list of reasons students should be kicked out. Our test scores would definitely go up if we booted the bottom quarter. However. We’re not in NYC so if we did that 25% of our students would have nowhere to go, so we can’t.
Moskowitz can only do this because she operates in a huge city with compact geography and a built-in “back up” of public schools. Success Charters are wholly dependent on the public school system. Moskowitz should be thanking public schools every day. She could not operate her boutique chain of schools without a public system backup. Public schools could operate without Success- they could start and run a “magnet” no excuses model, which is essentially what Moskowitz is doing. Success can’t function without public schools. One of these two systems needs the other and it isn’t public schools that need charters. Charters need public schools.
This, exactly! Thank you
A lot of parents WANT public schools to expel higher-needs children or children that don’t fit into a definition.
This is a constant theme at our public school. About a quarter of our parents would LOVE if public schools were exclusive, as long as their child wasn’t expelled.
Our school had two tracks, for years. They literally referred to them as Team A and Team B. The Team A parents did not want the Team B kids in classes with their kids.
If we had a Success Charter here the students with the highest test scores and least behavioral issues would immediately transfer, leaving the public schools with less funding and a much bigger job.
This is ignored in ed reform, but any parent who has actually been involved with a public school has seen this dynamic play out.
We have a private school here that is generally considered less strong than the public school. The parents who enroll their children there will tell you straight out that they go there because the public school kids are NOT there. That it’s exclusive IS THE POINT.
Let it be engraved in stone above the doors to these schools, ‘Keep the students cowering’, and ‘The punishment and testing will continue until morale improves’.
When I read this awful stuff, I remember how this county was stolen and innocent people killed because they were not the preferred race.
You know: Manifest Destiny. https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/manifest-destiny
And this: https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/jan-17-1893-hawaiian-monarchy-overthrown-by-america-backed-businessmen/
MLK on slavery in America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqIrT5zjNeA
Our young need to know OUR country’s history or the fallacies will continue.
I really don’t understand all this knee-jerk consistent vitriol against Merrow. He made some mistakes and he’s now working to make amends. He obviously has good observations to make, which is why Diane posts his comments. Yet to read the sarcastic criticisms of him, you’d think he was the same as Campbell Brown.
As songwriter/singer Bill Callahan has observed, America is a place “where everyone’s allowed a past they don’t care to mention.” If one used the same standard on Diane that is used with Merrow, then we should dismiss all her work of the past 15 years or so. And while I’m not religious, I’ve read enough of the Bible to remember and learn from the story of how Saul became St. Paul. Yet it seems that some clamor relentlessly to throw the first stone. They must have pasts that are immaculate. Count me out on this relentless storyline.
First, making amends starts with admitting what you’ve done wrong. Merrow has never done this – he’s simply pretended he was on our side all along. He’s never even had the decency to admit that firing the principal on air was wrong, much less apologize to said principal.
Second, just because you change your stripes doesn’t necessarily mean you get out of what you have coming for what you did before. God essentially say to Paul, glad to have you on board, but because of what you’ve done, you’ll be persecuted the rest of your life.
Great to see you’re also an infallible expert in mind-reading, discerning motives, and theology! Duly noted.
Ugh, God said to Paul….
As far as I know, God never told Paul he would be persecuted for his past sins. He was persecuted for spreading the gospel, for being a follower of Jesus.
Eva Moskowitz, Jeb Bush, Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Reed Hastings, the Walmart Waltons, Doris Fisher, all hedge fund managers… are true enemies of democratic society. I will always call them out by name as my enemies. Not opponents, but enemies they are. There are many, however, who have in the past supported corporate deform who are willing to change. I welcome the change.
I’d generally rather talk about ideas than about people.
The idea that no excuses charters are a form of racist, classist oppression is correct. Corporate charters should not exist, and no excuses corporate charters are beyond reproach. It is entirely true that treating children as prisoners doesn’t prepare them for “college and career”, but prepares them only for prison. The idea is right. Forget the messenger if the message is true.
#1. When one is sorry they claim responsibility, then apologize and atone for their sin.
#2. Merrow is sitting on the board on an “independent” charter school and he has blogged about it and is very happy to support it. Granted, it is run by teachers, but we all know what happens when there is no accountability for those public tax dollars.
Has he not learned any lessons in all his years of education reporting?
Merrow and sorrow
Will never be friends
Cuz Merrow’s tomorrow
On blockout depends
and #3…he supports Ted Dintersmith and loves his book.
While I do not condone the multitude of draconian rule governing the tiny behaviors of young people, I hasten to defend the semi-dictatorship of schools.
When student behavior impedes learning, we do not need due process. What we need is for teachers, who know what they need from student behavior, to get that behavior without having to become hitlerian.
But the kids themselves want a safe and orderly environment to learn in, at least in general. If you allow the kids to make their own rules, you almost invariably find they make pretty much the same rules the adults would impose on them. And if they’re allowed to make their own rules, it’s much easier to enforce said rules. “We all agreed….”
It’s like saying “I don’t want to give up monarchy because if you let people govern themselves, it will be sheer chaos”. When, in fact, the opposite is true. The more people are allowed to govern themselves, the safer and more ordered things become because that’s what people want for themselves, and when they choose their own rules they have nothing to rebel against.
I just completed a course entitled “Crime & Punishment,” which was a comparison/discussion/readings on the differences in Torah law & civilian laws in the present, & how the U.S. treats criminals. (In attendance were also some lawyers & 2 judges, so it was extremely interesting.) It brought to mind that when I was teaching L.D. resource students in a pull-out setting, we set up a peer court. A female student who was the judge (&, damn, I hope she actually DID become one–she was GOOOD!)–she was the first to raise her hand–handed down some wicked good judgements, & there was great thought & deliberation by the jurors as well. The “criminal” (someone disrupting the class, teasing other students, etc.) was really shaking in his/her boots., & not one EVER misbehaved for the entire year!
One of my favorites of teaching…& learning from my students.
Kids have a better sense of justice than us wussy adults. They believe in punishment!
To people who are at the age of 65 and more:
Thank you Dr. Ravitch and all conscientious veteran educators in this specific educational blog who have been endlessly support Public Education. Most of all, I have been well cultivated to really care about PUBLIC EDUCATION with wrap around services FOR ALL in K-12 system.
I hope that all veteran EDUCATORS from PUBLIC SCHOOLS and from PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS will self- reflect their own learning and working PRIORITIES.
Why would some educational leaders and governors allow or accept “charters managed by foreign entities” LIKE “Gulen Magnolia Charter” to INVADE AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM?
REGARDLESS OF all cultural and educational specific expertise BACKGROUNDS, would you recognize that we cannot carry with us EXCEPT our own DIGNITY AND CONTENTMENT WHEN WE DEPART THIS LIFE ON EARTH?
I am really interested in understanding about THE TRUE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ALL SENTIENT BEINGS who always have:
– one brain – one heart – one lung, and the same color in blood except HAVING THE BEST NORTH AMERICAN BELIEF IN HUMANITY FOR ALL.
If we stop breathing, eating, drinking, urinating, or releasing bowel movement, then we will stop living. So why do we use our privileges like higher degree, better career, and more money to take an advantage of the lesser? What kind of dignity and contentment that we will leave behind after death? Will our children and grand-children appreciate our greed, ignorance, and savage?
In short, we inherit THE BEST NORTH AMERICAN BELIEF IN HUMANITY FOR ALL.
Don’t we need to sustain and maintain THE BEST NORTH AMERICAN BELIEF IN HUMANITY FOR ALL for many upcoming YOUNG GENERATIONS? Back2basic