This came from a reader:
A talking pineapple standing on a ziggurat sees a half built plane flying through the air and losing altitude. The plane has three people, the smartest man in the world, a hippie, and a pilot, but only two parachutes. Who should go? Obviously the smartest man says he should. That leaves the pilot and the hippie and the pilot asks if they should flip a coin. The hippie says, “we can both go, the smartest man in the world just jumped out with my backpack.”
I hope Norm Scott, retired New York City teacher, blogger,
and videographer, will forgive me for posting this hilarious
satire, rather than merely putting up a link. The unwritten rule of
the blogosphere is that you post the link so the other person, who
wrote it, gets traffic. Please
open this link and give Norm the traffic he deserves. You
will enjoy his site, which reflects his wisdom and wit. This is
what he wrote: “NY Times to Adopt TFA Model: Will Fire all
Reporters With More than 2 Years Experience” “Strong newspapers can
withstand the turnover of their reporters,” declared the Times on
its editorial page. “Experienced reporters grow tired and less
effective.” New reporters will undergo two and a half weeks of
training before being sent to locations like Syria and Egypt. An
extra week of training will be required to cover the White House.
“Novice reporters will receive constant feedback from their bureau
chiefs,” said the editorial. “Reporters with the lowest 20% of
readership of their articles will be terminated.” The Times will
adopt the “two claps and a sizzle” celebratory chant for reporters
whose stories go viral. The Times is actively searching for a 27
year old with at least 3 years on the job to run the
paper.
No doubt reacting to the news that New Hersey has selected an inexperienced young man with no obvious qualifications to run the Camden, New Jersey, public schools, EduShyster has concocted a hilarious parody in which she is the one hired for the job.
She acknowledges that she has no experience, has never run a school or a district, and has never set foot in Camden, but she insists that these are precisely the qualities that make her just right for the position.
Being a reformer means you need no experience. You need only high expectations and the right connections.
Here is the latest creative product of the BATs. It is their version of the Wizard of Oz.
Can you guess:
Who is innocent Dorothy?
Who is the Wicked Witch?
Who is the Good Witch?
Who is the Tin Man, who lacks a heart?
Who is the Scarecrow, who lacks a brain?
Who is the Cowardly Lion?
Who controls the Flying Monkeys?
And who is the Wizard of Oz?
You will definitely want to read Kris Neilson’s description of Michelle Rhee’s upcoming tour, where she will dialogue with teachers about how to have a great teacher in every classroom.
Rhee will hold “teacher town halls” in Birmingham, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
You won’t want to miss the chance to engage in candid dialogue with one of America’s most famous reformers, who will tell you how she was able to transform the public schools of the nation’s Capitol in less than four years.
What does The Onion think about Teach for America?
This article provides the young corps member’s view, and the reaction of a student.
I posted this when it first appeared, but it up is such a funny satire that I had to post it again.
Here is an idea: Monetize your son or daughter.
A reader suggests:
I am thinking maybe I should auction off the placement of my daughter, an excellent test taker with consistently high scores, to the highest bidding teacher.
The teacher gets to keep their job and I get to add to the college fund.
Win Win.
A new website called Cheats for Change has been created in the wake of the Tony Bennett scandal.
Please take a look. It is very funny.
For those of you who do not follow education politics closely, Cheats for Change is a parody of Jeb Bush’s group called Chiefs for Change.
Bush and his Foundation for Educational Excellence (FEE) created Chiefs for Change to advance the Jeb Bush agenda of charter schools, vouchers, testing, competition, accountability, removing teacher tenure, and replacing teachers with technology.
There are eight “chiefs for change” a la Jeb Bush and the Florida miracle.
Tony Bennett, who previously served as chair of Chiefs for Change.
The current chair is Hanna Skandera of New Mexico.
The other members of Chiefs for Change are:
John White of Louisiana
Stephen Bowen of Maine (he had a little problem about pushing online learning in Maine)
Deborah Gist of Rhode Island
Chris Cerf of New Jersey
Kevin Huffman of Tennessee
Janet Barresi of Oklahoma
These are the leading lights of the testing, choice, and privatization crowd. Two (White and Huffman) are TFA alumni. Three (Cerf , White, and Gist) are Broad Academy alumni.
Slate.com has created a device that will generate a pseudonym for you.
It is called the Carlos Danger Name Generator.
Click here to go to the site.
You too can have a really cool handle behind which you can do things that should remain secret.
Just for the record, my alternate name is Antonio Hazard.
What’s yours?
Read EduShyster as she takes you to the Lake Wobegon Academy of Excellence and Innovation.
That is a school where every single student is excellent!
Why?
Because every single teacher is excellent!
No more Bad teachers. No more “good” teachers.
And that is why every student is excellent!
No more median. At last, a school where No Child Is Left Behind, where every child Races to the Top and wins!
Don’t just take EduShyster’s word for it.
President Obama says it can be done. Secretary Duncan agrees. So does Jeb Bush. And Bill and Melinda Gates. And Eli Broad. And the Walton Family.
And they know, right?
Diane Ravitch's blog 