Smarmie Doofus
Smarmie Doofus's JournalTeachers: Why are you so pissed?
Here's why I am.
My reply to a poster in a "group" ( only the initiated see group postings; I want EVERYONE to see mine.)
Poster had asked why parents were unsympathetic to teachers. I said mine weren't and.........
Truth be told: they're not *enough* on our case. I'm in special ed so the dynamic may be different here than with most educators.
But I wish they'd insist on being MORE involved.
They want their kid to make progress and *I* want their kid to make progress. That's a powerful confluence of interests. We are... or should be.... natural allies.
What's the problem then?
The problem is as follows:
Mandates, rubrics, alternate assessment bureaucracy, redundant assessments of all varieties, crazy-ass mandated online curricula, crazy-ass scripted curricula, money paid under the table to ensure adoption of the foregoing, district administrators, school-based administrators, corporate $$$chool "reform", professional memo-writers, principals who fail to see that required services are delivered to handicapped students, contracts with elevator repair corporations who never quite manage to fix the elevator so that they keep getting called back to the tune of "mucho dinero", anti-unionism, half-baked teacher evaluation $cheme$, Arne Duncan, the idiotic insistence on micromanaging every aspect of classroom instruction ( including where one stands and where and when one moves) Bill Gates and predatory philanthropy, administrators who come to school late every day and leave early, economically comfy DEM politicians who enable all of the above but who can afford to send their kids to private schools where *none* of the foregoing goes on.
I could continue. You get the picture I hope. Boy.... that felt good.
Add to Journal Self-delete Edit
I do believe I'll add it to my journal. " 'Why'... I said to myself.... not' ". ( 10 point bonus for ID-ing that quote!)
Teachers /Parents/ Citizens: Link to online petition re. replacing Arne Duncan.
Let's keep this kicked for a while.... yes?
Seems as though "teachers are revolting." Well, I could have told you that. But so are parents, non-parents and everyone who cares about education. ( Shhheeeeezzz: even *school administrators*. Holy jumpin' catfish!)
'Bout time, sez I. *Past* time, really. Let's keep this kicked.
http://www.laprogressive.com/education-reform/arne-duncan-2/
Teachers Demand Arne Duncan’s Removal
January 29, 2012 By Mark Naison 8 Comments
Barack Obama, Arne Duncan
Educators Letter to President Obama Now Online and Ready For Signatures
Here is the link to the Educators Letter to President Obama that asks him to withdraw his support of policies which mandate high stakes testing, to include teachers and parents in all educational policy discussions in his administration and replace Sec of Ed Arne Duncan with an educator who has the confidence of the nation’s teachers. Please sign and circulate widely!http://dumpduncan.org/
Dear President Obama,
We, the undersigned, a cross section of the nation’s teachers and their supporters, wish to express our extreme displeasure with the policies implemented during your administration by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Although many of us campaigned enthusiastically for you in 2008, it is unlikely that you will receive continued support unless the following three dimensions of your administration’s education initiatives are changed:
The exclusion of teachers from policy discussions in the US Department of Education and from Education Summits called under your leadership.
The use of rhetoric which blames failing schools on “bad teachers” rather than poverty and neighborhood distress.
The use of federal funds to compel states and municipalities to use student test scores in the evaluation of teachers and as the basis for closing low performing schools. (more at link)
"But to avoid being labeled a 'tool of the foundation,' the document said the group should .......
"But to avoid being labeled a “tool of the foundation,” the document said the group should “maintain a low public profile.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/education/22gates.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Overlooked overview of how Gate$ corrupts politics , education, journalism and public discourse itself.
With apologies to Christopher Hitchens, it could be subtitled "How Gates Money Poisons Everything."
What a world.
Edit to add: STAY WITH this one, folks. I wouldn't undertake to read this either but I'm a p.s. teacher and see the human cost of Gates'..... ummmmm...... "philanthropy" everyday of my life. His corruption of EVERYTHING ELSE as a byproduct of of his PS jihad should concern *everybody*. Not just teachers.
Read. Consider.
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