Obama says criticism of Arne's programs "reflects a general resistance to change"

[madfloridian]

He further said in his speech to the Urban League that it reflects "a comfort with the status quo." It appears he is going to back the policies of the DOE in education reform in spite of any criticism. His mind is made up.

I don't think he gets it. He appears to think that any criticism of his pal, Arne, is resistance to change and comfort with the way things are. I am quite sure he is much smarter than that.

He's a brilliant man, and he knows they are turning education over to billionaires and their foundations. Yet he persists in saying teachers are not accountable, and they are not wanting change. I am intensely disappointed. Sounds like the decision is made, there will be no swerving from the plans.

Obama defends education initiative

President Obama challenged teachers and students alike to be accountable Thursday, defending his Race to the Top program he acknowledges is controversial. Civil rights leaders and black groups have criticized the program as punishing schools in poor, African-American areas, but the president appealed to them in a speech to the National Urban League "as a president, and as a parent."

Actually in the real world, in reality, the civil rights groups appear to have backed down from their criticism in just two days.

"For anyone who wants to use Race to the Top to blame or punish teachers – you’re missing the point," Obama said. "Our goal isn’t to fire or admonish teachers. Our goal is accountability. It’s to provide teachers with the support they need to be as effective as they can be. It’s to create a better environment for teachers and students alike."

There it is again. He throws out the meme that teachers are not held accountable.

That is the fault of teachers and any groups that oppose the privatization of education.

We let him get away with it.

"They may feel trapped in a community where drugs, violence, and unemployment are pervasive, where they are forced to wrestle with things no child should have to face," Obama said. "There are all kinds of reasons for our children to say, 'No, I can’t.' But it’s our job to say to them, 'Yes, you can.' Yes, you can overcome. Yes, you can persevere. Yes, you can make of your lives what you will."

Thus, the president said that by investing $4 billion in his program, he is "challenging" about 5,000 schools, "so many of which are in minority communities," to do a better job of preparing students for the future.

President Obama, just for a moment, stop the "yes, you can" in relation to education. Some can't. Some can not meet your goals. Some will not go to college ever. It is dream that is not to be accomplished.

That 4 billion of which you speak is going in large part to fire teachers and principals and give the money to companies to run schools privately and without much regulation. That is called privatization. For-profit schools, the last frontier of what was not free market.

When they picked Newt Gingrich to be a spokesperson, we had to know that free market schools were on the agenda.

"Unlike No Child Left Behind, this isn’t about labeling a troubled school a failure one day, and throwing up our hands the next," Obama said. "It’s about investing in that school’s future, recruiting the whole community to help turn it around, and identifying some viable options for how to move forward."

Many of us have not forgotten that when teachers in an entire school in Rhode Island were fired, Obama and Arne had words of praise. Race to the Top IS about replacing faculties and principals, and in many cases turning it over to private management companies.

The education reforms are those of Bill Gates and other billionaires who are planning on setting the education agenda. Remember Bill Gates?

He is the one who famously said that teachers do not improve after 3 years.

Teachers have intrinsic motivation Gates can neither measure nor (apparently) conceive of. I appreciate money, and I’ll say thanks to praise from almost anyone. But I especially treasure it from kids. Last month I told my class I’d miss them. They shouted, “We’ll miss you too!” They asked me if I’d teach them next year. I was honored, far more than by anything Gates could do or say.

But Gates proves things with charts, one of which says:

"Once somebody has taught for three years, their teaching quality does not improve thereafter."

That is one of the billionaires that President Obama and Arne Duncan are listening to for advice on education.