Interesting post about some of the people involved in the new "reforms" of the public schools. Of course using the word "reform" sounds really good....like you are going to fix that which is broken.
But that is not what it is about at all.
From the NYC Public School Parents blogspot:
Who Are Those Guys?The writer mentions that he "is a clinical social worker, I am interested in the personalities and motivations involved, as much as the politics. Who are these education “reformers”? Why do they do what they do, in the way that they do it?"
A graduate school professor of mine, a sociologist, used to teach us to look beyond the general roots of deviance, into why people deviate in the particular ways that they do. Well, the Kleins, Rhees and Bloombergs of the world can certainly be considered “educational deviants” – after all, they seem to have thrown away all of the educational field’s established norms of behavior. But why do these people deviate in this particular mean-spirited, arrogant way, compelling people to worship at the shrine of data, and creating a climate of fear and upheaval worthy of a totalitarian state?
Let’s look at some of the personalities of those we’re dealing with. Michelle Rhee, the Washington DC Schools Chancellor, frequently blasts critics who “put the interests of adults over that of children” – as if this is some sort of zero sum game in which one can only benefit if the other loses. But even in a generally laudatory article like last year’s Time Magazine profile, she herself comes across as incapable or uninterested in displaying any social skills with other adults. One has to wonder if her disdain for “adult interests” masks an inability to relate to anyone beyond high school age, a stunted social development.
Then there’s Joel Klein, Rhee’s soul mate in New York, who seems more comfortable commiserating with his Blackberry than with live human beings. Would he or anyone else tolerate a child or teenager who so rudely ignores a speaker by totally absorbing him or herself in an electronic device, as Klein frequently does during meetings? Is the man incapable of normal interpersonal communication?
Of course, too, there’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who went beyond even his own legendary disdain for the common folk, humiliating a disabled reporter whose cell phone accidentally went off during a press conference. And don’t forget his utterly insensitive dismissal of parents’ concern for their children’s safety traveling to and from school, when he famously insisted that parents only want their kids to bring cell phones to school so they can call and ask if they want chicken of fish for dinner.
If these characters were being interviewed for a job caring for young children, their personalities would set off so many alarms that they’d be rejected out of hand. But somehow they’ve managed to end up controlling entire big city educational systems and thereby caring for millions of children.
Too often their jobs are not to do what is best for the students, but to get the public out of the public school systems.
Taking the "public" out of public schools.....happening quickly.In communities all over the country, resistance is building to the mass closings of neighborhood schools.
Instead of strengthening our neighborhood schools, that have for generations accepted and served a variety of students, and providing resources and reforms like smaller classes that have been proven to work, officials are pursuing a scorched earth policy -- as during the Vietnam war, when the military claimed they were forced to destroy villages in order to save them.
When those who are supposed to be leading the schools toward success are actually cheering when schools fail and are closed after having resources diverted elsewhere...it is just shameful.
"a great and terrible charade"..school leaders and entrepreneurs triumphant at school closings?Last week, the New York City Department of Education pushed through a decision to close 19 high schools. With the encouragement of the "Race to the Top," we will surely see similar closings across the nation, hundreds or perhaps thousands of them. Entrepreneurs cheer when public schools close, as new space opens up for their ventures in philanthropy and profits.
It is odd that school leaders feel triumphant when they close schools, as though they were not responsible for them. They enjoy the role of executioner, shirking any responsibility for the schools in their care. Every time a school is closed, those at the top should hang their heads in shame for their inability or refusal to offer timely assistance. Instead they exult in the failure of schools that are entrusted to their stewardship.
I was reading the other day that the party is planning to appeal strongly to younger voters this year during midterm elections.
I think that is a great idea.
But I wonder why they are working against a large constituency, school teachers? The anger is growing, and they seem unaware.
I wonder also why they are not standing up for women's rights...instead giving in to the religious right's rantings which are so rigid as to be ridiculous.
Why are they finding it so hard to repeal the terrible policy of DADT?
Do they not plan to appeal to the voters in these groups as well?
It takes a certain personality to get the school "reform" done. A personality that is not too concerned about truth and honesty, and has their agenda laid out for them ahead of time.
Because it is really not about what is best for the children. What these strong personalities are doing is good for those whose agenda is profit.
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