Comments on: Duncan’s School “Reform” Sham http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:07:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Tom http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-34269 Tom Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:26:01 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-34269 You need to look no further than the current state of Detroit's car companies to see why the education system in our country (and especially in big cities) is heading downward at an alarming rate. The UAW has a stranglehold on those companies and is sucking them dry. Unfortunately, like other parasites, it will kill the only host that can support them. Then what? The public educational system in this country is only propped up by taxes (just what Detroit wants) and does not provide anywhere near the level of return for the money. Charter schools and vouchers let parents choose the school that will best provide for the students. Many teachers in the unions fear these changes because they have become lazy and overpaid. The unions know that non-union teachers are being compensated quite nicely, but have to work hard to keep these jobs. These same unions don't care about the job of teaching the children, but only about keeping jobs for their memebers, regardless of performance. We American taxpayers need to be steeled against another round of doomsday prophesies from the Teacher Unions, under the premise of 'Proper Teaching'. Lastly, I'm glad that Duncan will let the Navy have a presence in your school. Maybe it will help to clean up the atmosphere of dread that most students have just walking into those doors. The armed forces are not the cause of the problems in your schools/neighborhoods, faculty that shirk their responsibilities and parents who just don't care ARE. You need to look no further than the current state of Detroit’s car companies to see why the education system in our country (and especially in big cities) is heading downward at an alarming rate.

The UAW has a stranglehold on those companies and is sucking them dry. Unfortunately, like other parasites, it will kill the only host that can support them. Then what? The public educational system in this country is only propped up by taxes (just what Detroit wants) and does not provide anywhere near the level of return for the money.

Charter schools and vouchers let parents choose the school that will best provide for the students. Many teachers in the unions fear these changes because they have become lazy and overpaid. The unions know that non-union teachers are being compensated quite nicely, but have to work hard to keep these jobs. These same unions don’t care about the job of teaching the children, but only about keeping jobs for their memebers, regardless of performance.

We American taxpayers need to be steeled against another round of doomsday prophesies from the Teacher Unions, under the premise of ‘Proper Teaching’.

Lastly, I’m glad that Duncan will let the Navy have a presence in your school. Maybe it will help to clean up the atmosphere of dread that most students have just walking into those doors. The armed forces are not the cause of the problems in your schools/neighborhoods, faculty that shirk their responsibilities and parents who just don’t care ARE.

]]> By: bozh http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-34026 bozh Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:15:44 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-34026 the shibboleth, No child left behind, means that many children will be left behind. if one grades/rates anyone, the grader/rater is hurting children. how does a child, who finishes last in one's class, feel? well, u gussed it: left behind and abased/hurt/upset. or accepts the judgment that one is stupid? all that and there is no justification for grading children. grading cattle is OK; it doesn't know it is being graded. thnx the shibboleth, No child left behind, means that many children will be left behind.
if one grades/rates anyone, the grader/rater is hurting children. how does a child, who finishes last in one’s class, feel? well, u gussed it: left behind and abased/hurt/upset. or accepts the judgment that one is stupid?
all that and there is no justification for grading children.
grading cattle is OK; it doesn’t know it is being graded. thnx

]]> By: Brian http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-34015 Brian Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:12:22 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-34015 Max, Great last line in your post! I hadn't thought about that, but you are correct. You get all these people to get good at filling in those bubbles and they become multiple choice thinkers. Problem is, the choices that need to be made have to be created and these people are limited to choosing from the choices they've always had. Max,
Great last line in your post! I hadn’t thought about that, but you are correct. You get all these people to get good at filling in those bubbles and they become multiple choice thinkers. Problem is, the choices that need to be made have to be created and these people are limited to choosing from the choices they’ve always had.

]]> By: Max Shields http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-33997 Max Shields Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:10:52 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-33997 Brian, You are absolutely right. Incentives to do something that should be inheritantly interesting is to undermine the process - in this case of learning. Children who need to be bribed are NOT learning, they are going throught he motions. We are lost. Our education system has been so bad for so long that we now have the results in high places making decisions. Brian,

You are absolutely right. Incentives to do something that should be inheritantly interesting is to undermine the process – in this case of learning.

Children who need to be bribed are NOT learning, they are going throught he motions.

We are lost. Our education system has been so bad for so long that we now have the results in high places making decisions.

]]> By: Mulga Mumblebrain http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-33990 Mulga Mumblebrain Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:54:52 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-33990 These same 'education' policies,of incessant testing, humiliating the 'losers' to 'encourage the others,' scapegoating teachers and schools in poor areas and favouring private, particularly elite schools over public provision, are being enforced with rigour here in Australia. By a supposedly 'Labor' Government, although it is just as Rightwing as its predecessor, led by Bush's sanitary appliance, John Howard. The end result is bound to be even worse results for disadvantaged communities, but that clearly is the aim. Keep the rabble in their place, ensure elite domination of the university enrolments and most lucrative careers,but keep up the vicious pretence of tender concern for under-privileged children. And under no circumstances ever pay any heed to the plebs if they try to make trouble. As ever the rule of the psychopaths grinds on. These same ‘education’ policies,of incessant testing, humiliating the ‘losers’ to ‘encourage the others,’ scapegoating teachers and schools in poor areas and favouring private, particularly elite schools over public provision, are being enforced with rigour here in Australia. By a supposedly ‘Labor’ Government, although it is just as Rightwing as its predecessor, led by Bush’s sanitary appliance, John Howard. The end result is bound to be even worse results for disadvantaged communities, but that clearly is the aim. Keep the rabble in their place, ensure elite domination of the university enrolments and most lucrative careers,but keep up the vicious pretence of tender concern for under-privileged children. And under no circumstances ever pay any heed to the plebs if they try to make trouble. As ever the rule of the psychopaths grinds on.

]]> By: Brian http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-33989 Brian Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:08:46 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-33989 Jesse, The Wisconsin State Journal editorialized in favor of Duncan on Wednesday. Among other things they like the fact that he pays students for grades. This is, of course, a totally ridiculous idea. It's essentially a law of human motivation, if you want students to lose interest in learning, bribe them with a reward that will become their focus of attention. Further, they praised him for, they assert, turning around Dodge Renaissance Academy. What say you about that? Jesse,
The Wisconsin State Journal editorialized in favor of Duncan on Wednesday.
Among other things they like the fact that he pays students for grades. This is, of course, a totally ridiculous idea. It’s essentially a law of human motivation, if you want students to lose interest in learning, bribe them with a reward that will become their focus of attention.

Further, they praised him for, they assert, turning around Dodge Renaissance Academy. What say you about that?

]]> By: Brian http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-33984 Brian Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:11:24 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-33984 Well written, cogent analysis. Education reform just got pushed back for at least another four years. Why is it that those who administer from the business values playbook, the only one we've had for one hundred years, get to call themselves the reformers while the actual reformers, like Linda Darling Hammond and Deborah Meier (check her out on Democracy Now today) are called the status quo? Well written, cogent analysis.

Education reform just got pushed back for at least another four years.

Why is it that those who administer from the business values playbook, the only one we’ve had for one hundred years, get to call themselves the reformers while the actual reformers, like Linda Darling Hammond and Deborah Meier (check her out on Democracy Now today) are called the status quo?

]]> By: RG the LG http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/duncans-school-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-sham/#comment-33957 RG the LG Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:17:33 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=5428#comment-33957 As an educator ... the LG stands for Library Guy ... I would have been shocked if Obama (soon to be called Obumma if he keeps up with this quality of appointment) had actually made a decent appointment for Education. So long as his kids get the education he and Michelle want for them, I suspect he really doesn't give a rats ass what happens in schools. It is, alas, all rhetoric anyway. By the time this administration gets trough with all of the retreads and all of the same-old same-old we won't care about NCLB because we'll have NCWM (No Child With a Mind!) So Much for democracy ... it does sound good until we USans get through with it! RG the LG As an educator … the LG stands for Library Guy … I would have been shocked if Obama (soon to be called Obumma if he keeps up with this quality of appointment) had actually made a decent appointment for Education. So long as his kids get the education he and Michelle want for them, I suspect he really doesn’t give a rats ass what happens in schools. It is, alas, all rhetoric anyway.

By the time this administration gets trough with all of the retreads and all of the same-old same-old we won’t care about NCLB because we’ll have NCWM (No Child With a Mind!)

So Much for democracy … it does sound good until we USans get through with it!

RG the LG

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