The father of rape victim, Rehtaeh Parsons, has become the target of cyber bullying. He took the online threats seriously after the bully posted that he knew Glen Canning’s face, where he lived, etc.
It’s just mindboggling–this culture that encourages sexual assault and violence against women…
Carol Burris, a highly regarded public school principal, has a piece up exploring the degrading comments directed at opponents to Arne Duncan’s brainless education policies.
He actually states that the Governor of NY, Cuomo, is a “profile in courage”. Bwahahahaha *snort* Yeah, because it takes courage to make children cry from tests that are above their intellectual development level….
He dismissed parents who criticized his policies as “white suburban moms” who thought their little darlings were much smarter than they actually were….because education guru Arne said they were. Someone whom has never taught in school…methinks Arne thinks he’s smarter than he is. Ahem.
Burris also notes the misogyny in Duncan’s comments…labeling women opponents as “hysterical” and “dramatic”. Oh, and “noisy”, to me, equals “uppity” women. Yep. He must be taking his cues from Freud’s playbook, the Diagnostic Manual.
As a side note~~I found a blog on misogyny here.
And on the link for reddit creep shot, this disturbing info on the rape/violence against women culture:
The fiasco comes on the heels of a highly-publicized flap between reddit and Gawker, after Gawker journalist Adrian Chen’s investigation of an infamous user of the subreddit who went by the handle, Violentacrez. According to the The Guardian, that user “set up hundreds of sub-forums where users post links and images including bestiality, rape fantasy, under-age porn and upskirt photos.”
Among the sections that Violentacrez created or moderated were: Chokeabitch, Niggerjailbait, Rapebait, Hitler, Jewmerica, Misogyny, and Incest
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…created by 49-year-old computer programmer and misogynist, Michael Brutsch.
But back to Arne Duncan…what do his comments signify? That perhaps his hatred of public education proponents, mostly women, is part of a hatred of women in general?
And “stay the course”….really? You couldn’t think of something original besides Bushisms? Yeah, because the Bushes have done *so much* for this country and public education with No Child Left a Mind…/snarky to the extreme
Duncan keeps knocking our public school system, especially the individualistic nature of public school before NCLB or Race to the Bottom…while ignoring those folks who made phenomenal contributions to society, from those same individualistic school systems, such as Neil Armstrong, Maya Angelou, Frank Church, Paul Wellstone, Birch Bayh, Dwight Eisenhower, a great grandson of immigrants, who loved art, math, spelling, and history; Gloria Steinem, and any number of musicians who got their start in music programs that included actual instruments, that went on to get private instruction to become great musicians. Same with artists.
If you view Duncan’s video, it is stunning that in the first minute, he talks of John being orphaned at a young age…and he had teachers –-public school teachers–who helped him along his path to become productive. He also was a product of the public education system before NCLB could dull his creative expression, his critical thinking skills, and his own expression of his individuality.
I wonder what his public education teachers think of him trying to destroy those very things in children today with the rigidity of Common Core and Race to the Bottom…?
He mentions that the First Lady had a teacher that told her she shouldn’t aspire to Ivy League schools because it was too good for her. That makes me sad to hear. Is that a reason the First Lady is against public education? I suspect that those who are against public education had bad experiences with teachers…and then project that onto all teachers.
I had some bad teachers, but for the most part, my experience with public education was good. Yes, those experiences with bad teachers were hurtful but the ones who were encouraging when I was discouraged made up for that. And it was an intrinsic thing, too, because I loved learning.
I guess that is where you have to be responsible for your own education…to go on even though they tell you that you can’t. Because, believe it or not, my first class of composition in college, I had a white instructor who, when I asked her about a career as a writer, told me “don’t quit your day job.” So, there you go…
Jan Resseger has another excellent post up on her take of the Americans for Prosperity, aka Koch Brothers, and what’s happened in Kansas.
Jeff Glendening, the director of the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity was quoted—framing the legislation as part of a fight between those who stand for children and those who stand for “adult” interests—by the NY Times : “We appreciate the willingness of the Legislature to place the interests of Kansas children over the welfare of the teachers’ union.” This kind of rhetoric is widely promoted by far-right groups such as StudentsFirst and Stand for Children. These groups try to imply that teachers, who have committed their lives to nurture children, are somehow a class of people working purely out of self interest.
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Incredible. The teacher’s intentions are an example of a stunning psychological twist of the truth. They claim to be concerned for the welfare of the children…but with Common Core, shoving special needs and struggling students out the door, and money being siphoned away from public education…we know differently.
As was pointed out yesterday, the teacher’s union is the same as the police and fire fighter unions….yet no one would think of saying that those unions are operating against the welfare of the people.
Related to this, Fred Klonsky has a post up on the pension raids with a statement on the theft by Karen Lewis.
“This is a sad day for our paraprofessionals, especially our retired ones, who will see their pensions reduced and devalued significantly. They will lose the value of a third of their retirement savings, so instead of the people who crashed the economic system having to pay their fair share, our elected officials brutally attack the people who are most vulnerable—many of whom have become the head of their households, caring for both children and grandchildren,” Lewis said.
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Target the elderly/retired. They have worked their entire lives putting into the system. They deserve to have those pensions. Now that they are retired, they have less money to fight back with–sly ploy by cowards to attack the weaker.
What sad times we live in….
As usual, the comments are insightful and compelling. They bring up the fact that it really isn’t that hard to get rid of “problem” teachers–all the administration has to do is harass them until they’ve had enough and leave. Done. Problem solved.
I’ve seen this in the state government, as well, so yeah, it’s not really that hard to get rid of someone. All you need is a bully in the midst while the administration looks the other way (or even worse–participates).
Urged on by conservative special interests such as Americans for Prosperity, Republican leaders pressed hard to eliminate due process rights for teachers.
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The handiwork of the Koch Brothers. Destroy public education so the Koch brothers don’t have to pay one more penny for unionized workers. More for me…poverty wages for you…
Carol A. Hand has written a piece on the soul robbing experience of Federal schools for Native American children.
And yes, it was designed to rob them of their culture, identity, heritage….
Diane Ravitch has a post up on the repubs and DFERs (Democrats in favor of charter schools).
She notes that in 1988, advocates were saying that charters would cost less because of less bureaucracy. Remember that, folks, when they say “less government meddling”…the actual results speak volumes…
Here is the latest version of the Canadian gov’t assault on unions….the nurses assert that it is taking away their right to strike.
If you recall in my previous post, they were going after the teacher’s unions, as well.
You would think that Rahm Emanuel would think twice before messing with Karen Lewis, but he apparently hasn’t been, um…schooled. (sorry, bad pun I know)
She once again delivers a smackdown of the mayor by calling him on the divide-and-conquer politics.
Be sure to click on the links to Fred Klonsky’s blog, which also gives some insight to what is going on in Chicago. What goes on there, is most certainly going on around the country. Bless Karen Lewis.
Diane Ravitch has a post up on the “new” SAT. I haven’t seen the test, so I have to go by what Diane is describing. I do know that I when I first heard of the “new” SAT, I was sure there was some connection to the brainless Common Core. Yep.
It’s troubling that the writing section will be optional. Being able to write well-constructed sentences is an art. It should be a part of the test.
Diane quotes Superintendent Cohen, whom is critical of the “new” SAT:
Nowhere in our new, vaunted Common Core State Standards are teachers told to be concerned with nurturing young people’s imaginations or their original thoughts about the books they read, about the way nature works, about whether our government’s policies are good or bad, about whether the Pythagorean theorem could be used to help design a better bridge over the Hudson river, or whether “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Nor will the “new” and “fairer” SAT ask students to write about such matters.
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Absolutely. Spot on. It’s not enough to be able to repeat what another wrote–but to be able to interpret what they wrote and take it beyond that to expand the dialogue. Or to offer another point of view and facts or theory to back what you’re saying.
As I’m reading the article, I thought about when I took the SAT’s in high school. It was a gamble on my part, because I did not take the college-bound courses offered. That was the time that my Mom was pouring cheese soup over crackers for dinner sometimes….college seemed like an unreachable dream, so I took the easier courses offered. Personally, I don’t think those courses should have been an option–all the students who were capable should have been in the college courses. One really can’t know their potential until they are tested. And when you’re young and unsure of yourself, being tested means taking a risk–putting yourself out there for possible failure. Teenagers would rather die than face what they perceive as humiliation (when in fact it is a growing moment that should be supported, and not humiliated, as some like to do.) And when you’re poor, your options become even more limited because taking a risk could mean consequences for the family (if one risked going to college, and failed, that money spent on tuition is lost.)
I did pass the SAT’s, and was admitted to Indiana University but on a probationary status. I ended up not going because of being unsure of myself (probationary status to me meant “failure”) and interference by someone else. Being supported would have made all the difference at this point in time–maturity, too.
I’m telling this story because I had some rough years in middle school and high school. My grades reflected that. But they didn’t reflect my potential. As you know, I went on to college and graduated much later. It illustrates how badly misguided the Common Core and Race to the Bottom are–we are who we are at any point in time, but who we might grow to be is not measurable by any human tool.
Eagle 
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