Teacher under Construction has this up on a documentary by a student asking the same questions that conscientious parents, teachers, and the public who care about education are asking.
“Why do people tell me to think outside the box when they barely ever let me out of it….??”
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….out of the mouths of babes…
This is funny….and yet….
“Relentless standardized testing is the ONLY WAY to stop children from learning to think for themselves….
….the children must ALL be taught to think ALIKE…they must not ask questions or use their imaginations…”
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I posted these links in a comment on Diane Ravitch’s blog yesterday, but they are still awaiting moderation….so I thought I’d post them here:
Bill Clinton’s Big Ideas for education. Note the mention of Eli Broad in the audience.
From the article:
One of his big ideas for U.S. education: “We have to move toward somewhat local operational control but a national commitment to a longer school year, better trained and better paid teachers, to principals and superintendents who can actually be held accountable for results
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What the hell does that mean? Oh, I forgot for a second that he’s a politician speaking doublespeak….let’s try to deconstruct, shall we?
“local operational control for a national commitment” = we have to be sure we have toadies willing to foist this crap onto the kids even when it’s evident that it is detrimental to them, by holding onto tax dollars paid by the public and not releasing them until these schools follow our mandates.
“better trained” = teachers that are pressured into teaching to the test so that their kids will pass (and not feel like idiots) so their school won’t “fail” and be closed…..to reopen with for charter profiteers.
“better paid” = bwahahahahahahaha
“principals and superintendents who can be held accountable” = what does “held accountable” mean, anyway? By what standards? Who decides? Gates? Broad? Clinton? Rhee?
Bill Gates and Clinton Global Initiative.
Note the Big Brother aspect of videotaping teachers….always done with a positive twist–to “improve” the teachers’ performance. Um-hmmm….to monitor the teachers to ensure that they teach only the rigid No Child Left a Mind.
And the final sentence says it all:
It is startling, however, to hear Gates state so bluntly the power of teachers.
He is concerned that they may be able to thwart his plans. And Gates isn’t someone who is used to being thwarted.
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Joanne Barkan’s excellent piece that I’ve posted before but bears repeating.
More news from Diane: Eli Broad secretly funded anti-public school, and anti-union initiatives. I see that Broad has the politician doublespeak down: he publicly states he is for something, but then he funds efforts against that very thing. Yep–keep people off balance and questioning, that’s the key. Note that Gov. Brown felt compelled to be “nice” to Michelle Rhee to keep in good favor with Eli Broad to get the tax increase passed. That’s how they work it, folks….kiss the toad and he just might turn into a prince….
This is also more proof that these folks are not paying enough in taxes if they have this kind of money to throw around….and why Citizens United needs to be overturned.
Someone posted this quote:
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Absolutely, Dr. King. Absolutely. And the ability to think critically with creativity with character is not going to be had with a for-profit school run by hedge fund managers who see kids as machines to be built with little regard for humanity, democracy, and potential.
Diane Ravitch highlights a blog by David Greene.
From the post:
When Hinshaw compared the rollout of these school policies with incidences of A.D.H.D., he found that when a state passed laws punishing or rewarding schools for their standardized-test scores, A.D.H.D. diagnoses in that state would increase not long afterward.
Nationwide, the rates of A.D.H.D. diagnosis increased by 22 percent in the first four years after No Child Left Behind was implemented.
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Bingo. Greene says it’s not a causal, but yeah, I disagree. It’s certainly one of the causes, in addition to toxins in the environment and probably GMO’s.
And it’s not that the kids are suddenly stricken with this subjective “disease”—rather, they are a) made to feel inferior by testing that isn’t really able to define what their brain cells are capable of (potential); and b) put under pressure by teachers and parents who must teach to the test in order for the school to keep from being downgraded to “failing” in order for them to get the money from the Federal gov’t to keep the school open….and do it all again the next six months….
That is a HUGE burden to put on a kid. For shame.
He links to A World Without Privacy by Joe Nocera of the NY Times. He talks of “The Circle” of a hybrid of internet companies like Google, F_cebook, and Twitter and the information they gather. Even if you don’t subscribe to the last two, your privacy can be taken away from you by family members and friends who do use them. That is probably how Nocera’s acquaintances/colleagues were connected to him.
And they say you should not expect privacy in today’s world. I say, unless you express in writing your willingness for someone else to have private information, then, yes, you have an expectation….and a right to privacy. And giving up the right to privacy should not be coerced, as in, you have to click on this agreement to use our website.
Good for them for recognizing this for what it is…
Diane Ravitch has this post up on the outrageous demand that 2nd graders know such complex questions.
This is mental abuse and it must stop.
…and their stealth gang of the dark side. Not.
“Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra,” The Times further explained.
“The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle…Giustra [also] co-produced a gala 60th birthday for Mr. Clinton that featured stars like Jon Bon Jovi and raised about $21 million for the Clinton Foundation.”
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Clinton on XL.
Hillary’s connection to XL.
Seeing the artist drawing of her astride the pipeline brought a flashback to Jane Fonda on the Vietnam tank. I wish people were as outraged at Hillary “riding” the pipeline. And one has to wonder at the Clinton ties to the Kochs after reading the article. …
I put my two cents on Clinton in another blog here.
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert, who otherwise is intelligent person who asks questions….has drunk the Clinton koolaid and continues to promote the creep. Why?? Yeah, he’s over in Uganda? Probably there to rape them for their resources….funny how nobody brings up the utter failure of his “help” in Haiti.
This will be coming our way if something isn’t done.
Center for Media and Democracy has this up on what the Koch Brothers and Pete Petersen and their toady Paul Ryan are really after–what they’ve been after all along—Social Security and other “entitlement” programs. I still hate that term”entitlement” as it alludes to a giveaway when folks pay into these programs all their lives.
Here’s the video by Mark Fiore:
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Also from CMD–
Profiting off the poor. With Indiana being All Republican, All the Time in the Legislature, I rather doubt that they have slayed this dragon. I suspect that privatization will be back…probably by backdoor deals.
Also, Indiana will be dropping ISTEP (Indiana Statewide Testing Educational Progress)next year BY FEDERAL REQUIREMENT.
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…and profiting off of our children-–and ultimately, our Democracy. (Just a refresher of the Charter school scams and hedge fund managers/Wall Street making a profit off of schools.)
From the report:
In recent years, there has been an explosion of full-time “virtual” charter schools paid for by the taxpayer. From 2008 to 2012, 157 bills passed in 39 states and territories (including the District of Columbia) that expand online schooling or modify existing regulations. Many of these bills are attributable to American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) politicians.
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I was thinking about this other day while teaching–online is such a ripoff in that you don’t get human interaction. Granted, the Wall St. types probably loathe human interaction…but I really wonder if they’re human to begin with….the rest of us,however, actually want to be around other humans.
Anyway, a teacher can often pick up on cues to help a student “get” a subject that a stupid computer could never do.
A teacher can give encouragement when a student wants to give up. This is especially important for students who are having difficulty–I thought of myself and my daughter being dyslexic. If I hadn’t tried to teach my daughter through Phonics and patiently sitting down with her every night to read, she most likely would not have reached her potential. Again–computers cannot help when there is a learning disability.
Lastly, a teacher is going to lay the hammer down if a student comes in without homework done or starts goofing off during class instead of doing the work they’re supposed to be doing…online courses cannot do that, either. And a teacher is also a sounding board for a student who may be dealing with issues at home…
As I’ve noted before, there is something lost when the classroom lacks discussion and interchange of ideas or more in-depth on the subject.
And, of course, a computer can’t teach art or music the way that it should be done.
The article makes note that the virtual schools enroll kids that never take courses, never answer emails, and so on, but still take tax dollars for them. One had to reimburse the state $800k for “ghost” students. This is a huge red flag in that while the neocons are so very worried about voter ID to “prove” who someone is so they don’t vote twice….well, I don’t see the same concern with these “ghost” students who may or may not even be real persons. Who is checking on them?
And this just made my heart sing:
Affidavits from former K12 Inc. teachers that were incorporated into the complaint paint a devastating picture of an enrollment-driven, profit-driven corporate culture that leaves kids in the dust. (Note to Wall Street: If you want to exploit children, don’t hire a bunch of teachers who actually care about kids.)
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Sadly, I think Wall St. will actually take that advice and will screen teachers who don’t give a rip. Or Wall Streeters will make a construct that they “can’t find any good teachers” so they will be “forced” to plead for the ability to hire non-teachers to….teach.
This mother in Saskatoon had apples stolen from her trees. She said in the story that her son cannot digest food easily, so she was planning on making applesauce with them, when someone came and cleaned her out. Luckily, there were some good hearted people who gave her not only apples, but other food, as well. …one could say that she was made whole.
That’s what Law was originally about–someone does something wrong to another and is made to do something for that person to make up for it–that’s what they called “making one whole” .
Now it seems the Law—looking at the person stealing as a corporation– is saying that the corporation had a right to take everything.
Or –she was at fault for not having a guard dog protect her assets.
Or –she should have had a hot fence up.
I’m thinking of corporate anti-union sentiment; of bankers/finance; of insurance (both health and home); of pretty much anything in this country where the less well-connected or less wealthy are not being treated in a just manner.
Our apples have been stolen and we haven’t enough folks with good hearts and enough resources themselves to come and make us whole again.
Eagle 
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