tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post7387369707680368391..comments2024-03-24T11:39:28.574-04:00Comments on NYC Public School Parents: Coming Soon: The "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" of Ed Reform?Patrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10631038958645725010noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-39229306352606998132010-11-21T09:19:00.066-05:002010-11-21T09:19:00.066-05:00Why we are so tired of hearing excuses about why w...Why we are so tired of hearing excuses about why we should never be held accountable for anything.<br /><br />Its our responsibility to control things at least it worth a try. Or job is not easier like <a href="http://www.allegromedical.com/incontinence-c525.html" rel="nofollow">incontinence products</a>foley catheterhttp://www.foleycatheters.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-16447999261898590132010-02-18T16:07:09.866-05:002010-02-18T16:07:09.866-05:00And I (Anonymous #3, I guess) wrote: ". . . n...And I (Anonymous #3, I guess) wrote: ". . . no one is saying that charter schools are bad ideas." It should have read ". . . no one is saying charter schools is a bad idea", but they each have their own methods and ideas, right? Whatever. Where's Chomsky when you need him?<br /><br />I think the documentaries (term used loosely) will ultimately draw a lot of good attention, as long as the journalism and commentary that follow are either serious or held accountable and rebutted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-88410596444579254602010-02-18T13:21:01.814-05:002010-02-18T13:21:01.814-05:00Oops -- typing too fast without checking myself. S...Oops -- typing too fast without checking myself. Second sentence in third paragraph in the above comment should read:<br /><br />There's just a lot of really bad policy (with unfortunate results in 10-20 years that ARE easily predictable now) and decision by fiat.Steve Kosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03837868893003246039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-5137588022393213052010-02-18T13:17:55.327-05:002010-02-18T13:17:55.327-05:00To Anonymous #1-2: Of course there are horror stor...To Anonymous #1-2: Of course there are horror stories; no sane person would argue otherwise. And yes, the UFT has been a significant part of the problem and also set themselves up as easy targets by appearing (and perhaps at times being) more interested in the union than in children. <br /><br />That having been said, and not arguing that there isn't plenty of blame for everyone to share, the crux of the matter comes down to a single word, the one you yourself used: CONVERSATION. A conversation is normally a discussion, a give-and-take between/among peers, with both sides not only respecting the other but willing to seek viable, middle-ground solutions. What we have in NYC with mayoral control is not a conversation, it's big money and decision by edict with no meaningful public input. Increasingly, that is the picture around the US, where huge sums of mostly right-wing money (from the Walton family, Scaiffe/Mellon, Broad, and well-meaning but underinformed people like Bill Gates) are unilaterally restructuring the very idea of public education to their own imagined shape with virtually no meaningful input from people who know better. <br /><br />There are no conversations taking place today. There's just a lot of really bad policy (with unfortunate results in 10-20 years that is easily predictable now) and decision by fiat. The very people whose children are caught in the middle are rarely if ever a part of any of this process. Most often, they are belittled, disrespected, and dismissed as irrelevant, as we have seen repeatedly by Mayor Bloomberg here in NYC.Steve Kosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03837868893003246039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-30221875017114141542010-02-18T11:46:17.158-05:002010-02-18T11:46:17.158-05:00Anonymous to Anonymous, let's back way up here...Anonymous to Anonymous, let's back way up here. No one is saying they want teachers free from accountability and no one is saying that charter schools are bad ideas. The problem in NYC is that what started out as a commendable clean-up of BOE corruption and failing/dangerous schools has become a dangerously stupid mania that holds standardized test results over all other stats, observations and reason. It's time for a comprehensive exposure of which kids are left out of the charter schools and competitive high schools; where do they go and what happens there? What happens to the teaching and administrative staff there? Why is enrollment of minority students in our top high schools down? And what do the majority of experts, backed up by clear stats, have to say about all of this?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-73202504760551378792010-02-17T23:12:03.148-05:002010-02-17T23:12:03.148-05:00It's time we had a movie like this to break op...It's time we had a movie like this to break open the conversation.<br /><br />As a teacher myself, I'm so tired of hearing excuses about why we should never be held accountable for anything.<br /><br />There is no job on the planet where everything is completely within your control. You can't control who your co-workers are, who your clients are, etc. <br /><br />But somehow, because teachers don't have a class of model students, they should be excused from doing their jobs?<br /><br />The ed reform conversation is long overdue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-58699318830589997942010-02-17T23:05:05.879-05:002010-02-17T23:05:05.879-05:00This "movie review" is just more doom an...This "movie review" is just more doom and gloom from the anti-accountability crowd. <br /><br />Why can't advocates of public education stop for a moment and see what's working in schools like KIPP, HCZ and others. <br /><br />Sure, charters may not be a fix-all....but let's not ignore good ideas in the name of ideology. <br /><br />I say this as a teacher myself. I've worked in enough schools to know that these "horror stories" this movie refers to are rooted in reality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-44971222003971178292010-02-17T07:34:27.627-05:002010-02-17T07:34:27.627-05:00Then it's our job to educate the public, and w...Then it's our job to educate the public, and we have our work cut out for us.NYC Educatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12188066345722781723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-63615473843719389952010-02-16T18:19:25.424-05:002010-02-16T18:19:25.424-05:00Unfortunately, the great mass of Americans don'...Unfortunately, the great mass of Americans don't know who Diane Ravitch is and don't read books anyway. As Marshall McLuhan described it years ago, books are a cool (involving) medium, while movies and TV are (passive) hot. Americans are definitely conditioned to hot -- look at how many people get their news from Fox or Rush Limbaugh (or Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow) rather than bother to read a newspaper. Guggenheim's movie will likely be seen by a hundred or a thousand times more people than will read Diane's book, and if Mr. Gates puts some of his billions behind the movie, you'll see it being distributed free to school districts everywhere. Sadly, the Guggenheim movie is far more likely to set the terms of the discussion than Diane's probably much deeper and more penetrating book.Steve Kosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03837868893003246039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-78435202102259021702010-02-16T14:46:56.434-05:002010-02-16T14:46:56.434-05:00On the other hand, Diane Ravitch's book will b...On the other hand, Diane Ravitch's book will be out next month. This will be a highly inconvenient truth for the purveyors of the drek that these films represent.<br /><br />And it will be up to us to make people aware that there is, indeed, another side.NYC Educatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12188066345722781723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-80203117890821159472010-02-14T21:51:19.205-05:002010-02-14T21:51:19.205-05:00There appears to be one key difference between &qu...There appears to be one key difference between "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Waiting for Superman." Namely, the scientific evidence for global warming is overwhelming, while "Waiting for Superman" sounds like pure propaganda. Moreover, despite the media war against them, teachers remain among one of the most respected groups in the country. People most likely to attend a film like "Waiting for Superman" are probably on the literate/liberal end of the spectrum, not the tea party crowd, and much more predisposed to distrust Gates and Bloomberg than teachers. In a way, the film provides an opportunity to engage the public. A few well-executed pickets and public education sessions at the theaters where the film opens could make the whole scheme backfire on its perpetrators.melodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10914424371935560500noreply@blogger.com