November 1, 2007 (GBN News): Just days after an op-ed piece in the NY Post savaged the well-respected educational historian Diane Ravitch, another education critic has now come under attack in the same paper. In an op-ed piece entitled, “Another Hypocritical Critic”, MS 445 eighth grader Josh Kent was blasted for a piece he wrote in last month’s school paper. In his article, Mr. Kent had criticized a new school policy that eliminated outdoor recess time during lunch period. The Post op-ed contends that there is “an inconsistency between Mr. Kent’s past position and his more recent response to educational policy.” In Kindergarten, the article contends, the child had taken quite the opposite stance on the outdoor recess issue, when he reportedly had complained to the teacher, “It’s too cold. I don’t want to go outside.”GBN News has learned that there is more to this story than meets the eye, however. While the op-ed purports to be an independent piece, sources at the DOE say that the writer was given access by someone at the Department to young Mr. Kent’s school records. Why the DOE would maintain such a record of a remark made in kindergarten, and why it was released to an outsider is unclear. A DOE spokesperson would not comment on these questions directly, but said, “This kid is the most influential educational commentator probably in the school. If he is typically either distorting what we're doing, or if he is reversing long-held opinions in order to attack us — that's an indication that there's something more there than fair-minded observation.”
In other news, according to the New York Times, the DOE plans to begin giving away cell phones to children as a reward for good schoolwork. GBN News has learned, however, that the phones will not be totally free for the children. Due to the DOE cell phone ban, the phones cannot be given out in the school buildings, so the children will have to pay $2 to retrieve them from a bodega down the street.
Kathryn Wylde, who is unanimously known to possess zero educational mastery,has the nerve to attack Diane Ravitch, who is universally recognized as being America’s top educational expert. Ravitch does not believe that testing is a substitute for learning. She feels that the operations of the Department of Education should be transparent and above board. She thinks that it is wise to retain experienced teachers. She is opposed to massive no-bid contracts. She wants a curriculum, not a scripted charade of one. She insists on checks and balances. She supports true parental engagement, impartial research, and reasonable professional independence. She doesn’t view the public schools as a corporate project manager would. Ravitch is a natural target for the nervy ignorant. Wylde’s name lends itself to its own perfect ridicule.
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