OK...A few quickie rants. Here we go:
Mayor4Life said that teachers, firemen, and policemen should all be "out there defending the bankers" because they pay our salaries. Funny, but the last pay stub I looked at it seemed that I also pay for those things, and not one banker has defended me. But rather than appear an ingrate, I'll make the gesture. I'd like to thank the bankers for almost wrecking the economy so that they could get a huge government bailout with my tax dollars so they could continue to get 9 digit bonuses, the taxes on which help pay my salary. I'm more than happy to sacrifice my 4% raise so that I can rest easy in the knowedge that no bankers are going to bed hungry tonight. I'd also like to thank them for starting all those nice charter schools and for apparently trying to buy off politicians to get support for even more nice charter schools. "No Banker Left Behind" and "Race to the Public Trough" are alive and well in NYC.
Chapter leaders should act like defense lawyers. Your job is to defend the people in your chapter--period. Whether YOU think they are guilty or not doesn't matter. Murderers and child molesters are entitled to a decent defense--that is what keeps democracy running. Shouldn't teachers get the same benefit of the doubt? So to the CL who basicially sided with the admins the other day and claimed that the teachers in question were at fault, shame on you. Do your goddamned job.
There was a huge upswing in year-end U ratings in my school. I mean well above the 10% range, which must make Jack Welch smile, assuming he has any emotions besides greed. I'm wondering if this is part of a larger pattern citywide. It seems to me that if a principal wants to get someone on incompetence charges, they may feel rushed to do so now because the new evaluation system will require teachers to have two consecutive years in which they are rated "ineffective" before they can be terminated. It may be that principals are in a rush to terminate now because they don't know how the new system will shake out. If you have any info about the total number of U ratings in your school, please post that info in the comments section.
Is there anyway to stop the runaway train of the ed deformers? I want to get Obama out of the Oval Office, but what are the alternatives? Voting republican? Should we support Sarah Palin, whose only experience with education is that she went to more schools than the swine flu? How about Rand Paul, who'd likely repeal that pesky Civil Rights Act and remove all funding from education?
Or maybe we could vote for Bloomberg, who would doubtless make sure that the bankers had MUCH more money so that the little people like us could be even more grateful?
2 comments:
I sometimes, in my more despairing moments, think a Ron/Rand Paul "Let's Abolish The Dept. of Education" would be better than the last two Education Presidents and the current Education Mayor have been.
But I know that is not the answer either.
So I guess we just have to keep pushing back with the research that shows charter are not better than traditional public schools, for-profit schools are often (though not always) run by crooks, standardized test based education is harmful and reductionist, and the bankers and hedge fundies currently turning their attention to education reform are the same ones who nearly brought about the collapse of '08 (and may still bring about the collapse of '10, given what is happening with all the deficit concern trolls getting sway both here and in Europe.)
Sigh - it's not as good as having $200k to bribe a politician, is it?
Maybe we can continue to follow that story. Andrew Cuomo met with these same folks two months ago and walked out of the room an "education reformer" according to the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/nyregion/10charter.html
I bet his briefcase was empty on the way in, loaded on the way out too.
They are all corporate whores. There is persecution of teachers in this country, which is one of the earmarks of a fascist regime. Here's another one:
"Corporations Shielded"
"Corporate power is protected - Typically, a segment of the business elite plays a major role in bringing fascists to national leadership, often from an unsavory obscurity. This marriage of big money and raw violence is often considered by historians to be the hallmark and backbone of fascism.
As these business-government-military interests meld, the significant threat of organized labor is clearly recognized. Labor unions and their support organizations are either co-opted successfully or ruthlessly suppressed and eliminated as soon as possible."
Does any of this sound familiar?
How about this:
"Rampant Cronyism and Corruption"
"Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders."
Geithner and Duncan, anyone??
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