Saturday, August 7, 2010

The Napoleon of Ed Deform

I have, in the past, compared Joel Klein to Professor Moriarty, both in terms of physical appearance and blackness of heart. While you can judge the physical resemblance yourselves, there can no longer be any doubt as to whose heart is blacker. While Moriarty was rightly described by Sherlock Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime" for his nefarious activities, we can at least say this much for him: He never threw disabled children out of their schools.

Sadly, we can not say the same for Joel Klein, the "Napoleon of Ed Deform". While the chancellor has done many despicable things in the past, such as (insert your own example here as they are too numerous to mention), he has absolutely out-Moriartied himself this time. In case you haven't read about it, Klein has decided to go ahead with his plans to expand a charter school run by wealthy investors, despite a decision by the state that he was not allowed to do so. The kicker, of course, is that in order to give these wealthy bastards what they want, Klein has agreed to throw a bunch of autistic children out of that school.

To do this, Klein invoked his magical "emergency powers" which are supposed to be used when it is “immediately necessary for the preservation of student health, safety or general welfare.” Klein has yet to say how essentially throwing special needs kids into the streets meets those conditions.

Perhaps comparing Klein to Moriarty is too kind. After all, for all his misdeeds, Moriarty boiled down to little more than a very good criminal. A more apropos comparison may be Klein and Iago from Othello. Iago had Othello's trust, and betrayed it at every turn. Klein has been entrusted with the care of the public school children of New York City, and now he is throwing the most vulnerable of those children out of their school to push the educational agenda of wealthy investors.

5 comments:

NYC Educator said...

Great post. I couldn't agree more.

Anonymous said...

Spot on about Moriarity's evil twin brother, Klein. It would be great to put your post in every newspaper/magazine/billboard that are not owned by any of Bloomberg's cronies.

Klein - despicable and beyond wickedness.

ed notes online said...

Guys
Let's be careful about focusing on individuals here. Paul Vallas was the Klein of Chicago - then Philly and now is leaving New Orleans in a shambles. When he left Chicago abotu 8 years ago he was replaced by what looked like a genial, benign guy who likes to play basketball.

We can repeat the same mantra nationwide. Our old pal Ray Cortines - a supreme and real educator still funtionned as well as an ed deformer in LA.

Chaz said...

Mr. Talk:

I disagree he looks like Kukla.

Anonymous said...

Massive Irony: I read a transcript of Joel Klein being interviewed about 5 years back or so. He was quoted as saying, "Diane Ravitch, who knows nothing . . . " [I believe that's how he said it. 'knows nothing' were definitely his exact words as quoted.] Klein was being asked about running for mayor of NYC assuming continued 'success' as Chancellor. Wish I could find that transcript on the web again.

No silver bullet? That's probably because education is populated by different beasts. Notice Klein and Bloomberg don't reflect in mirrors of accountability or legality, or common sense or decency. We must drag them ranting and editorializing into broad daylight and pull their Tweed jackets off of their heads. Expose them publicly to the sober light of truth.