Saturday, October 9, 2010

Ed Deformers on Ice!

When I posted that I thought the ed deform movement had jumped the shark, I heard some rumblings. Then I started telling my fellow teachers how I felt, and there was talk of breaking out the strait jacket for me. But I don't think I'm crazy--or at least not for believing that the deform movement has run out of steam.

Think about it. The deformers have had a major documentary released from an Oscar winning director. They had two Oprah shows humping their cause. They had a week dedicated to them by MSNBC. They have Mark Zuckerberg tossing out 100 million dollar door prizes to cities that will do his bidding. They are backed by enough billionaires to start a softball team. Billionaire-owned newspapers have fallen all over themselves to get on the bandwagon. And yet...what has changed?

Not much, that I can see.

So, given that the ed deformers' media blitz has been a failure despite all the fanfare, what could the deformers possible do next to try to sway public opinion? Oprah and documentaries didn't work. What's next? Dancing with the Ed Deformers? America's Next Top Deformer? How about Ed Deformers on Ice?

The only tangible result of all fanfare is that Michelle Rhee got her ass voted off Survivor: DC.


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5 comments:

reality-based educator said...

We'll see if anything changed when the Congress gets around to the NCLB re-authorization.

If the Obama blueprint becomes law, then lots WILL have changed.

if not, then no, not much has changed. At least not much has changed since the RttT contest brought us teacher evals tied to test scores, the bottom 10% of schools closed and the staffs fired, etc.

I do know that the media blitz has taken a toll.

I have had lots of family and friends who do not teach ask me what's with all these bad teachers and why can't the schools fire them.

ed notes online said...

I agree with both of you. It's taken a toll with the non education public who view public schools as awful and tenure too. But in terms of educators - AT is right - it seems to be mobilizing more of them. From the perspective of an organizer looking to get people active and organized that is a positive thing. Younger teachers are beginning to see the light.

Mr. Talk said...

RBE--we gave away teacher evals well before Superman. Mulgrew gave that away to the state and got nothing in return. I'm still not sure how he got the authority to negotiate that without the consent of the members.

I don't think we are safe from the deformers yet--just that they have given us both barrels and we have withstood the blow thus far. I have no idea what further stops they can pull out, but it seems that they've failed in their quest to simply blame teachers and glorify charters.

Norm--I agree that there seems to be a new activism among the members, including the newbies. Perhaps they see the minefield before them, stepping into a profession that the deformers are devaluing.

At some point, the constant push of the deformers may blow up in their faces when the inevitable push back comes.

Anonymous said...

I just read the deformers' manifesto in the WaPo and every comment supports teachers. No one in their right mind believes that teachers are the most important part of a child's education. Most thinking people understand that the home environment (where kids spend most of their time) trumps the school environment. So the deformers say the same thing over and over and over again to each other, but from what I can see, the public is just not buying it. BTW has anyone seen the video on Youtube of the teacher from Tennessee losing his marbles? Wow! is alls I can say.

reality-based educator said...

Sorry, I didn't write my comment well. I meant that the teacher eval changes came as a result of the RttT nonsense. They also got the charter cap lifted. Then the rubber rooms got drained (not part of RttT, but came about the same time.) So lots of the stuff that the Superman movie calls for was already done. Kinda took a little of the urgency out of the movie. Not that Oprah, NBC, and many other media shills couldn't add it back, and then some.

I hope your right, AT, that the ed deform movement has jumped the shark and people will start to see through it. I fear that the Obama admin, coupled with whomever is running the Congress and Senate post-November, will do a lot of damage in the NCLB Jr. law.

I hope I'm wrong though!