Thursday, April 21, 2011

Pity the Poor Asshats

A commenter called "ms. v" (sic) on GothamSchools has taken to defending Ruben Brosbe, Head Chapeau of Asshats4Education. According to her, some commenters there are picking on the poor boy. I was actually going to stay out of it this time, but her assertion that Ruben is being picked on pissed me off. I'm going to post my comment below, just in case it gets removed by GS. If you want to follow the original thread, you can go here.

No one has reason to "pick on" you. No one is picking of Ruben, either. He accepted this position as a blogger in GS and ever since has been guilty of lies of omission, at the very least. If he intends in any way to be considered a journalist or commentator on education, he must at minimum be honest. He has not been.

He was not honest about his membership in A4E until he was outed by another blogger. He said he would discuss his tenure and he has not. He told the world that he wants TDRs public and yet he scurried off the 3rd grade knowing he would not get a TDR there. He posted to EduSolidarity, knowing full well that he and his union-busting opinions were not welcome there. His behavior has been underhanded.

You think we're bullying him because we call him on his dishonesty and deceit? If he chooses to prevaricate in a public forum he should expect not to be believed or respected.

If you want to talk about bullying, let's talk about A4E. A bunch of non-educators take money from billionaires to try to bust the union and steal the jobs and future pensions of hard working, dedicated teachers. They spend millions of dollars on glossy mailers and TV ads trying to poison the public's mind against public education. The vast majority of teachers see through their BS, but there are a few teachers who side with them. Some side with A4E because they are too gullible to understand the implications of A4E's positions. Some side with them in the hopes of getting a nice, cushy job like Sydney and Evan have. I'm not sure whether Ruben is gullible or conniving, but I know he does not have the interests of public education at heart. And yes, I do take that as a very personal thing. If Ruben wants to be the voice of A4E, he should man up and at least be honest about his intentions. He has about zero credibility here.

There are a lot of great teachers out there who would have been fired (not laid off, but fired) had Ruben and his A4E pals gotten their way. I most likely would have been one of them based upon my previous year's TDR. If he wants to come here and advocate that dedicated teachers like me should be fired so union busters like him can help clear the decks for the billionaires, then yes, he should expect some push back.

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3 comments:

NYC Educator said...

Tough to pity union-busters, by whatever name.

reality-based educator said...

Ruben loves to play the victim. All the deformers do - (IN A WHINY VOICE): "Oh, the big bad union people are beating up on me, just a poor, honest teacher trying to have my say..."

What a crock.

Ruben belongs with all the other scabs, company men and strikebreakers - he's one of them, no matter what he says.

zulma said...

Please add another asshat to your list: Michael Loeb, who teaches special needs students in the Bronx. He's in favor of ending LIFO! His article is posted here: http://www.studentsfirst.org/blog/entry/change-would-bring-higher-degree-of-professionalism-respect-to-teaching/

Yes, he's an E$E cult follower. He teaches for Urban Inst. of Mathematics on Hollywood Avenue in the Bronx.

It's getting more and more frustrating that these E$E's/TFA teachers don't understand or refuse to understand the long, hard fight that the union brothers and sisters went through for fairness through the seniority rule.