THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: Ed deform propaganda in full bloom

Friday, September 24, 2010

Ed deform propaganda in full bloom

The pro-charter/anti-union/oligarch-orchestrated cabal's propaganda is in full bloom, and stinking up the place like a amorphophallus titanum (Corpse flower). In case you’ve been trapped in a closet this week, here’s what’s been happening so you can get up to speed.

On September 13, NBC issued a press release about Education Nation in which it announced the confirmed speakers to date. BE SURE TO LOOK AT THE LIST OF THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR DESCRIPTIONS BELOW!

Read Teacher Ken’s website and comments about the onslaught HERE.

A couple of folks started a Miseducation Nation Facebook page @ http://www.facebook.com/MiseducationNation when NBC started deleting and blocking comments made by people who were bothered by the one-sidedness of this Gates/Broad-sponsored, and probably designed, event.

Anthony Cody at Living in Dialogue on OprahPaganda and NBC’s blocking of comments!

Sign this petition urging Oprah to have Diane Ravitch as her featured guest!!!: http://education.change.org/petitions/view/petition_to_oprah

Word was getting around about the comment-blocking issue on Education Nation’s Facebook page, and a public relations problem was brewing, so NBC changed their settings. Let them know what you think @ http://www.facebook.com/educationnation

Breaking news reports from Norm Scott in NYC @ http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/

And from the Grassroots Education Movement NYC, a trailer for "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman."

Re: the Superman movie

This piece of propaganda was funded by former eBay CEO Jeffrey Skoll and Phillip Anshutz, a far right-wing, evangelical billionaire. Theaters should hold special screenings for the resisters, so we can boo all we want.

The line-up for Education Nation's special guests (grab your barf bag)

POLITICIANS (recipients of filthy, manipulative Duncan, Gates, and/or Broad money)

Michael Bloomberg: Mayor, City of New York (Gates donated $4 million to keep Bloomberg in control)
Cory Booker: Mayor, City of Newark, New Jersey [As Joe Williams wrote in a September 2009 e-newsletter from Democrats for Education Reform: “Tip #5. Start your new school year off on the right foot by getting yourself one of the highly sought-after DFER 2009-10 school year calendars, featuring pin-ups of your favorite education reformers. (Ladies, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is Mr. January… Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about.) You can get your free calendar by contributing $50 or more to DFER’s political action committee.”]. Good grief.
Phil Bredesen: Governor, State of Tennessee (home of Vanderbuilt University which just released a study showing that one of the ed deformers' favorite ideas is a big flop)
Jennifer M. Granholm: Governor, State of Michigan
Jack Markell: Governor, State of Delaware
Michael Nutter: Mayor, City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Antonio Villaraigosa: Mayor, City of Los Angeles, California

GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS (all have had formal affiliations with the Broad Foundation)

Arne Duncan: US Secretary of Education
Joel Klein: Chancellor of New York City Schools
Michelle Rhee: Chancellor, District of Columbia Public School System of Washington, D.C.
Margaret Spellings: Former US Secretary of Education

EDUPRENEURS AND COGS IN THE GATES/BROAD ED DEFORM MACHINE

Geoffrey Canada: CEO & President of Harlem Children's Zone Project (the press release didn’t mention that he is a spokesman for American Express, listed at #2 of Education Nation’s sponsors)
David Coleman: Founder & CEO, Student Achievement Partners; Contributing Author of the Common Core Standards
Reed Hastings: Founder & CEO of Netflix (a major charter school proponent; the press release didn’t mention that he sits on Microsoft’s Board of Directors under Bill Gates)
Wendy Kopp: CEO and Founder of Teach for America (married to KIPP CEO Richard Barth)
John Legend: Musician; Founder of the Show Me Campaign (a great voice who has become some kind of variation of a sentimental, rescuing-mentality teachers' pet)
Sally Ride: First Female Astronaut; Vice-chair of Change the Equation (Started by former Intel CEO Craig Barrett and the Gates')

RIGHT-HAND MEN OF THE BILLIONAIRES

Allan Golston, President, US Program, The Gates Foundation (the GF is the #3 sponsor)
Gregory McGinity: Managing Director of Policy, The Broad Education Foundation (the BF is the #4 sponsor)

ABLE TO BE BOUGHT-OFF (all are recipients of major amounts of Gates’ largess)

Byron Garrett: CEO of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
Randi Weingarten: President of American Federation of Teachers (AFT-CLO)
Janet Murguia: President & CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR)

SEEKING TO IMPROVE A SHAKY REPUTATION AND TO REVERSE THE BAD PRESS

Bill Pepicello, Ph.D.: President of University of Phoenix (#1 on the list of sponsors)

TOKEN PARENT “LEADER”

Gwen Samuel, CT delegate to Mom Congress (Mom Congress is an “advocacy initiative” hatched up by Parenting magazine to help sell more magazines) http://www.pta.org/3596.htm

ASSORTED CEOS WHO DON’T KNOW A THING OR GIVE A HOOT ABOUT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Barry Schuler: Former CEO of AOL
Edward Rust: Chairman & CEO of State Farm Insurance Companies
Sterling Speirn: CEO, Kellogg Foundation
Walter Isaacson: President & CEO of the Aspen Institute

CLUELESS TALKING HEADS WHO ARE TOTALLY OUT OF TOUCH WITH PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE PEOPLE WHO INHABIT THEM

Maria Bartiromo: Anchor of CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo" and Anchor and Managing Editor of "Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo"
Tom Brokaw: NBC News Special Correspondent
Ann Curry: News Anchor, "Today" and Anchor, "Dateline NBC"
Lester Holt: Anchor, "NBC Nightly News," Weekend Edition and Co-Host, "Today" Weekend Edition
Brian Williams: Anchor and Managing Editor "NBC Nightly News"
David Gregory: Moderator, "Meet the Press"
Andrea Mitchell: NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent and Host, "Andrea Mitchell Reports"

IT'S UP TO US NOW AND NO ONE IS GOING TO HELP. SO IF YOU CARE ABOUT PUBLIC EDUCATION YOU NEED TO TAKESOME KIND OF ACTION.

STOP THE ARROGANT, POWER-HUNGRY, PUBLIC ED DEFORMING OLIGARCHS FROM RUNNING THIS SHOW!!!

At the very least, sign this petition urging Oprah to invite Diane Ravitch to be her featured guest!!!: http://education.change.org/petitions/view/petition_to_oprah

3 comments:

CarolineSF said...: Tom Brokaw's daughter (same last name, a doctor) was featured in the SF Chronicle a couple of years ago explaining why she has to send her child/ren to one of San Francisco's snootiest and most pseudo-progressive private schools. Or at least why she CLAIMS to -- she forgot the part about making sure her kids have no contact with the unwashed masses.; September 24, 2010 at 4:33 PM
Jonathan Jackson said...: "STOP THE ARROGANT, POWER-HUNGRY, PUBLIC ED DEFORMING OLIGARCHS FROM RUNNING THIS SHOW!!!"

Any logic and reason beyond preventing successful, innovative managers and leaders from offering their commitment to the longterm sustainability of our nation through public education? Seems it may be at least the best alternative, even if its not perfect. The status quo of letting educators attempt to make any education reform has not worked for 20 years. I agree with many of Diane Ravitch, but I don't think any education system is perfect. Charters and vouchers seem to offer many advantages that the status quo can not, even the advantages come with some downsides.; October 20, 2010 at 9:46 PM
Anonymous said...: "Any logic and reason beyond preventing successful, innovative managers and leaders from offering their commitment to the longterm sustainability of our nation through public education?"

Easy.
Their only purpose is to make a buck.
Do you REALLY believe they care about the great unwashed public?

Not a bit.
But if there is profit to be made.; October 25, 2010 at 8:40 PM

Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. LISTEN to my interview with At The Chalk Face , slide marker to 32:00 min. (5/19/2013)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

WE CAN DO IT!

Jim Hightower on populism:

"... what populism is at its essence is just a determined focus on helping people be able to get out of the iron grip of the corporate power that is overwhelming our economy, our environment, energy, the media, government."

Jim Hightower on plutocracy:

"Plutocracy and democracy don't mix."

More Jim Hightower HERE.
Read his Lowdown newsletter HERE.

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low.

On Bill Gates' ed reform

Joel Shatzky's comment on Huffington Post:

The inferior "test-prep" agenda which bases the pedagogically fraudulent "data" standardized test scores serves as a way of diverting the concerns of working parents who hope that better test scores will lead to better job opportunities for their children. If they realized that they were being given a con job, they might consider other, more "active" forms of political and social protest than simply lobbying for more money for charter and public schools.

New wealth gap report

Research and Policy Brief from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University, May 2010:

"New evidence reveals that the wealth gap between white and African-American families has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation."

You absolutely must click on this link to view the graph.

Now compare that graph to the one you'll see here.

Now read this entry.

And if you are a person who blames the schools, or believes they are responsible for fixing these problems, you can stop that type of thinking right now.

A Keeper

Posted on the Oakland Public School Parents listserv by a member:*

As a public health nurse, I am working with a generation of young parents who were drug-exposed, who are now having children who are drug-exposed, and it's a whole new ballgame. Many who were premature and will carry some deficits for life.

There are also many other families who have several generations of all kinds of abuse, not enough to eat, violence in and out of their homes, as well as chronic exposure to pollution and nutritional deficits. And there are regular people in the same neighborhoods who are just trying to live, but are poor and can't get ahead.

And there is major grief, and continuous LOSS. So many folks have lost so many folks, people around them dying, of one thing or another, every month almost. Young people (cousins, brothers, friends) dying from violent means, the elders dying too young of chronic disease and disparities in health care, among other things.

What we know about learning and development is that stressed nervous systems CANNOT learn, and that's what we have. Children with many major stressors. Abandonment, attachment disorders, fear, post traumatic stress, sadness, inability to trust or sleep. Many children. Many.

Resulting in: Lack of impulse control, lack of executive function, difficulty in expressing and controlling emotions, difficulty in sleeping, holding still, and paying attention, not to mention following directions and prioritizing tasks.

Our teachers will (perhaps already do) need more training, support, and smaller class sizes. They need major support and help with mental health issues. We really need some kind of expanded vocational track for those who can't perform even at the community college level.

We can't expect teachers to undo years and years of living. The availability of universal preschool would help. Sometimes a classroom is the first kindly, safe, structured, stimulating environment a child encounters.

Wise insights such as these are never uttered by people like Eli Broad, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, Joe Williams, or any others who are of this type of school reform ilk. And this is why I know for certain that they just don't "get it." Maybe they don’t want to, OR maybe they don’t care.

* Thank you, B.R.

What Children Need

From Playing to Learn by Susan Engel (New York Times, 2/1/2010):

"Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.

…Simply put, what children need to do in elementary school is not to cram for high school or college, but to develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on."

And to tag onto that, check out this video about the wood shop at one of Oakland's middle schools.

Pages

Friday, September 24, 2010

Ed deform propaganda in full bloom

3 comments: