General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Where do Michelle Rhee's children go to school? Glad you asked.... [View all]Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)And the elite working full-tilt to preserve... and widen the class divide. Jeepers. These people must be really *smart*. How'd they get to be experts on public schools without ever setting foot in one?
>>>And you cant get much more remote from a situation than the leaders of the modern school reform movement are from public education . The president, for example, is batting a thousand in this regard. Not only did he reach adulthood without having ever set foot in an American public school, he made certain that his own kids escaped that hideous fate as well. ( Until 2009, both Obama girls attended the private and exclusive University of Chicago Lab School ; in DC they are tucked away at Sidwell Friends, along with their peers, the children of the Washington political and economic elite.) But the president is far from alone. Last year in the New York Times (4/17/11) , Michael Winerip rummaged thru the bios of a dozen or so of the nations most prominent , self-styled school reform experts, none of whom whom had ever set foot not as student , not as teacher; not as consumer, not as provider in a single public school classroom. Most of the big names were there, along with their alma maters: Rhee, Duncan, Gates. (Respectively: Maumee Country Day- Toledo, U of Chicago Lab School, Lakeside School- Seattle.) The wonderfully incongruous former New York City Schools Chancellor, Cathie Black. ( Aquinas Dominican - Chicago). David Levin ( Riverdale Country -NYC), CEO of the nations largest charter school chain: KIPP. ( Yup. Theyre now coming in chains; just like Pizza Hut or Banana Republic.) And so on. I started to notice this weird correlation myself about 5 years ago when school reform was still basically the exclusive proving grounds of the aforementioned billionaires, conservative pols and incredibly well-endowed right-wing think tanks.>>>>
http://paulvhogan.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/pass-the-remote-obama-and-education/