These TN Momma Bears support public education, call out Rhee's group, say it buys "likes" on FB

[madfloridian]

I really got a big chuckle out of this post. The funny part is that Students First, the group founded by Michelle Rhee to attack public education, blames the suspicious "likes" on public school advocates.

It's either laugh or cry, and I think I will laugh at the absurdity.

StudentsFirst's "likes" on Facebook: Pathetic Popularity Contest

StudentsFirst's "likes" on Facebook: Pathetic Popularity Contest

03/18/2014

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Momma Bears has often wondered about the gullible people who fall for the StudentsFirst sales pitch. StudentsFirst is an underhanded, astroturf organization funded by corporate billionaires HERE and HERE. This is Michelle Rhee's group. Yes, the same Michelle Rhee that legislators don't want to be associated with because she has such a bad reputation. How on earth do they have over 75,000 "likes" on Facebook? The people commenting on their posts obviously don't agree with them (read them when you need a laugh, it is pretty funny). They rarely get any "likes" at all on their posts despite having 75,000 "members" on their facebook page.

Well, we found the answer... those gullible people were really not people at all!!!

StudentsFirst's Facebook "likes" were bought from Bangladesh!!!

See the red circle around "Dhaka, Bangladesh"? It is listed as the "Most Popular City" for likes on this page.

Search on Facebook for "We Sell Likes in Bangladesh." You'll see that anyone can buy 1000 likes for about $15 bucks. (Click HERE to go buy likes or fake friends for yourself.) Click HERE to read an article that tells about the dishonest business of buying popularity on social media sites.

FAUX Parents
This is what we Momma Bears now like to affectionately call, "Faux Parents." See, when Commissioner Kevin Huffman told a group of rich Chamber of Commerce people that he couldn't possibly listen to parents because there are many "Faux Parent" groups in TN with ulterior motives, we thought he was talking about Momma Bears and groups like ours. Obviously, we were wrong. He was talking about his ex-wife's organization, StudentsFirst! (Okay, he really was probably talking about us and trying to discredit our voices, but still, you gotta note the irony of his claim and the truth of StudentsFirst's purchased popularity!) Check out the Twitter storm (#fauxparent) to see pictures of real parents holding signs about being a "faux parent." Parents, sure do have great senses of humor!

I love the way a site from Nashville Scene covers it, a site called Pith in the Wind.

Rhee Sees Fishy Bangladeshi Like Spike As Anti-Reform Swarm

We're still investigating why we were targeted and how some folks who oppose our education reform platform curiously brought attention to this issue within such a short time frame of it happening. We'll keep you posted as soon as we learn more.

Yes, blame it on the suspicious moves of those who oppose you.

Pith in the Wind sums it up:

The possible explanations seem to be these:

A. StudentsFirst, an organization seen by many as an astroturf operation, paid for Facebook likes to strengthen the appearance of "grassroots" support for "reform."

B. StudentsFirst opponents, who see little, if any, good faith in the "reform movement" or groups like Rhees, buy or otherwise acquire the fraudulent likes for the StudentsFirst page in an act of sabotage, figuring the ends justify the means.

C. The StudentsFirst page was hacked or spammed in some way that had nothing to do with either side of the education debate.

D. LOTS of people in Bangladesh like StudentsFirst.

I choose A or D.

[madfloridian]

1. More: How to get stinking rich in the education industry

http://www.mommabears.org/1/post/2013/12/how-to-get-rich-in-education.html

Step #8: Pretend to study the data from the district. Visit some of their schools to seem legitimate. Then, convince the elected school board and superintendent to do any or all of the following (it really doesn't matter to you what they do, of course, because you still get paid regardless):

Fire teachers.
Hire unqualified temporary teachers that cost less and don't stay around long enough to get pricey retirement benefits.
Tell teachers they can earn bonuses and/or merit pay for reaching impossible goals.
Spend more money on testing students (but call them "benchmark assessments" to compile even more data, which Gullible Billionaires love).
Suggest they give biased surveys to teachers, parents, & students to convince them that you know what you are doing (these surveys are a great way to gather even more data. In fact, some Gullible Billionaires will often pay 100% for the surveys in addition to the grant!)
Squeeze even more students into classrooms to save their school district money (but don't ever mention how much they are wasting on outside consultants like yourself!)
Close neighborhood schools and give them to charter school investors.

[madfloridian]

2. I refuse to buy followers on twitter.

I get invites often to buy a thousand at a time for like $15. It defeats the purpose.

[okaawhatever]

3. K & R nt