"In the Village no one can hear you scream." How no one is hearing the parents and teachers.

[madfloridian]

Caroline Grannan has a very involved post up at The Perimeter Primate today. She tells how she learned about "the village" and refers to others who are in the know about it.

No one can hear you scream

People like me – regular parents with regular kids in regular schools, along with many other non-headline names -- are having trouble fathoming how the Obama administration could so eagerly embrace the Bush administration’s education policies and push them forward. Obama’s policies even add more emphasis on high-stakes testing, on blaming teachers, and on exalting privatization.

The forces that created and promote those policies pointedly fail to consult with or listen to educators, parents, or anyone else who spends time in actual classrooms with real live kids. Obama’s wrongheaded tack was already dismaying. But it was even more astonishing when Arne Duncan, Obama’s education secretary, told the New York Times that he had encountered no opposition to the administration’s education policy. “Zero,” Duncan added, for emphasis.

Grannan's son explains "the village" to her.

“It’s The Village,” my 19-year-old son, a poli-sci wonk, explains patiently. The Village, he tells me, is a concept widely referred to by bloggers and other commentators to define the members and the mindset of the Washington establishment – the insiders who listen only to themselves. As one blogger puts it, “The term ‘Villagers’ denotes a kind of small-minded refusal to think outside an ‘acceptable’ center-right consensus … The ‘Villagers’ include, in part, Democratic elected officials and consultants who insist that their party can’t succeed unless they ally their party with that center-right consensus; think-tankers who churn out position papers designed to prop up this elite consensus view; and elite pundits.” That quote comes from Greg Sargent’s blog The Plum Line, which, ironically for a commentary critical of The Village, is carried on washingtonpost.com.

Since my son – who reads a wide variety of political thought – introduced me to the term, I asked him to write a further explanation for me. Here’s his elaboration: “The foundation of The Village is ethos rather than logos, trust in who's saying something rather than what they're actually saying. To gain The Village's trust, one must submit to The Village consensus on an array of issues. Ideas that take their place in The Village consensus don't come from some sort of rational thought process; like head coverings and prayer shawls in Anatevka, where they come from is unclear. But once the consensus is formed, the primary means a Villager uses to judge any idea is how closely the person or people articulating the idea adheres to the overall Village mindset.”

Note that it is about WHO is saying something, rather than WHAT they are saying.

That might explain why when Diane Ravitch, former assistant Secretary of Education met with WH officials and asked them to listen to the teachers and parents.....they told her she was misinformed.

A) I was recently invited to meet with high-level administration officials in the White House. I told them my concerns. I told them what I have heard from teachers and parents. They told me I was misinformed. I think they should listen more to the grassroots, not just to the think tanks and the media. Over the past few weeks, I have met with many Democratic members of Congress. I have met some really impressive members who understand how destructive the current "reform" movement is. Many agree with me that the emphasis on evaluating teachers will simply produce more teaching to the test, more narrowing the curriculum, more gaming the system. They have heard from their constituents, and they don’t like what is going on.

But frankly, these same Congressmen and women tell me that they are probably helpless to stop the President’s agenda. The Democratic leadership will give the President and Secretary Duncan what they want, and they will have the support of Republicans. That leaves the Democrats in a quandary. They were not happy to see Secretary Duncan campaigning for his approach with Newt Gingrich. Maybe it will turn out to be a winning strategy for Secretary Duncan. He may get what he wants. It just won’t be good for American education or our kids.

Here is more from Greg Sargent at the Plum Line about the "village".

On The Origins And Meaning Of The Term, “The Villagers”

In political terms, the term “Villagers” denotes a kind of small-minded refusal to think outside an “acceptable” center-right consensus, and a refusal to acknowledge it when a majority of the American people take a view on a particular issue that is not in line with that center-right consensus. Thus, the “Villagers” include, in part, Democratic elected officials and consultants who insist that their party can’t succeed unless they ally their party with that center-right consensus; think-tankers who churn out position papers designed to prop up this elite consensus view; and elite pundits who insist that mainstream liberal views are radically leftist and insist on “bipartisanship” for its own sake, damn the consequences.

This elite consensus, in the view of the bloggers, represents this particular Village’s hidebound small-town values, which must be maintained at all costs to protect this elite’s status and interests.

And there's a most interesting comment from Skippy the Bush Kangaroo about these "villagers."

In the Village

He refers to them as

the coterie of Washington insider journalists and pundidiots who support and protect one another and support and protect the politicians and personalities they cover, often to the detriment of the people who go to them for news and information. It is only in the Village that George Bush, the son of a US vice president, scion of a well-moneyed family, connected up the whazoo, product of a prep school and Ivy League education, is painted as a populist. It is only in the Village that the late Tim Russert, a man whose show was described by Dick Cheney's staff as a friendly, easily manipulated forum, could be regarded as a tough interviewer. In the Village, you can paint Representative Gary Condit as Chandra Levy's murderer, destroying his career in the process; when the real murderer confesses years later, you blow it off, pretend you were right to accuse an innocent man of murder, and you won't hear one word of criticism from any other Villagers. In the Village, you can be wrong about everything, but once you're in, you're in for life."

And one last paragraph from Grannan at the Perimeter Primate:

Washington Post fixture Sally Quinn is credited with defining the concept in a long, earnest 1998 essay explaining why the Monica Lewinsky scandal left the Washington insider community scandalized, outraged, aghast and betrayed -- even though the rest of the country, while fleetingly grossed out, otherwise just didn’t much care. A quote from Quinn’s piece: “ ‘We have our own set of village rules,’ says David Gergen, editor at large at U.S. News & World Report, who worked for both the Reagan and Clinton White House.” Quinn, portraying The Village as a nurturing extended circle with deeply shared values, defined it as both “Washington insiders” and “the Washington Establishment.”

[msongs]

1. it's all about who is gonna make $ off race to the top.....of the cash pile. sell outs all around nt

[RandomThoughts]

20. I don't think it is about money as the controlling, but as a tool of the controlling

It is a mind set that includes concepts of some people picked as special, and having many indicators as they see them to believe that. For some reality is a combination of spiritual and world, and there are many doctrines, but basically much of what goes on is also influenced by a group in the spiritual realm. I could show examples day and night for years. Although, heh not sure if anyone sees them.

All you have to know is some basic representations and you can see people tell story after story of spiritual stuff. They do not want people to know about it either.

The rational part many people think on is broken down by many delusions, they are easy to find, and I would guess most people in those positions have a high degree of intersection with them.

Although if they talk about them, people would think them crazy, so for the most part, many of them just go along with what they are told from a group think mentality with an added, bohemian grove, 33 degree mason, family, and even some religious beliefs probably use that type of guidance.

From my observations they are not free to talk about it, there are many groups but the family is the most common name, although not only the RW group in the news alot, but also many other groups.

I will say not everyone in that group is that way, but the primary idea is not just once you are in you are in for life, but also that within that group, you have to give primary concern to others in the group.

That is why there is a two tier justice system. I disagree with two tier justice. Although I understand concepts of violence being worse then non violent crimes and such, there are some people that do far worse then many that go to jail currently.

As far as the Senate I actually hear some pretty coherent arguments from many in the Senate, on both sides, even Grahm's talks with the Tea partiers shows he wants some coherent thoughts from the public. But since so many of the public looks like raving zombies to them, the yelling and the screaming and the anger, they quickly take a thought of a parent roll. It is easy to do, I find myself doing it when in some situations, although I know it is hypocritical.

Basically because they have so much free time, they spend many hours thinking on things, and figure out some things, that people working 40 hours a week won't usually think on. It is also possible some may have more clarity on some issues. Hard to know, Many of the people I have seen on interviews are really free thinkers and not in that group of deluded, but some are go along to get along, and others follow signs and spiritual thoughts as if they are always the way things should be, like there is one side, and think anything with power must be correct, but then add so much interpretation, they just do what they think anyway, but without allowing anyone to question it.

Basically if you begin to question some messed up things long enough, eventually you will get some intersection with parts of the spiritual that gets advantage from those messed up things, then after a period of time you get help from things that fight for better ways. That is how I experienced it.

There is another group that sees the stuff and wants to be part of it, so they do what it says, like chasing a carrot. There are many doctrines about that kind of stuff also, some of them believe in collector doctrine, the idea that souls are collected and traded, and they are told they can own souls also. It is complicated, I only heard one musician actually talk about what was said about collector doctrine. But it is in many stories and much of pop culture. Although most in pop culture do not believe that doctrine, many in certain groups do. And I think much of inspired things is not owned, but just people with talents given things of joy to share. Although some get darker things that mess them up also.

Anyways, I would guess that it is hard to get into that system if you do not bow to that group, and if you do bow you lose some ability to make decisions and talk about stuff unless you break free.

Anyways, it is a long story, but there is a spiritual element to it also, at least for some.


But there is a group think like mentioned in the OP post, and it is also in much of media, so not sure how many reports of what happens are even true.

There really is a club feel to many in those groups, and if you go against others in there group, they feel you will threaten there status or security.


It basically goes like this, if you are a slave owner, the slaves make basic wages you can control. If people are free, you have to actually compete with many more people, and most of the people in those positions would not do well with real competition so they go for control, and form groups to keep control.


The same thing kept women oppressed for centuries, if women have freedom, they can pick there husbands, if they are subservient like not being able to have incomes, then the richest men in town get to pick who there wives will be, just like women were thought of as property, many people are also. The same concept is true with class structures. If people are really free to pick with real information, they wont be picking people currently in the status quo, and the status quo knows that.

It is really easy to basically make a brain of a person totally incapable of any view of reality. It is most of the time done by creating a second library of meaning to things, from that nothing seems to be what it use to be, and there are so many rivers running through things that maintaining thought on rational real things becomes difficult.

You have to be able to avoid that, while seeing it, since you will see it if you try to make good changes, and you have to know it exist, but be able to see things normally. I assume that is what is meant by the brain interference mentioned in Harrison Burgeon, and it takes focus and concentration to see on many levels but still be able to discuss topics rationally.

An example would be while reading a sentence, job in your mind gets changed from work to meaning someone that is suffering like Job in the bible, and the entire meaning of something changes. Or the word Courage becomes 'see our age' or people fall into believing things like highlander doctrine for real, or so many other messed up things.

Anyways, there are people in that state, some even think they are aliens, or a different race, some think they are under mind control, some think they get words from God. Anyway, not all of them are that way, but some in that group think in many of those ways.

And many are Machiavellian, and that is a doctrine of deception and claims of being special.

[RandomThoughts]

26. Here is an example.

I really don't post on comments about whaling being legal or illegal.

Because it might mean two things.

On the first level it is about the fishing of whales in the ocean

But it can also mean the getting rid of rich gamblers like hedge fund owners and bankers.

And it is hard to know which way a comment on the topic of whaling is talking about from article to article.

Thats how people get messed up, because they start seeing things as meaning multiple things at once.

[Jackpine Radical]

36. Do you have any evidence that anyone has ever

understood one of your posts?

[RandomThoughts]

37. Yes, but many don't understand the evidence.

Here is an example.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=9423292&mesg_id=9423495

Replied to in this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9423528

Although not sure if he understood it, he noticed it.

[earthboundmisfit]

2. K&R

Disturbing and believable.

[midnight]

3. As this race begins, I thought about the resources that

those in this depression have. The rich have been bailed out, so their kids will have the resources for an education beyond high school, and those who don't maybe will not. Those in grade school, and jr. high, and high school gear up to perform, what then. There are not enough slots in Nursing schools for nursing students at a Wisconsin University. There are not enough hours for parents who are furloughed. There are not enough loans. We are in a jobless recovery. The village is not working so it does not seem to matter about the race or the rules.

[frazzled]

4. Regular parents with regular kids?

The education policy that has your panties in such a knot is not about regular parents and regular kids. In other words, it's not really about you. You and they will be just fine, as they always have been. It's about the parents and kids in crisis, in schools that are in crisis. It's about the bottom 5% of schools, the majority of whose students never graduate and almost none of whom are working at grade level, who face mayhem and danger on the way to school, and often inside the school, whose schools have often become dumping grounds for the least effective teachers and administrators.

These are parents and kids who live in South L.A. and in Englewood, in impoverished neighborhoods around the country. It was nice for the last few decades to ignore that they existed, but they are parents and kids, too. And they need better. I don't know if this approach will work or not. But to pretend that business as usual is the answer to their critical needs is really a bit selfish and, frankly, illiberal. I've seen many educational forms instituted and abandoned over the years. Your kids and mine always did fine, because they were "regular." But for the kids in crisis, things are getting worse and worse.

It's not about the Village, either. It's about trying something to help these kids. Maybe it won't work, but some attempts are not without merit.

[madfloridian]

5. "the education policy that has your panties in such a knot" wow

I don't know what to say to you since I spent over 30 years working with all kinds of kids and parents.

If talking like that makes you feel better..go for it.

[frazzled]

6. Me too!

[madfloridian]

7. Then if you taught over 30 years why aren't you upset...

that schools are being allowed to be corporatized?

[frazzled]

11. There's that word: "corporatized"

Slogan of the week, and it bears no relationship to what is being proposed.

No, I wasn't a teacher, but I spent 20 cumulative years volunteering with tutoring and mentoring struggling kids inside the public schools: kids who barely spoke English (Hmong, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Somalian, and Hispanic, among others), kids who never had anyone in their family graduate from high school, kids with serious behavioral and emotional problems, kids who were in 10th grade and still couldn't read. It ain't easy, and I can't claim total success ... though I'm proud to say I had some. But I did come to feel that in many cases, these students were being given up on and pawned off on those of us who came to donate our time to help. I'd get handed a half-page xerox "plan" of how to help these kids, and I would throw it away by the second session, because the exercises had no absolutely no relevance to the problems they were having with learning. Each kid, in fact, had a unique problem that required individual attention and strategies. Each one needed far more than I could give in the two or three times a week I met with them.

This stuff about poor kids in urban schools is real visceral with me. It's emotional. It's desperate. I'll take some experimentation with strategies that might have some effect ... because it's that serious.

So let's cut the "corporatization" lingo out. We're talking about public education here.

[madfloridian]

13. Yeh, my friend. Turning public schools over to private companies...

a little emotional for me. I can go you tit for tat on emotion about the dismantling of public education. If you want to hold a conversation, show a little respect.

AP says "ethic rules have been waived" to allow DOE folks to deal more easily with Gates Foundation
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5105

DOE money to flow to schools which defy their unions. To districts which form charter schools.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5099

Some Catholic schools in Florida converting to charter schools this fall.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5085

NY public school students get limited use of school library so 3 charter schools can use it.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5077

Private Christian school gets charter school taxpayer money. Expels children of woman who questions.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5073

Jeb Bush is delighted that Obama is taking on teachers' unions.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5046

Up to 250 public schools to be turned over to outside bidders? Called a hostile takeover.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5015

Are the words "school choice" public code words for the movement to privatize public education?
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5000

"Stand and Deliver" school, Garfield High, sadly is one of 12 schools available to outside bidders
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4973

The demeaning of public education began under Reagan. It has worked well.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4966

Charter school director blames too-hard tests and pupils tired of test-taking for poor test scores.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4932

The hodge-podge nature of schools getting public money makes it hard to have funding accountability.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4879

Herbert Kohl on scripted curriculum, surveillance of teachers, and TIME on Arne's 5 billion
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4833

Charter school principals fired after questioning taxpayer money spent on school's real estate arm.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/4784

"Democracy Privatized!"...education blog talks about turning over public functions to “the market”.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5610

There is intimidation of those who question school closings in NYC...
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5598

Remember they are even turning A schools into charters.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5615

Imagine Charter Schools sells 5 schools for 44 million...will have them leased back to them.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5586

Blogger gets it: Make big bucks by closing public schools, firing teachers, opening charters.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5558

Teacher union head hires fed pay czar to develop plan to get rid of teachers.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5539

[frazzled]

17. I've read those

You lose me every time you reduce education policy to charter schools, and charter schools to privatization. It's sloppy thinking, and meant to tug on the political heartstrings of the uninformed. But it's not about education.

Some charter schools are founded by teachers, parents, or activists . . . State-authorized charters (schools not chartered by local school districts) are often established by non-profit groups, universities, and some government entities.. . . Additionally, school districts sometimes permit corporations to manage chains of charter schools. The schools themselves are still non-profit, in the same way that public schools may be managed by a for-profit corporation. It does not change the status of the school.

See, SOME school districts permit corporations to manage chains of charter schools. That's been going on with public schools since back in the Clinton administration. They are still non-profit, PUBLIC schools. I certainly wouldn't want my school district run by a private management company (not that it was run all that well by the district itself). But this is not the backbone and crux of the policies you keep posting about.

I'd like for ONCE for you to post your proposals for how to better EDUCATE children in critically failing schools. Not about management, not about unions, not about money, not whining about how this is about teachers taking the blame (it's not). How about talking about exciting strategies you have for TEACHING and getting kids to learn? That I haven't seen.

[madfloridian]

18. What a terribly rude post. But that is okay here now.

And I have to take it. But I don't have to read it. I can fix it so I don't see it.

I think you should do the same then you don't have to see me quoting myself and my hours of research just to be insulted.

[madfloridian]

23. The best part is that you can say anything you want to me....

and I can do nothing about it without getting myself in trouble.

But I will continue to speak out on this topic as long as I can.

[ljm2002]

35. You seem very interested in this topic...

...as evidenced by your very specific requests:

"I'd like for ONCE for you to post your proposals for how to better EDUCATE children in critically failing schools. Not about management, not about unions, not about money, not whining about how this is about teachers taking the blame (it's not). How about talking about exciting strategies you have for TEACHING and getting kids to learn? That I haven't seen."

So here's a question for you: If you are SO interested in proposals on how to better educate children in critically failing schools, who or what is stopping you from "talking about exciting strategies you have for TEACHING and getting kids to learn"? So far all I've seen from you on this thread are criticisms of MF's approach to the issue, backed up as it is with an ongoing journal and references galore. I have not seen any positive contribution from you: studies, statistics, even case studies. Maybe you could provide some. It would serve two purposes: it would get your suggestions out there; and it would elevate the discussion.

What I am seeing suggests that you view the charter school / education "reform" movement as a net positive for the most needy children. Many of MF's posts quote statistics that strongly suggest otherwise. By all means, have this discussion. But instead of trying to tear down MF's approach, why not make a positive contribution of your own, and argue on the merits?

[readmoreoften]

40. Hey genius. A private not-for-profit corporation is still a corporation.

Are you going to argue that not-for-profit religious schools are also "public" if the state used tax money to fund student attendance? There is no reason for charter schools. None. If more money was spent on education, there would be no need for "volunteers" to do the work that teachers should be doing. If more money was spent on education, there would be a decent student-teacher ratio that would obviate the very need--however kind-hearted of you-- for "free charity workers" like yourself.

You don't get it. And that's probably because you're not a teacher. You don't see the systemic problems. You only see what you perceive to be the "failures" of the system.

Privatized schools operate outside of the public sphere with religions, self-serving corporations, unvetted experts, and self-proclaimed do-gooders at their helm. A private school can abandon its educational mission and become a branding machine, the humanitarian veneer on real estate and construction projects.

Are private entities running the school system in Europe or Asia? No. Public education works there. Because it's funded. And that's the real answer. Not charter school obscurantist nonsense.

[Whisp]

42. thank you!

I've been so confused about all this 'privatization' of schools and lately am learning that that may not be true!!!! even though its posted here as such a hundred times a day.


omg.

[madfloridian]

48. Oh, its true. Public money is going to private companies to run schools...

and recruit teachers. Recruit teachers with 50 million of our tax money when they could be hired locally for free?

Yes, it is privatization....the words choice and competition are being used freely by the "reformers". Just like the same words are used to turn Soc. Sec. over to Wall Street. Choice and competition. Free market words.

[madfloridian]

49. lol guess that madfloridian is wrong after all. A poster says she is.

So she is.

Think and do your own research. Don't depend on me or on his views....do your own thing.

[Jefferson23]

58. Yea, what do you know, JUST because you actually do your homework

before you post, with links...doesn't mean much. I'm afraid it never will for some, but I thank you for your hard work mads.

:fistbump:

[shellgame26]

56. Aaand..how much teaching experience do you have?

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dappleganger]

31. If you weren't a teacher...

then your argument doesn't hold as much validity as your job wasn't on the line every school year depending upon how well the kids performed. Thank you for 'helping' but your experience does in NO WAY equal that of a REAL teacher.

[readmoreoften]

41. +1.

[Starry Messenger]

43. +1

[saracat]

14. Wow. Nice phrasing there for a very respected poster who NEVER fails to provide facts.

And toward a poster who was herself a teacher. I guess that says it all, and proves the point that some have no respect for teachers and their experience.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[frazzled]

19. Maybe you haven't read the new rules

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

24. I have. I know you can say all the insulting things you want to me...

and I must take it.

[Dappleganger]

32. It's quite sickening.

One only needs to read your previous posts for all of five minutes to discover that you have the authority to know what you're talking about.

[Nite Owl]

51. madfloridian just ignor them

don't let it bother you, there are hundreds here who read all your posts and journal. I have more of your posts bookmarked and emailed to my list than anyones. All you work is appreciated. Thank you.

As a former teacher you are right what is trying to be done to public education will be the end of an educated populace and more of the middle class will be history.

[Catshrink]

29. Actually, the regular kids won't.

With state budgets nearly bankrupt, states have cut school funding leading to teacher layoffs. Thus, class sizes have increased dramatically. My classes will be 30% larger than last year - from 30 to 40 students. These are regular kids. I will bust my butt to reach each of them but with a total student load of 180+, how much time will each student get?

Yes, regular kids will be affected by this economy. The House tried to divert a small fraction of Arne's warchest to saving teachers' jobs so that class sizes wouldn't balloon like this. Obama threatened to veto it. Convince me he cares about education.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. Nope, I know a bunch of former teachers who took early retirement

because they were disgusted with what high-stakes testing was doing to their SUBURBAN school districts. They no longer wanted to be part of a system where the tests were everything and nothing else they did (creative teaching, inspiring students, etc.) was valued.

[chervilant]

45. OMG...

Our entire system of public education is in crisis, frazzled. Asserting that a measurable percentage of contemporary students (and their parents) "will be just fine, as they always have been" obfuscates this reality, and diminishes the immediacy of the crisis.

At least 40% of our adult population is functionally illiterate. Such a large measure of illiteracy in a purportedly 'educated' adult population tells me we have long had a seriously dysfunctional system of public education.

At present, almost every school district in and around Houston is facing a serious budget shortfall. I assure you, these school districts do not comprise "the bottom 5% of schools." And, serious budget shortfalls are ubiquitous in our crumbling economy, so what say you about how to 'fix' this financial component of our crisis in public education?

Now, if we can pretend for a moment that this nation fully supports public education and fully funds the pursuit thereof, we still have your thinly veiled derogation of "the least effective teachers and administrators" in the "dumping grounds" of the "bottom 5% of schools." The best teacher I ever had taught for two decades in an unrated, tiny, poverty-level rural school in northwest Arkansas. She had a profound impact on my education AND my life. How do you think such a highly effective educator found her niche in such a marginal public school, amidst all the "least effective teachers and administrators"? (BTW, our superintendent was quietly and diplomatically effective, yet another fly in your 'dumping grounds' ointment...)

Sigh... just thinking about your closing assertions makes me tired. Perhaps you need to educate yourself further about "the Village" and get a handle on the policy-makers' agendas about public education. If you think the power elite are interested in offering a superlative education to the hoi polloi, you just might be a handful of fries short of a Happy Meal.

[XemaSab]

8. I don't get that the STATED GOAL of a large faction of the republican party

is to destroy the educational system, the EPA, the national park system, OSHA, the SEC, welfare, social security, and virtually everything else in the government that makes our society civilized... AND THEY'RE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AS A GROUP WE SHOULD RESPECT AND LISTEN TO.

I think that as soon as someone says that their goal is to destroy public education, then everything that comes out of their mouths should be completely ignored.

Like, seriously, put your fingers in your ears and say "Lalalalala" and then have security take them out of the room so that the grown-ups can talk.

[amborin]

9. K&R & bookmarked to read later; sounds like a return to pre-modern, authority-based legitimacy; an

insulated elite, able to act with impunity, completely disregarding the subjects who are impacted by their center-right policies

change you can believe in

[Nay]

46. This is exactly what it is, amborin--this time, it'll be a THEOCRATIC

pre-modern, authority-based legitimacy, with the Pubs and fundies in charge. I have NO IDEA (other than the "Village" explanation above) why this is happening, other than my long-standing belief that a good part of humanity is evil -- power-mad, sexually-driven, and infinitely greedy.

[REP]

10. This 'village' did it

These schools serve very at-risk children as well as children from financially secure families:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/education&id=7442043

Parents succeed in saving teacher's jobs
Friday, May 14, 2010

CUPERTINO, CA (KGO) -- To offset the damage done by state budget cuts, parents in Cupertino have raised enough money to save 107 teacher's jobs in their school district.

On Friday afternoon, they will announce they reached their $2 million goal that will allow teacher to keep their jobs and will help keep class sizes small.

The fundraising campaign, "Their Future is Now", collected donations from local businesses and residents. Pink slips of all 107 teachers from grades K-through-8 will be rescinded.

[Hardrada]

12. Sort of like the Sicilian Cosa Nostra

[MadHound]

21. So, how do we get The Village to listen?

Oh, yeah, the ballot box. Apparently that is the only tool teachers and educators have left. I suggest we use it.

[notesdev]

27. It takes a village...

fill in your own joke here

[joe black]

34. It's not whose vote counts, it's who counts the votes.

Time for , well you know.

[Skittles]

25. join us all under the bus

[lostnfound]

28. What an interestnig OP and what impressive restraint you are showing

downthread. :)

[rucky]

53. +1

[LWolf]

30. k&r

[joe black]

33. Cult.

I like the part about Russert. People fawn over that hack even on this board. When I saw him with that god damned blackboard on the night of Bushes first election I knew the fix was in. Timmy twisted that blackboard into a pretzel to make monkey boy look like he was ahead. I was born at night but it wasn't last night.

[cornermouse]

39. They're royalty without the titles.

:(

[alsame]

44. Well, 'the village' would certainly exlain why this country

keeps moving to the right regardless of who controls Congress or who is in the WH.

K&R

[elleng]

47. That's no VILLAGE, its the Establishment.

The village, on the other hand, 'originated from the Nigerian Igbo culture and proverb "Ora na azu nwa" which means it takes the community/village to raise a child. The Igbo's also name their children "Nwa ora" which means child of the community. It has been in existence in Africa for centuries.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Takes_a_Village

[Jakes Progress]

50. Let 'em scream.

There's money to be made. Who here thinks that corporate ed gives a flying scan-tron test sheet what parents think as long as they can get government to pay them?

[BrklynLiberal]

52. KICK & REC!!!! Arrogant, evil, greedy, self-centered, disgusting sub-humanoids

[Dinger]

54. Obama/Duncan's Education Policy Is A Cluster Fuck If I Ever Saw One

That is all.

K & R

[scentopine]

55. No shortage of idiots in that village -nt

[DirkGently]

57. Great points. Blinding following "who" rather than "what" is an important

distinction. One that I had hoped separated liberals and conservatives. Unfortunately, that does not always seem to be the case.

[Jefferson23]

59. Concerns go way back on Duncan regarding Special Education too:

From 2008

Are special ed subs being used to staff schools and get around IDEA rules that would otherwise apply to permanent hires?A usually reliable reader says that CPS "has a lot of non-certified subs in special education and saves money by overloading class rooms and by not assigning aides to the children who need them. Non-ceritified teachers cannot complain-they are just let go or they leave CPS. CPS has not published any vacancy lists in special education for years. CPS even published a handbook for special education subs. This is one of CPS' dirty little secrets--non-qualified teachers in special education. They can not test children, advocate for the children or even sign the most basic IEP. NCLB rules do not pertain to non-qualified special education teachers-parents do not receive any letters like the parents of general education children do..." http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/RUSSO/index.php/entry/511/Special_Ed_Sub_Scandal


If one can't see the agenda at play, I don't know what else you can say.

[Jefferson23]

60. Kick