A fellow named Blaise Nutter wrote this glowing review of the Waiting for Superman propaganda/documentary/cartoon about education coming out in September.
In his review, Mr. Nutter writes:
Everyone agrees that the main problem with schools is bad teachers.
What is Nutter's evidence for this prognosis?
He saw the movie Waiting for Superman.
Uh, huh - that's it.
He is not an educator and has never taught anything anywhere near a public school. He has worked as an account executive and writer for HR Public Relations, a boutique PR firm specializing in the travel industry, however, so that surely gives him the expertise, knowledge, and experience to declare "Everyone agrees that the main problem with schools is bad teachers."
Perhaps by "everyone," Mr. Nutter means everyone HE KNOWS - as in, all the folks at the boutique PR firm specializing in the travel industry.
But if Mr. Nutter got out more, say to a few public schools other than the sexy charters like KIPP and Harlem Children's Zone schools journalists like Bob Herbert and David Brooks seem to visit over and over again before writing their "teachers unions are evil" columns, he would know that the issue is so much more complex than "Everyone agrees that the main problem with schools is bad teachers."
In fact, if "journalists" like the Herbert, Brooks and the rest of the Timesmen and and Timeswomen also got out a little more and actually reported on the consequences of the Obama/Gates/Broad/Bloomberg education reform movement they so often applaud, they would know it is wreaking more destruction than even NCLB did.
Diane Ravitch - an illustrious education expert with a lot more experience, knowledge and expertise in the field than all of those "journalists" and politicians and bloggers named above combined - says so right here.
Unfortunately, people seem to think watching an hour and a half piece of propaganda and/or cartoon about education gives them all the knowledge, expertise and experience they need to make huge policy decisions that will affect and harm millions of children and teachers.
I do look forward to the next Blaise Nutter post wherein Mr. Nutter watches a Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote cartoon, declares himself an expert on roadside explosions caused by Acme products and says "Everybody agrees the main problem with highway accidents these days is the wide availability of Acme explosives."
I gotta tell you RBE. This guy really pissed me off this morning when I read the article.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a comment that of course was not posted by HP moderators. Here it is:
"Mr. Nutter,
I am curious to know who pays you to write this trash. Your blanket statement about bad teachers being the cause of poor educational outcomes is disingenuous and spiteful.
Is it the hedge fund backed education "reformers" who bought your journalistic integrity, like they have for so many other writers, bloggers and politicians?
I can tell you with certainty that the silver bullets of privatization and accountability-reform will do nothing but send students into the money grubbing hands of corporations that care mostly for their own bottom line, while simultaneously de-professionalizing education careers to the point in which you will rarely see career-teachers.
However, if you have truly any ounce of journalistic sincerity left, you should be focusing your effort reporting on the economic and social inequities that poor families and communities, especially those of color, face."
This dumbing-down of the issues in the media is so irresponsible. We as people who want to keep public education viable need to get our voices out to the general public.
It's straight from the playbook of that giant of the public relations field, Joseph Geobbels: keep repeating a lie over and over again, and people will believe it.
ReplyDeleteMayor Scumberg and Chancellor Slime,
ReplyDeleteThe S.S.
They'll get you every time.
How do you guys even find this stuff with 5 million Huffington Post writers?
ReplyDeleteNutter exhibits breathtaking hyperbole when he says: "educators, experts, and public officials like Bill Gates." Just how does a convicted predatory monopolist bent on privatizing public education qualify for any of those words preceding their name?
ReplyDeleteAlthough Nutter's charter-cheerleading HuffPo advertisement is devoid of facts in general, his assertion that "guilt gnaws" at his privileged subject of his obsequiousness is beyond belief. People familiar with the smug mendacious hipster Guggenheim's neighborhood suggest that there are no poor-performing schools in that area that he could possibly be driving past on the way to their private school.
These corporate reformers waste no opportunity to disgust.
The good news is that The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For "Superman" has been released, exposing all the outrageous lies and propaganda that Guggenheim's high profile charter-voucher school informercial inflicted on us.