Merryl Tisch Should Shut Up And Listen

Merryl Tisch at last night's Common Core forum at Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, where she and her NYSED Commissioner King were repeatedly booed by 1,500 people as they tried to preach the Gospel of the Common Core to the masses:

Tisch observed that "rhetoric is very high," and said, "I would urge everyone on both sides to take a breath and listen."

A commenter on the Newsday story notes:

"Take a breath and listen" translates to shut up and do as we say. Tisch and King are the ones not listening. The incompetent implementation of these reforms would never have been tolerated in the private sector, even if they were good, well founded ideas, which these are not.

The commenter makes two very good points:

First, the botched implementation would never be tolerated in the education reform movement's beloved marketplace, though they seem to have no problem thrusting half-based tests, error-riddled curricula, and unpiloted evaluation systems on the rest of us.

Second, Tisch wants the rhetoric toned down because she doesn't want to hear the criticism.  She wants to impose her agenda on the rest of us and she wants us to sit there and take it.

The crowd at Ward Melville High School in Setauket let her know that is not going to happen.

In reality, with the opposition to the state education reform agenda growing by leaps and bounds across the state, Tisch is the one who should shut up and listen to others as they voice their criticism of the Core, the tests, the curricula, the evaluation system and the data collection.

In the end, as the politicians around the state see this anti-ed reform movement grow, they will force that on her whether she likes it or not.