Monday, May 16, 2011

Teacher Basher Matt Yglesias Gets Bashed Himself

Ed deformer Matt Yglesias took a "shortcut" home the other night and found - well, he found this:

I was walking back from the home of Megan McArdle and Peter Suderman and instead of doing the normal thing and taking Q Street west to 5th and then walking south, I wanted to take a shortcut by walking south on North Capitol to then cut southwest on New York. But then lo and behold right by Catania Bakery a couple of dudes ran up from behind, punched me in the head, then kicked me a couple of times before running off. Once, years ago, in Amsterdam a guy threatened me with a knife and took my money. These guys took nothing, and just inflicted a bit of pain. All things considered the threaten/rob model of crime seems a lot more beneficial to both parties than the punch-and-run model. But I guess it takes all kinds.

To offer a policy observation, higher density helps reduce street crime in an urban environment in two ways. One is that in a higher density city, any given street is less likely to be empty of passersby at any given time. The other is that if a given patch of land has more citizens, that means it can also support a larger base of police officers. And for policing efficacy both the ratio of cops to citzens and of cops to land matters. Therefore, all else being equal a denser city will be a better policed city.

That said, as a matter of personal ethics you really shouldn’t run around punching random dudes in the back of the head irrespective of the prevailing level of population density or policing.


Maybe they read your blog, Matt, and were responding to the shit you write about teachers.

I have to admit, I don't read Yglesias (It's always the same - teachers suck, tests are great, teachers suck, tests are great...), but I do sometimes see ED Kain respond to Ygeslias' teacher bashing.

And when I read the things that Yglesias says about school, teachers, and the wonders of tests and using test scores to reward merit and rid the system of incompetence in Kain's posts, I often want to punch Yglesias in the head a few times myself and knock some sense into him.

Ironic that he was coming home from another noted teacher basher and standardized test lover, Megan McArdle.

Or maybe not - these wankers stick together and wank each other on a daily (and nightly) basis.

Anyway, part of me knows that laughing at Yglesias' misfortune is selfish, fear-based and wrong, but there's another part of me that thinks "Good for you! Too bad Megan didn't take that 'shortcut' with you too."

Ah, yes, the wonders of the complexity and contradiction in the human ego.

Reflective Educator touched on this a bit the other day in this post.

He has a very good point about not letting anger and fear-based thinking swallow us up as we fight the corporate reform movement.

Negativity begets more negativity and does no one any good.

I know that deep down in my soul.

So let me be straight here:

The fact is, I'm not glad Yglesias got punched in the head by a couple of guys, even if he is an ed deform wanker who promotes policies that demean teachers, harm children and destroy schools and I have wanted to punch him in the head myself a couple of times to knock sense into him.

There I said it.

But don't press me on it.

I'm only human, after all.

22 comments:

  1. I would punch hium in the head, piece of shit.

    Angry Nog

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  2. As someone with mixed feelings about the 'education reform' debate, I will say that this post does not make me more sympathetic to your position.

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  3. People who don't have the guts to do something they want to do but cheer when others do it are the wankers, not people who get assaulted.

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  4. "I have to admit, I don't read Yglesias (It's always the same - teachers suck, tests are great, teachers suck, tests are great...)"

    Yglesias doesn't write about Education that often - less than 1 in 20 posts. And while he is quite open to metrics-based reform, he has readily acknowledged many of the flaws in the test based approaches as well.

    Plus, he has one of the most highly read blogs in the nation, so much of your reader base probably already is familiar with his writings. That being said, I am not sure who you would be able to fool with your lazy criticism.

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  5. Matt Yglesias has "one of the most highly read blogs in the nation"...so does Charlie Sheen. I take no pleasure in anyone being assaulted, its a criminal act. Yglesias on his best day is an immature, ill-informed, overrated blogger. Matt is part of the juicebox mafia, a gaggle of Ezra Klein types who gained prominence through nefarious, non-merit based acts of journalistic grace. Here in DC, we laugh at their collective naivete.

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  6. you think he deserved to be assaulted because you don't like what he writes about education?

    serioulsy?

    you must be a real prize.

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  7. hahahaha....you are one pathetic loser. "im not smart like matt yglesias, so im glad he got punched in the head" should be the title of this post. try using logical arguments instead of lame "wanker" jokes.

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  8. maybe if your teachers had been better, you could have found a better book to name your blog after.

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  9. Well, clear enough to me at the beginning of the piece that you were glad he got "punched in the head," so walking it back at the end of the piece is just lame. Kids' stuff.

    Being a nasty-talking "piece of work" slinging words doesn't make you a supporter of reform. First, reform yourself, be the one you want the kids to be; then, you can lead by example. "By their deeds shall you know them."

    Although, I suppose it's possible that mean-mouthed and arrogant is what you're role modeling. Is it?

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  10. Teachers suck, tests are good!

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  11. "Ironic that he was coming home from another noted teacher basher and standardized test lover, Megan McArdle."

    How is this ironic, exactly?

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  12. Yglesias is widely read, and the ThinkProgress site attracts a liberal crowd whose political orientations should make them sympathetic to public education and open to arguments about what will benefit students and teachers. Most of them have never heard of this blog, and they will get their only taste of it today because of Yglesias's link to this entry. How many of us are going stick around, saying, "Wow, this guy's sharp. Here is where I should be going for keen analysis of educational policy." This has the content to abuse ratio of a Tea Party rally.

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  13. What a nasty little blog post. I don't agree with everything Yglesias says, but he does a good job of giving the reasons behind his views. Political discourse in the US would be greatly improved if this were the norm, but alas, it isn't, as this post demonstrates.

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  14. There's a lot of criticisms you could levy against Yglesias, but reveling in the physical pain of others, even those with whom he disagrees, isn't one of them.

    I wish I could say the same for you.

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  15. I believe the issue 'reality-based educator' is dealing with is that while a cursory scan of Matt's recent post might lead one to believe he's stuck on the meme "teachers suck/tests good", he actually has expressed a more nuanced view. I think a better textbyte would be "teacher advancement based on tenure-M.S.Ed sux/tests necessary evil". But, since neither he nor 'reality-based educator' regurgitates an abstract of their overall policy outlook on a weekly basis, misunderstandings can occur.

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  16. Congratulations, you are now known. The bad part is what you are known as.

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  17. "Ironic that he was coming home from another noted teacher basher and standardized test lover, Megan McArdle."

    Clearly, you didn't learn the definition of irony in school. The above quote is not ironic. What's ironic is that you write a blog about education, which is supposed to promote reasoned debate and logic over thuggery, and yet you celebrate thuggish tactics against someone you disagree with. As others have pointed out, Yglesias rarely writes about education, and when he does, has a fairly nuanced and moderate position that you fail to describe with any accuracy. So, congratulations on your day of fame. Tomorrow, go back to being a crank that 5 people read.

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  18. How exactly is your argumentation supposed to convince me to entrust you with the education of our nation's children? Frankly, if you're teaching anything to any children anywhere, they have much bigger problems than vouchers, merit pay and standardized tests.

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  19. Teachers should get heat more often. In Jersey, when the teachers started getting scrutinized, they responded in the most infantile manner imaginable, with obscene name-calling etc. It really lets the public in on what type of person is being unleashed on America's kids. Your post, reveling in the pain of an opponent of the edudumbassocracy getting the crap kicked out of him, helps this cause as well.

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  20. Wow, you teachers sure seem like a nice, sane, balanced group of people who can be trusted alone with children. Let's hope that none of them disagree with your political opinions, lest they be found face-down in a pool of blood.

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  21. Just re-iterating what some other people said here. I'm a first time visitor resulting from the link Yglesias gave you. I was put-off by the entire tone of your post. I browsed a few more posts. I don't know. I'm sure you have some valid points to make, but they weren't getting through to me. I wish i had something more constructive to say other than saying perhaps you could tone down the hyperbole, and focus more on the arguments you're trying to make.

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  22. Wait, they actually let the author of this blog post teach? In an actual school? With kids? Absolutely terrifying.

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