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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Education Reformers attack the messenger

In the last week I have been threatened to be taken to court by a charter school company, for allegedly making things up and called a liar by Jeb Bush’s web site.



The thing is I neither lied nor made things up and I had plenty of sources from main stream sources and often quotes from the people, who said I was lying and making things up, themselves, to back me up.

So why would they go to such lengths to deny the things they have said and done and to attack the messenger? Because they can is the obvious answer, they think if they threaten or belittle I’ll stop or others will dismiss and it’s easier to do that than answer legitimate questions or admit there may be flaws in their game.

I imagine they have to create a mindset for themselves where they may actually think they are doing the right thing to ease their conscious when they cash their huge paychecks. So when people question or disagree they become outraged and lash out kid of like how children unable to control themselves do.

This is the crazy thing, I’m not Woodward or Bernstein here, I am not sifting through people’s trashcans. If I can’t find it on google then there is a better than good chance I can’t find it. Furthermore where I have strong opinions about public education making things up hurts my argument, it’s not like google doesn’t exist after all and people won’t be able to tell. There is a huge difference between me writing things they don’t like and writing things that are false.

In a way it makes me feel confident that the pendulum will swing back to public education. The corporate reform movement is like a three-legged stool. One leg is the money they have, the second if their cherry picked facts and the third is the cognitive dissonance they create for themselves so they can justify their position and no movement can last long with those three things supporting them


3 comments:

  1. Leader of Michigan schools feels the same way. He is going to demand accountability and transparency. Maybe the tide is turning.

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  2. You are a good man for fighting this battle Chris. Never give up.

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  3. Chris, you really need to read Fear and Learning in America by Kuhn. Actually, Vitti should read it too. Kuhn conceptualizes everything I have been thinking (and all teachers), you have been arguing, and what every educational leader needs to hear.

    ReplyDelete