tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post6775271251653149728..comments2024-01-04T05:57:26.735-06:00Comments on Education Policy Blog: Hosted by the Forum on the Future of Public Education: Of the Education Trust and othersCraig A. Cunninghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18160288758906798678noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-42983360970764255782008-05-26T14:56:00.000-05:002008-05-26T14:56:00.000-05:00My 2 cents is that anonymous comments are fine. T...My 2 cents is that anonymous comments are fine. The issue should be with about the content of comments. And I guess I feel like there's been some overly negative feeling towards Dr. Anonymous's questions. <BR/><BR/>I think we want to welcome people who are willing to take the time to ask critical questions, whether we feel like answering them or not (we may not). <BR/><BR/>Dr. Anonymous, are you the same Dr. Anonymous from Open Left? If so, welcome. Your comments have struck me as thoughtful over there.<BR/><BR/>Oh, and as to the "Ed Links" question, this blog is meant to be broader than just "policy" to get at general issues relating to the foundations of education. The posters on the blog had a discussion and agreed that it was useful to keep posting them, so I'll continue to do so. But I can see why they may seem a bit out of place if you come to this for education policy writ fairly narrowly.Aaron Schutzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10667097977144954236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-63220199767801597472008-05-26T00:22:00.000-05:002008-05-26T00:22:00.000-05:00Maybe commenters/questioners would would be more ...Maybe commenters/questioners would would be more willing to give their names if the posters would pay them the respect of addressing their concerns instead of hijacking the conversation into other areas, or pretending that asking for clarification anonymously is somehow illegitimate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-76926489401396318592008-05-25T22:50:00.000-05:002008-05-25T22:50:00.000-05:00i'm not sure there's anyway to stop anonymous comm...i'm not sure there's anyway to stop anonymous comments, unless we vet comments before they appear...philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07461587137265412721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-20146072326235494672008-05-25T19:09:00.000-05:002008-05-25T19:09:00.000-05:00As a cofounder of this blog, I would like to sugge...As a cofounder of this blog, I would like to suggest to the others on the roster that we block anonymous comments. Craig, could you look into this if others agree? What do others think? I also don't want anonymous comments, having had my fill of that on my own blog last year. I fully agree with Jim and others who have requested names.A. G. Rudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14065737458510256119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-91332877941207235392008-05-25T18:23:00.000-05:002008-05-25T18:23:00.000-05:00My name really is Dr. Anomymous. What gave me awa...My name really is Dr. Anomymous. What gave me away?<BR/><BR/>You don't have to talk. Just point to evidence that the Broad and Gates foundations have had deleterious effects on the public schools involved in their programs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-48993544288107341782008-05-25T18:10:00.000-05:002008-05-25T18:10:00.000-05:00Put your name up here, Dr. Anonymous, and we can t...Put your name up here, Dr. Anonymous, and we can talk.James Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04462754705431590571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-62075483193049913512008-05-25T18:04:00.000-05:002008-05-25T18:04:00.000-05:00So how exactly do dollars that public schools get ...So how exactly do dollars that public schools get from the Broad and Gates foundations promote "social control and the protection of privilege"? This claim is kind of far-fetched, except perhaps to a kind of black-helicopter mentality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-119721387102773432008-05-25T17:54:00.001-05:002008-05-25T17:54:00.001-05:00The last sentence of the previous comment should r...The last sentence of the previous comment should read:<BR/><BR/>Or IF you cant call it that, don't blame me for doing it for you.James Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04462754705431590571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-54161770419727497722008-05-25T17:54:00.000-05:002008-05-25T17:54:00.000-05:00Are the journals edited by the esteemed members of...Are the journals edited by the esteemed members of this blog "legitimate"?<BR/><BR/>If so, what makes them so?<BR/><BR/>If not, why should I bother trying to publish in them? What makes<BR/>Educational Theory, EPAA, or Educational Culture different (more legit?) than THE TRUST's journal? Or Fordham's?<BR/><BR/>If THE TRUST is busy misrepresenting, stretching, avoiding, and redirecting, shouldn't we be informing the public and its representatives<BR/>about each?<BR/><BR/>I suppose i'm still suffering from naive idealism, but i have a vision of scholars as public intellectuals, engaging publicly in pursuit of truth(s).<BR/><BR/>Am I wrong?philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07461587137265412721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21843852.post-14385519392295441582008-05-25T17:26:00.000-05:002008-05-25T17:26:00.000-05:00Notwithstanding Sherman's contention, I am not in ...Notwithstanding Sherman's contention, I am not in the business of limiting anyone's right to push his point of view, regardless of how ignorant or oppressive it might be. One of the great beauties of living in America is that everyone has a right (so far) to make a fool of himself. So even though my blog posts do have a magical power to stop Bill Gates and Eli Broad in their 60 million dollar tracks, I have decided to let them speak. No, go ahead, really. <BR/><BR/>What Bill Gates or Eli Broad must expect, however, are a few who actually have the audacity to look beneath the shoddy veneer of self-inflating and grandiose do-gooderism to suggest that there may be more to the story than a disinterested desire to use billions to buy the common good. <BR/><BR/>If you read the New York Times story from April 25, 2007, the picture that emerges is a very clear representation of a group aimed to achieve a specific education policy agenda, not a feel good dollar-stuffed beneficence directed toward starry-eyed educational idealists who are given the freedom to fail. Anything but. <BR/><BR/>From the Times piece:<BR/><BR/>"Eli Broad and Bill Gates, two of the most important philanthropists in American public education, have pumped more than $2 billion into improving schools. But now, dissatisfied with the pace of change, they are joining forces for a $60 million foray into politics in an effort to vault education high onto the agenda of the 2008 presidential race.<BR/>. . . .<BR/>The project will not endorse candidates — indeed, it is illegal to do so as a charitable group — but will instead focus on three main areas: a call for stronger, more consistent curriculum standards nationwide; lengthening the school day and year; and improving teacher quality through merit pay and other measures. . . ."<BR/><BR/>National standards, tests, and pay for test scores--sounds pretty specific to me. On top of this $60 million devoted to buy the political influence needed to complete the mission (the ED 08 fest is just one event in the campaign), are other projects, of course, Ed Trust being one of the beneficiaries of the dynamic duo's largesse. There is, too, Achieve, Inc., which is in charge of shoving the American Diploma Project state by state, which consists of a re-writing of a one-size-fits-all high school curriculum built on more math, science, and end of course exit exams for all.<BR/><BR/>Of course, there is, too, the on-going Broad project to funnel millions to Green Dot Schools, Inc. in order to legitimize efforts to charterize LAUSD and to gain a foothold in NYC.<BR/><BR/>And speaking of charters, the small schools venture of Gates has not gone away, but rather, morphed into the charter school phenom of rote learning chain gangs like KIPP. The small schools "philosophy" helped make such a model acceptable in some circles.<BR/><BR/>Yes, Jim Anderson at AERA did not take the bait on the question related to the great white philanthropists of this current era, even though the similarities between this Gilded Age and the one of the late 19th Century that spawned the black industrial model of education are unmistakable. When Carnegie, Eastman, TR, Grant, and most other leaders at the turn of the last century embraced the Hampton Model and industrial education as the solution to the "negro problem," it was from a highly-developed self-aggrandizing sense of the common good wedded to a blindness to their own virulent racism. <BR/><BR/>Those who believe today that the WORK HARD, BE NICE educational philosophy of KIPP is today's solution for a uniform and uniformed black and brown education, or for those who view corporate curriculum writing for public schools as a good thing, and for those who believe cheap charter schools with reduced services, marginally-certified teachers, and no libraries or teachers' unions are what the poor deserve, well, I say, speak on, speak up, speak loudly. Let your voices ring out, but please, please, do not try to hide behind the pretense and feel-gooderism of helping those who can't help themselves. Call it what it is: social control and the protection of privilege. Or you can't call it that, don't blame me for doing it for you.James Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04462754705431590571noreply@blogger.com