Joe Williams' new blog; Pataki's Budget Would Lift Charter Cap; Stupid in America clips online & msg boards

1) Run, don't walk, to visit the new blog by Joe Williams, author of the fabulous book, Cheating Our Kids (www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/140396839X/tilsoncapitalpar), who is doing it in conjunction with the NY State Charter School Association: www.nycsa.org/blog/

 

He only started it a few days ago, but it already has some great stuff on it.  Here's the latest -- some great news in Pataki's budget:

Pataki's Budget Would Lift Charter Cap

Gov. Pataki unveiled his final budget this morning in Albany. Lots of stuff for wonks on all sides of every issue to pore over in the next few days. Worth noting for charter schools, Pataki's proposed budget:

• Cap Increase: Raises the cap in state law from 100 to 250 charter schools (allowing 100 more to be approved by the SUNY Trustees and 50 more approved by school districts and the Board of Regents).
• NYC Chancellor Schools: Provides for an unlimited number of charter schools authorized by the Chancellor of the New York City School District (i.e., removes Chancellor-approved charter schools from the cap).
• Building Aid: Charter schools will have access to state building aid in the same manner as ‘Special Act’ schools for building projects to be reimbursed by the state based on a regional formula. Charter schools will also be able to access financing and construction management services from the Dormitory Authority.
• Additional Authorizers: Nonprofit corporations will be authorized to approve charter schools, in addition to school districts.

Stay tuned. Now the real game begins.

2) Three good clips from Stupid in America are posted on 20/20's web site at http://abcnews.go.com/2020/

 

3) Stossel's message boards (http://forums.go.com/abcnews/2020/forum?start=0&forumID=17&byThread=true) are going nuts, NUTS I tell ya!  This is a typical post from a teacher:

Stupid in America does not start in the schools. It is the stupid adults that produce these lazy, under-achievers. When the parent see no reason to act like civilized people why would you expect the children to. The problem I have in my classroom is parents. Parents support their disrespectful children. They defend them when they get suspended or act like fools. (Parents like the one on tv that said her child was in high school and could not read.) It is the parents responsiblity more than the teacher to be sure the child is progressing. Maybe if parents suck it up and quit being selfish, stupid people then there children would care and learn about the real world and do well in school. You are comparing these countries and states that do not have the same rules or even the same tests. If you take a test and I take another test we can not compare our scores because we did not take the same test. Parents do not care enough to change their childs school. What we need is for someone to stand up and broadcast a show about stupid parents in America!!!!!

This kind of pathetic, defeatest, blame-the-victim attitude is very widespread, I fear -- and explains a lot of our schools' and teachers' failures. 

 

In response to this nonsense, this few sensible post (one of the few) correctly notes that the problem is not the parents OR the teachers, it's the SYSTEM!

As someone with a degree in teacher education and a parent, I'm so tired of hearing teachers place the blame upon the parents for all their problems in teaching students. That's a load of crap. I teach at an open admission college now and I see the multitude of students that public school education has failed. I'm talking about students that have high school diplomas and only have 3rd grade skills in reading, writing, and math. Thanks to an excellent program in developmental education, we manage to "save" a good percentage of these students and give them basic skills that the public schools couldn't teach them over the course of 12 years. If you would stop and take a look from my perspective, you might see the problem in a much different light because I've already been in your shoes.

You may be an excellent teacher and I applaud your for your dedication, but my feeling is that episode of 20/20 was about the broken system of education, not to bash individual teachers. In my opinion, the system is, in fact, broken.

Here's another typical teacher post -- a few good points, mixed in with plenty of self-pity and feelings of victimization:

EVERYONE WHO HAS NEVER TAUGHT SAYS "HOW HARD CAN IT BE,YOU ONLY WORK 9 MONTHS OUT OF EVERY YEAR." YOU HAVE CLEARLY NEVER TAUGHT, AND YOU WOULD CLEARLY NOT HAVE MADE A GOOD TEACHER. TEACHING IS THE ONLY PROFFESSION THAT ALLOCATES 25% TO 30% OF THEIR OWN PERSONAL INCOME BACK INTO THEIR JOBS. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD TO BUY A PRINTER CARTRIDGE FOR YOUR DESK AT YOUR JOB? OR PAY FOR A CHILD'S LUNCH DURING A FIELD TRIP? OR BUY 47 NOTEBOOKS FOR KIDS WHO CAME CRYING TO YOU THAT THEY CAN'T AFFORD IT? TEACHERS WORK 45-55 HOUR WEEKS, WE PRE AND POST PLAN. WE GRADE TESTS, WE ASSIGN ESSAYS AND TERM PAPERS, AND THEN WE SPEND OUR WEEKENDS GRADING THEM. HEY, HERE'S A QUESTION FOR YOU, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU TOOK YOUR WORK HOME ON THE WEEKEND? AND IT IS THE SALARY,30K MAY SEEM NICE TO YOU, BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE STEPPING PROCESS OF THE SCALE, IT WOULD TAKE 7 YEARS TO MAKE 35K A YEAR. THE SALARY IS NOT ENOUGH, GOOD TEACHERS LEAVE BECAUSE THE SALARIES ARE NOT ENOUGH, WE GO TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR.

I WOULD CHALLENGE YOU TO TEACH. JUST FOR ONE DAY. HOW DARE YOU CALL US WHINNERS.