More Tedium
The Seattle Times has published yet another moronic editorial about Seattle Public Schools.
This one reflects absolutely no knowledge or understanding of the test scores in our high schools, what those test scores mean, or what can be done to raise them.
Every comment to the editorial so far takes the Times to task for their poor understanding.
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At some point we need to talk seriously with the people at the Times to discover their major malfunction. Why do they have such a broken perception of education issues? Are they unduly influenced by the District leadership? Are they unduly influenced by some local big shots like the Alliance for Education? Are they unduly influenced by some outside entity such as the Gates Foundation? Are they just not very bright? Have they just not given these matters much thought? What, exactly, is going on?
It's not just that they write things from another perspective or that we don't agree politically; they have their facts wrong and their logic is dreadful. Is it a conscious choice or they just stupid? I can't tell.
This one reflects absolutely no knowledge or understanding of the test scores in our high schools, what those test scores mean, or what can be done to raise them.
Every comment to the editorial so far takes the Times to task for their poor understanding.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
At some point we need to talk seriously with the people at the Times to discover their major malfunction. Why do they have such a broken perception of education issues? Are they unduly influenced by the District leadership? Are they unduly influenced by some local big shots like the Alliance for Education? Are they unduly influenced by some outside entity such as the Gates Foundation? Are they just not very bright? Have they just not given these matters much thought? What, exactly, is going on?
It's not just that they write things from another perspective or that we don't agree politically; they have their facts wrong and their logic is dreadful. Is it a conscious choice or they just stupid? I can't tell.
Comments
When something can only be attributed to either incompetence or evil, I generally presume people to be merely incompetent. Incompentence is so common and true evil is so rare, that the root causes is almost always incompentence rather than evil.
The Favorite One
The Favorite One
How about a 3rd option: you write what you can because that's all that's going to pass through the editorial management filters.
Purely speculation of course, but one could continue to speculate about how the filters work, and whether they've been bought and paid for, but perhaps that's another post.
One might be tempted to call this "evil", but putting bread on one's table can be pretty compelling.
To hazard a guess (and I really dislike joining the choir on this one), money talks in this town, and there are powerful people with agendas.
Is there any more credible explanation?
Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/education/22gates.html
The fact that they mention her prior job as CAO and and remind us how intimate she is with the problems (that she fired Martin Floe for) may be code for: What did you do about it when it was your job, Susan? They sure don't offer any ways that she had addressed the problems of underachievement and gaps.
I also find the term "dust up" rather sarcastic, in an encouraging way. No doubt, the Times helped Martin Floe's case significantly by headlining it for a week.
Now they are pretending to be back to their "fair and balanced" selves. But read it carefully, and you may see that they get it more than first appears.
Coming from no fan of the Times
In regard to Gates Foundation influence on Education:
It was written on May 21....
"A document describing plans for the group, posted on a Washington Post blog in March, said it would mobilize local advocates, “establish strong ties to local journalists” and should “go toe to toe” with union officials in explaining contracts and state laws to the public.
But to avoid being labeled a “tool of the foundation,” the document said the group should “maintain a low public profile.”
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Here is my case:
The Seattle Times is a tool of the GATES foundation.
Look at the consistent stream of articles and editorials coming from the Seattle Times in regard to WA State education and intelligently apply the relevant data.
ST = Gates Foundation Tool.
-- Dan Dempsey
http://www.examiner.com/k-12-in-topeka/mr-duncan-you-are-a-shining-example
-Perplexed