Copernicus, Galileo and Darwin were not vindicated overnight. So maybe Jonah Goldberg will one day, probably on the same day as the moon turns to taffy, be validated as well. This demagogue said in a New York Post piece on Nov. 28 that “teacher unions (are) arguably the single worst mainstream institution in our country today… No group is more committed to putting ideological blather and self-interest before the public good.” Give it time. He will be at the vanguard of a new enlightenment when there no longer are earth, wind and fire. I mean the elements, not the group.
Why do agitators like Goldberg have such a bug in their ear about teacher unions? He will not criticize the AMA, which has consistently fought ferociously to protect their members’ revenue-generating capacity above patient care interests.To my knowledge no raw nerve in Goldberg has been touched by the transcendent callousness of the CEO support groups who see these “successful” folks (who have stolen the life savings and serenity of so many folks) as the backbone of the anti-revolutionary instincts of decent Americans.
There are so many other legitimate culprits that it’s astonishing that Jonah feels that in this complex society with all its sectors and competing interests, teachers unions are intractably diabolical for asserting that teachers should have a modest middle-class income and basic due-process rights.
Also in the Post (Dec.1) is an investigative report that would be a bombshell if the public weren’t so duped, ignorant and complacent, and which would further bring a “no-confidence” vote in the chancellor and cause his downfall, but will not even create a ripple. It claims that “…principals were urged to keep surveys rating their schools away from ‘toxic’ students who might bring the results down.”
If a teacher who had a fantastic career for 40 uninterrupted years had, on one single occasion, perhaps in response to a provocation like having a chair flung at her head by a kid, called that kid “toxic,” that teacher would be in a “rubber room” being threatened with termination and loss of license.
The Post story further says that principals were “also advised to have school staffers help parents not only with translating a survey, but with ‘filling it out’ and to urge students and teachers to complete the surveys following ‘fun’ events.”
That’s the kind of coaching that retaliation-driven administrators sometimes use to steer kids (and their best friends who are coincidentally their unchallenged “witnesses” who falsely accuse targeted teachers of wrongdoing) into statements that are worded with suspicious precocity and legalistic, incriminating expressions.
The Post story also states that parents in three boroughs have alleged “that principals had falsely warned that their schools would lose money if the surveys were unfavorable…”
Imagine if there were “merit pay” based on individual teacher’s performance (as judged solely by standardized test scores of their kids) and potentially eligible teachers tried to engineer their own bonus using tactics like the DOE does to “fix” perception?
What would Jonah Goldberg have to say? I think he’s been swallowed up by a great fish called “Executive Privilege.”
4 Comments:
1 R. Skibins
· Dec 2, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I wonder how many teachers were coached, or had surveys withheld from them.
2 Schoolgal
· Dec 4, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I know when the first results were posted, certain teachers went around school claiming they knew which teachers were giving the “bad scores”.
3 Michael Hirsch
· Dec 10, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Note also just who is this Jonah Goldberg, Ron. He’s a hired scribbler for the far right, including grinding tripe for the National Review and the American Enterprise Institute. His book “Liberal Fascism” is a sick joke, and–best of all-he’s the son of Lucienne Goldberg of Zippergate-count the stains on the dress-fame. A real niche player. Ugh!
4 Ron Isaac
· Dec 10, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I had clung to the conviction that Goldberg’s venality is beyond the scope of language to capture but you proved me wrong, Michael.
Schoolgal,it’s possible that the teachers making that claim were just pranking, duped gosspiers, or trying to ensnare teachers by acting as envoys of the administration. The disgusting phenomenon of our members ratting on each other has got to stop.
R.Skibins and I both realize that administrators who “take the high road” are few and far between.