Improving Public Schools Hearing: Michelle Rhee Part 1

[MondoBeno]

Mike Bloomberg, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, and all those other people who have almost no teaching experience or qualification in education, I have to say this:

Anytime you want, you are welcome to stay until 4pm to do remedial reading and math with those kids, then stay up all night to make the best lesson plans for kids, then get down on your knees and beg the Principal to get the water fountains fixed, etc.

The teachers Union is there to help, not ruin.

[UCSDEngineerDoctor]

@MondoBeno The teachers UNION do not give a fuck about the kids. Its not about the kids, its all about the money. The teachers UNION grows the bureaucracy so they can get more dues - the teachers UNION do not give a flying fuck about the kids they only care about their wallets.

[MondoBeno]

@UCSDEngineerDoctor I'm sorry you feel that way, and you're entitled to your opinion. But I can assure you, the teacher's unions are there to protect the kids from principals who are sexist, racist, or just plain mean-spirited. When a principal tries to bar gay couples or interracial couples from the prom, the Union can step in. When the Principal tries to warehouse pregnant teenagers in the basement, the Union will put a stop to that.

[UCSDEngineerDoctor]

@MondoBeno Are those Principals fired? You Even worst, those Principals are not even reprimanded, they still keep their jobs. You are a fucking moron. The teachers UNION created this mess & they try to keep the corruption going. Old racists farts Principals are responsible for these sexists bigoted policies that the UNIONs keep in power. Rather than fire them & hire new young progressive college grads, we are paying dumbass sexists, bigot, old mean-spirited abusive molesters to teach our kids.

[arizonasweettea]

Why so hostile MsJanetWood? If you're a good teacher, you've nothing to worry about...clearly, however (looks at your numerous posts), you have something to worry about.

Frankly, MsJanetWood, you should find a different profession because it is evident that the future of our children isn't your primary concern--its your job. And that is perfectly understandable! But you should still quit because you can make a living without destroying the futures of others or this country.

[MsJanetWood]

TYPO: " . . . during the parent/teacher conferences . . ."

[MsJanetWood]

In 1981 the US National Educational Association reported that 36% of teachers said they would probably not go into teaching if they had to decide again. A major reason was "'negative student attitudes and discipline."

Teachers need tenure because during the parent/teacher conference, they need to be free to tell parents the truth.

(e.g. “Your child has a short-attention span. He is constantly talking. Nonstop. He fidgets and squirms in his seat. He is impatient, defiant and a bully!”)

[MsJanetWood]

If it weren't for the "evil teachers' unions",

the "good, little children" would all go to the LIBRARY to STUDY and do their HOMEWORK!

They would also drink their milk and eat all their vegetables!

I'm still waiting for the T.V. reality show where Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, Davis Guggenheim, et al. attempt to teach Remedial Math at a junior high in the inner-city!

Ha!

[MsJanetWood]

Michelle Rhee claims that she took 90% of her students from the 13th percentile to the 90th percentile or above in less than 2 years!

Isn’t that statistically impossible? “Normal Distribution”? “Bell Curve”?

Why hasn’t anyone interviewed her former students? Or their parents? Or her former principal? Or her former co-workers? Her fellow teachers?

I’m sure they all will have plenty to say about those scores!

Where's the proof of her academic success?

[lvll138inrs]

they should just privatize education. private schools vastly outperform public school

[Ethax]

@lvll138inrs only 17% of charters outperform public schools according to the credo study

[MondoBeno]

She failed to arrange a meeting? She forgot to fill out a form? Maybe she was teaching 4 subjects, had 16 kids crammed into a class that can hold 8, didn't have enough desks for the kids, had students with severe emotional problems and had to break up fights, etc.

Michelle Rhee fixed nothing. As long as we have teen pregnancy, nothing will improve.

[MsJanetWood]

Teacher "X" teaches 5 classes. He teaches 3 Algebra classes, 1 Advanced Algebra class, and 1 remedial class. His first four classes are okay, but his last class is utter chaos!

Why?

Is it because the class has 43 students instead of 35?

Or maybe because the majority of the students don't speak English?

Could it be that it's late in the day and the kids are tired?

Or maybe, just maybe, the kids are DOWN-RIGHT LAZY?

Stop blaming the hard-working, dedicated teachers!

[snufleufugus]

@MsJanetWood Nobody is blaming the hard-working, dedicated teachers. They're blaming the lazy teachers who don't care.

[MsJanetWood]

Dear Ms. Michelle Rhee,

I would like to inform you of a job opening at McGavock High School in Nashville Tennessee.

An Algebra teacher, Mr.Donald Wood recently was let go . . . Perhaps, this is your opportunity to prove that you are just not an arm-chair quarterback. I want to see you do it! 3 months! That is all!

Hey, if you think you're qualified to evaluate teachers, then, you should be able to teach, right?

Sincerely yours,

Ms. Janet Wood

(no relation to Mr. Donald Wood)

[Wabash2011]

@MsJanetWood Michelle Rhee was a teacher in an inner city, high-poverty school in Baltimore for 3 years with a highly selective, highly successful program called Teach For America. Look up the numbers on how she VASTLY improved the achievements of her students. The woman knows how to teach and how to evaluate teachers.

[debblouin]

Seems some were not paying attention. She has 15 yrs exp working w/inner city and struggling urban schools

[MsJanetWood]

I'd like to see a reality show where Michelle Rhee teaches Remedial Math at a junior high in the inner-city! 5 classes with 35 students each! 5 days a week for at least 3 months! Then, a panel of education experts can critique her teaching!

Arm-chair quarterback? Back-seat driver? Delusions of grandeur?

[willia3r]

I thnk Michelle Rhee should be commended for taking on such an onerous bureaucracy as a Public School system. People these days don't take pride in jobs & see them as entitlements to which they think are theirs by right.

I see this mindset a lot in the black community. There needs to be a sense of pride & personal accountability in the occupation that one takes up but all too often a lot of folks settle for the lowest standard & are simply trying to bleed the system for a paycheck.

[katfloyd44]

I'd rather have someone with guts like Michelle than wishy washy political people who never accomplish anything. Good for Ms. Rhee.  I hope she succeeds.

[xiola6969]

You will release the information regarding your comments that you fired teachers who beat and molested children or you will be held accountable by the full force of the law and obstruction of justice. You can not just fire these teachers they should have been put on trial for said crimes and you are responsible for letting such criminals go free to commit such crimes again,

[xiola6969]

otherwise you are guilty of libel and slander against the teachers of DC. The World isn't fair. however the student dictates their own success or failure. Their are many stories of people of the lowest class raising to the upper class however if someone is too lazy or doesn't care no matter of improved teaching will change that.

[bobbycratchit]

She's more interested in pushing people around then she is in making real progress. That's why she fired the principal where her own children were going to school so make the point perfectly clear "I am in charge"

[knsummers]

Im happy to hear her talk about children's priorities. Unfortunately I think in her case its purely rhetorical because I haven't seen evidence that she's done anything to find out DC children's' needs or desires except to imagine them or make assumptions.

She's done some good things but I don't feel her at all.

"Children belong neither to their parents nor to society. They belong to themselves and to their own future liberty."

M. Bakunin, Revolutionary Catechism, 1851