There are a few things that have been gnawing at me of late. I have been wanting to put it to music, but deemed it better to blog my thoughts. Of course this will be in my own special, convoluted, logical manner.
Logic. There is the keyword. And not just any logic. All what is happening with this reform, or rather, deform is quite illogical.
The RtTT sell out by our esteemed UFT leader Mike is quite illogical. Basically he is holding all the cards as far as I see it. He is at the table with Klein, Bloomberg, Duncan, Obama, and Tilson. He has a flush. The others have nothing. The others aren't folding, the keep throwing chips into the pot. But who is sweating? It's Mike. When it comes time to make his last best, he folds. Throws the cards down. This is what he has done with the new evaluation system and signing off on the RtTT application. Why? There was no pressure for him to sign. There was no pressure for him to cooperate. Sheldon Silver would have done his bidding for him. Why fold when you have the best hand?
The other thing gnawing at me is the mantra from Klein that education is run like a business. OK, fine. Willing to give the benefit of the doubt. But there is a but. Businesses have competitors. This we learn in Business 101. What is not taught in Business 101 is that a business does not help out its competition. That's what the charters are. Charters compete against the DOE. This is like the Krusty Krab competing against he Chum Bucket. Plankton wants Mr Krabs secret recipe for the Krabby Patty. Does Mr Krabs give it to him? Of course not. Does Plankton covet the recipe and try to get it? Of course, this is the part of doing business. But you will never see Mr Krabs giving part of his restaurant to Plankton. You will never see Mr Krabs fire Spongebob to help out Plankton. So why does Klein help out the competition? Where is the logic in all of this?
As Mr Spock once said, "In an insane DOE, the sane teacher must appear to be insane." I think it is time for the next chancellor to be from Vulcan. Perhaps Sarek?
3 comments:
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Re: WHERE IS THE LOGIC ?
PART 1 OF 3
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Another "Tour de Force" amazing set of observations from South Bronx School.
Pearls of Wisdom on a seemingly endless necklace of Pearls emerging from the frothy waves of Neptune's boundless seas.
Indeed, where is the logic of Joel Klein's alleged so-called "business" type approach in helping the "competition" drive your own business into the ground.
And where is the moral high ground and sense of ethics in helping to assist a "competition" who rob all their employees of the rights and benefits that the workers of your own business system previously enjoyed.
Perhaps one must define whose Logic we are discussing.
When White Europeans arrived in America, some claiming they were seeking Religious tolerance and freedom, did the "logic" of their agenda's needs give them the right to wipe out the entire indigenous population from coast to coast until their only remaining remnant today, is to be found, confined to Indian Reservations.
When those same White usurpers of another nation's land, decided it was totally logical to bring slaves to America in chains, to work from cradle to grave for free rather than pay people for their labor, it must have seemed totally Logical to those slave Masters- including the intellectually brilliant Thomas Jefferson and the majority of the so-called Founding Fathers.
The very men who penned and affixed their now famous names to some of the most moving and lofty words ever penned, regarding the Rights of Man, now protected by bullet proof glass case that every night recedes into the Earth into a bomb proof steel reinforced concrete vault.
CONTINUED BELOW
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Re: WHERE IS THE LOGIC ?
PART 2 OF 3
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And when Teachers all over America teach American History to little and big children, how many of those Teachers ever tell both sides of the American story and touch on some of the darker sides of our blood soaked past, which in full disclosure I must confess is no darker nor any bloodier than any other country on this Earth.
Logic is often simply defined in the end by who is still standing and who has won the latest war whether with sticks and stones or Atomic bombs, and one day Hydrogen bombs.
Logic for people like Mike Mulgrew and his inner circle has nothing whatsoever to do with what is best for the one hundred thousand men and women of the Union's Rank and File.
His logic is however totally in keeping, and as mathematically accurate as a slide rule computation, as to what is best for Mulgrew.
As for that sad excuse for a failed human being, Joel Klein, Esq., the world he has created within and outside the former Tweed Courthouse must seem to him as completely logical as the statement that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
Logic is always defined by who owns and controls the reigns of power at any given moment in history.
Greed, ruthlessness, hypocrisy give rise to their own brands of "logic".
And likely most human failures such as Mulgrew and Klein would subscribe to the Hobbesian philosophical theory that absolutism in government, (as well as in public school systems and/or labor unions), is necessary to prevent the war of each against all to which natural selfishness inevitably leads mankind.
That alleged quote in which Mr. Spock once said, "In an insane DOE, the sane teacher must appear to be insane", was actually played out in living Technicolor and full Dolby surround sound in the case of what happened to me when I questioned and challenged the status quo.
See PART 3 BELOW
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Re: WHERE IS THE LOGIC ?
PART 3 OF 3
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Tout le Monde knows the famous story of how a Principal wrote a request that I be forced to submit to an examination by the NYC DOE Medical quacks who lost no time in declaring me "Unfit for Duty" and had me Railroaded out of the system for a year.
In the end the NYC DOE took two major black eyes for that little conspiratorial caper involving blatant medical malpractice that proved costly to their pocket.
To that Legend in his own mind, Mr. Klein, it probably seems to him he is holding a Royal flush, to employ a term from the game of Poker.
But over time he may discover that the tide is changing and gradually his hand will change to a straight flush, then a full house,then three of a kind, and finally one pair, something that neither Mr. Klein nor his pal Mike Mulgrew could ever be said to actually possess in real Life.
We all know who they are and what they are. One launched a vicious Reign of Terror against tens of thousands of hard working, dedicated, New York City Educators.
And the other averted his eyes to this criminal catastrophe and like a quisling of the worst order, allowed the catastrophe to occur.
I should at this moment say: "God help us all".
However, even God can sometimes use a little Earthly assistance from a mere mortal.
Though it is highly unlikely that the Faux Chancellor was aware of the fact, as he packed his bags and tended to arranging his generous coiffure for the long Memorial Day weekend, a person who actually works for a living and actually does something useful, a Judge who sits on the Supreme Court of the State of New York, was at that very moment, on Friday afternoon affixing her name to an ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE, that was then duly delivered to the appropriate City Agency Office.
Lest a man named Rupert, feel in any way slighted and excluded from the party, he will no doubt, be comforted to learn that his beloved (at least by himself) New York POST newspaper is named in the Court papers, as well.
The Public is invited to attend a Moment of Truth on June 16, at 9:30 A.M. in Room 328 of the Supreme Courthouse located at 80 Centre Street, New York, NY.
What better way to Honor the Sacred Memory of our Nation's Brave Sons and Daughters who have fought and spilled their precious blood to defend Democracy and our way of life, than to attend and be a Witness to one man's day of Justice in an American Courtroom.
David Pakter
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