Whitney Tilson Savagely Attacks Diane Ravitch

Hey, we can all have wishes??

I have never been this confused in my entire life. What to do? Do I write in regards to E4E Blog Monkey™ Ruben Brosbe's baffling free ride to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Do I write about Steve Brill's rudeness towards Diane Ravitch? Do I write about Whitney Tilson's continued rudeness towards Diane Ravitch? Or do I write about my son's baseball tournament this weekend? Mmmmm. I pick Whitney, with a sprinkling of Steve Brill.

When last we visited Steve Brill, his lips were puckered up to Uncle Mike's tush in a New York Magazine article he wrote concerning teachers in the Rubber Room and how difficult it is to terminate them. Of course, it was pure fiction. Now, Brill has typed words forming a book, "Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's School." We here at SBSB would like nothing more to chastising the book, commenting on the book, and refuting the book. Fortunately, we have ethics here and feel that it would not only be unethical, but immoral to comment on something we do not have all the facts yet. Please take note hedge fund managers, politicians, etc....

What we can comment on here ethically, morally, and of course sarcastically(yet honestly) is everyone's favorite hedge fund manager and attention whore, Whitney Tilson at his almost gleeful, yet his troubling and seemingly sadistic joy in seeing Diane Ravitch attacked. A guess one only feels big for going after a 72 year old Jewish grandma.

Whitney, in his hyper emails blabbers; (Full disclosure: I’m one of the people featured prominently in the book,

God, Whitney, that must have been more exciting than your wedding night. But of course that is the first thing you would say, it is all about you.

Diane Ravitch has been getting paid A LOT of money by the unions in the form of speaker fees – Brill estimates $10,000 per appearance and $200,000 over the past year...

Key word in the above sentence, ESTIMATES. Whitney, do you know what the definition of estimate is? Where is Brill's proof? Has he seen her tax receipts? Oh yeah, the only quote Brill can attribute to Ravitch is; 

"I live very comfortably. This is not about the money. I'm 72 and don't need money. If I want to speak to a group I'll do it for free or for a few thousand dollars if that's all they can pay.*

Whitney, and I am not getting into whether or not or how much Diane was paid, or why she was paid, but isn't it obvious? If you are having a speaker that will speak to your group, you want someone who your group agrees to, and vice versa. Would the Boy Scouts have Miley Cyrus come speak to them? of course not! But I am digressing.

Whitney starts to allow his knickers to be shown when he lays down his hypocrisy; a) she’s never disclosed these large payments, which anyone listening to her should know about

I am sure she declared it to whom she needs to. That is really all that matters. But while we are at it, when was the last time you whined that E4E been forthcoming in how and by whom it receives money? MichelleRheeFirst? DFER? ERN? Hell, my pal and all around mensch, TFT has asked Students For Education Reform how they receive funding and I bet he gets no answer! Hey Whitney, what about you listing all you have donated to. Nah, you will never, ever do it.

b) she’s a total hypocrite for criticizing reformers

¡Uno momento, por favor! Hypocrite? Take two steps to the mirror and look into it. Allow me to do the introductions. Pot, meet kettle. 

reformers like me for supposedly making a lot of money from our activities

Has she said that? Do you have irrefutable proof? And just what "activities" are we talking about Whitney? ;)


(when in truth I’ve never taken a SINGLE PENNY and have instead given countless thousands of dollars and hours)

Prove it. Show documented proof.


I will from now on ALWAYS refer to Ravitch as “paid union spokesperson Diane Ravitch” – and I urge you to do the same.

And I will always refer to you "A Richard." Figure it out.


but these large payments are a massive conflict of interest that need to be disclosed every time she appears anywhere. 

So if Diane walks into Yankee Stadium, she must announce this to the entire crowd? When kids come trick or treating, be fore she doles out the treats she must announce this? Whitney, please clarify.

Imagine, for example, if I appeared on television commenting on charter schools, KIPP, TFA or DFER and not disclosing my tight affiliations with these organizations

Just what do you mean by "tight affiliation?" OK, will you disclose the source of DFER's funding? KIPP's? TFA? By they way, TFA has repudiated your claim of helping found TFA. Just thought you would like to know that.

But, Whitney, you leave the lowest blow, the most vile blow for last; PS--You gotta love Ravitch’s response, once she realizes that her secret has been exposed and Brill is going to write about it – here’s Brill’s footnote:

In an e-mail following this conversation, 

"Ravitch told Brill that she was donating her speaking fees to a pediatric oncology program, dedicated in May 2011, in memory of her son, who had died of leukemia at age two."

This is classic Ravitch: knowing how bad this looks, she cleverly scrambles to come up with a solution that’s designed to tug at the heartstrings and mute any possible criticism

You are sick. You are vile. You are the lowest form of life on earth. Lower than a used car, or in your parlance, "pre-owned" salesman. You bring someone's family into this? You need to mention this? You did this with Michael Winerip of the New York Times discussing his family, and this shows what kind of person you are. Nothing but a bully. Worse, an entitled bully,

Whitney, there is no redemption in your life, no spirituality in your life. You are but an empty shell. You will sink as low as you can just to show how smart and how wonderful that you think you are.

Want to know what I think? It is time for not only me, but all bloggers to publish your person information. How would you like that?

But, it would be wrong and I would never do it, nor would I condone any other blogger who would do it. Besides, it wouldn't be any fun.

Fun would be to continuously point out your foibles, your lies, and your hypocrisy. And the more you open your mouth, the more material there will be.