Whitney Tilson Embarrasses Himself Yet Again!

Ugh. Whitney stuff tonight. I just can't help it, especially when he emails contradictory, convoluted, half baked, foot in his mouth blabbering diatribes. If you have not yet subscribed to Whitney Tilson's newsletter or listserv or whatever you wish to call it, I suggest you do. Mention SBSB in the request email and you win a prize!

So Whitney wrote today;

The issue of teacher evaluations has come to the forefront all over the country.  Everyone – even the unions at least pay lip service to it – agrees that there are huge differences among teachers that have an enormous impact on students, so it’s critically important to attract, train, and retain talented teachers – and improve or get rid of ineffective teachers.  To do so, there needs to be a robust, fair system of evaluating teachers, which is REALLY hard to do.  Many smart people are working hard on this – a task made more difficult by the unions, who have effectively taken the position that if an evaluation system is unfair to even one teacher, then it’s unacceptable.

Yep, the unions are paying lip service to it because we know it is flawed, unproven, stupid, and a myriad of other reasons. But as usual, we shall take Whitney's words and show how ignorant and ill informed he always is.

there are huge differences among teachers that have an enormous impact on students,

Yes, I agree. There are huge differences between teachers. A teacher who is teaching for the first time is way different than a veteran teacher. A male teacher can have a different type of impact on male students than a female teacher can. Some teachers really suck up good and are favorite pets. Some teachers have class sizes over 35 kids in a 5th grade class and have about half a dozen serious behavior problems that consistently takes away from any education process going on. And when that teacher asks for support from the administration, the collective administrative heads plop into the sand. Or maybe one teacher has many ELL students. Or students living in shelters. Or students that are abused. So yes, there are differences. Differences that no matter how bad we wish to control, we are unable to control.

But Whitney shows his true colors here;  so it’s critically important to attract, train, and retain talented teachers



Code for white, elitist, young teachers. I think by retain Whitney means that the TFA candidate will complete their two years.

there needs to be a robust, fair system of evaluating teachers, which is REALLY hard to do.

Face palm statement of the year.

Many smart people are working hard on this 


Where? Whom? Teachers? Of course not, who care for the input of teachers?

 a task made more difficult by the unions, who have effectively taken the position that if an evaluation system is unfair to even one teacher, then it’s unacceptable.

Whitney, in all the do gooding that you do to feel better over your white liberal guilt and to show that as a hedge fund manager you have not raped and pillaged this country would you not be the first person in line to whine that the death penalty is unacceptable if ONE, just ONE person is executed that just might be guilty? Would you not whine your Whitney whine if just ONE, just ONE family is denied health coverage because of affordability or availability? You are such a hypocrite.


More blabbering from Whitney, disguised as a love letter to Steve Brill;

This is a really interesting conversation, especially your P.S. Steve.  It's the UNIONS that are responsible for the testing/value-added system that EVERYONE knows is quite imperfect – even the biggest defenders of the very best testing/value-added system admit (yes, publicly) that some teachers and even entire schools engage in "teaching to the test" to the detriment of real learning, there's a meaningful error rate, the results can be unstable year to year for some teachers, and it's useless for granular distinctions between, say, a teacher in the 55th percentile vs. 45th.  (I do maintain, however, that a teacher that is consistently in the bottom 10% is almost certain to be really lousy.)

Steve's suggestion is 100x more sensible, but the unions are so distrustful of the system and principals (to be fair, with good reason in many cases) that they're forcing an excessive testing regimen upon the system – and then, ironically, endless criticize that very system.  That's why so many people like me think that their real agenda is to not have any accountability at all: they think and perpetuate the myth that all teachers are equally wonderful, which is an insult to teachers in my opinion.

In my business – and in virtually any business in the country – I can fire whomever I like, if I am dissatisfied with them for whatever reason, even if they're good at their job – if I don't like their attitude or aren't a team player, for example (obviously within the bounds of the law: I can't fire someone because I don't like their ethnicity, age, etc.).  Does this sometimes result in someone being fired "unfairly"?  Sure.  (And if it violates the law, that person can sue me.)  But the alternative – what we have now in our schools, is far worse.

It's the UNIONS that are responsible for the testing/value-added system that EVERYONE knows is quite imperfect

The unions are responsible? How? Yet you are now admitting that EVERYONE knows that VAA is quite imperfect. Whitney, would you allow yourself to use an imperfect system to pick companies to long or short? No. Would you allow an imperfect system to evaluate you as a hedge fund manager? Yet, you know the system sucks, yet why do you advocate for it, yet blame the unions?

that some teachers and even entire schools engage in "teaching to the test" to the detriment of real learning, there's a meaningful error rate, the results can be unstable year to year for some teachers,

The teachers that teach to the test do it for two reasons. One, and most foremost is the pressure they get from ABOVE!!!! Yes, the administration with their asses online the line pass the anxiety down to the teachers. Secondly, when you have a family to feed car payments, braces to pay for, a mortgage, college tuition to pay for, and the truss to help your mother in laws sciatica and your pay and job rests on TEST SCORES, well what the hell, short of cheating, do you think a teacher is going to do? Whitney is part of the system that is enabling the very thing he decries!!!

That's why so many people like me think that their real agenda is to not have any accountability at all: they think and perpetuate the myth that all teachers are equally wonderful, which is an insult to teachers in my opinion

Oh thank you for taking our side. Please, will you purchase tickets to the upcoming Educator's Ball?


In my business – and in virtually any business in the country – I can fire whomever I like, if I am dissatisfied with them for whatever reason,


Yes, Whitney, we know that. You are a private company. A business. There is a difference. One, education is not a business and two, you are private. You do not have to deal with that pesky little thing in the US Constitution known as the due process. Guess what? Cops can't get fired for no reason, neither can firefighters, sanitation workers, parks employees, highway workers. Deal with it.


if I don't like their attitude or aren't a team player, for example (obviously within the bounds of the law: I can't fire someone because I don't like their ethnicity, age, etc.).  Does this sometimes result in someone being fired "unfairly"?  Sure.

I am sure you sleep very well at night Whitney. Flippant ******e

Whitney, it appears you are straddling the fence here, playing both sides. But I doubt it. As usual you just continue to embarrass yourself, loving the idea of your own thoughts and lack of conviction.