Arne Doofus Dingus Dunce Duncan of DC

I'm a schmuck. I voted for Obama in 2008 and felt good about it. I had had it of 8 years of George W. Bush incompetency and lies. I wasn't voting for change, I was voting for accountability and for having a voice in my government. I truly believed that under Obama, the voices of the people if not

100% heard, will be at the very least be taken into consideration.

Gone will be the dreams of kowtowing to big money. Gone will be wasting money in two wasteful wars. Gitmo would be closed. A sensible and straightforward manner in insuring those without healthcare would finally be solved. NCLB? It will be a thing of the past, in fact there would be less federal involvement in local education matters. Guess I, along with others, have been incorrect.

What steams me is that I have defended Obama from Right Wing nut jobs who claim he is a socialist. How can a socialist turn over education to private and corporate entities? Same with Obamacare. Who is making out? The insurance companies. The corporatists are benefiting from the extension of Gitmo and since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, into Pakistan.

But one of the stupidest things I have heard from this administration came out of the mouth of non-educator Arne Duncan bellowed to a  group of state superintendents on Friday;

“It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary,” Duncan said. “You’ve bet your house and where you live and everything on, ‘My child’s going to be prepared.’ That can be a punch in the gut.”

First off let me add that is not just white suburban moms that are displeased. I guess I can speak for white suburban dads and say we are displeased as well. But anyway (I will toot my horn again), as I predicted, it is now the time for the rollback or should I start saying the Revolution.

The undertones of what Arne is saying is fascinating yet revealing. I don't know if what he said comes from being racist as some have said, or just clueless as to what his policies have wrought or clueless as to the world around him.

First off, there has never been a crisis in education. In fact I'll go as far as saying Bush was much more benevolent than the Obama administration and truly wanted to help along those that truly needed the help. It has been under Obama that the push for privatization and federal intervention into education as truly accelerated and been encouraged. But I have digressed.

Arne needs to realize why there has been more silence coming from the urban core concerning education deform from the inner cities.

Parents are less informed, not only own their own volition, but more and more the urban governments of this country, and particularly in NYC, have been become more of a top down style of governance than in the suburbs. In the suburbs, in the small towns and villages, and even the cities, there is still a participatory style of government. Not only is speaking at council meetings easier, but better, still encouraged. One can still call their mayor, supervisor, trustee, or council member at home and discuss issues.What Arne is unaware of is this is democracy in action. Heck, I won't even get into New England town meetings.

The school boards are still elected by the people and for the people. More and more schools boards and school districts are being usurped and taken over my maniacal short little men with Freudian issues across the country. See the paragraph above for participatory democracy.

Many, not all, but a goodly amount of parents in the inner city are immigrants. They do not know or are afraid to speak out. There are also parents hat work multiple jobs and don't have time to complain or to be informed. There are parents that have been so beaten down by the system they can't or won't speak up. And worse, there are parents that just don't care.

But how can you as a parent, let's say in NYC, speak up for your child's education when a parent whose child goes to school in Brooklyn has a complaint and must traverse to the Bronx to deal with the school's network? How bus and/or subway lines must this parent transverse to advocate for their child's education? Even the parent that goes to each and every PEP (Panel for Eduction policy, NYC's answer to the board of ed.) is met with disdain from the panel time after time.

And let's not forget the suburbs seem to have an independent media. The Journal News in Westchester County is doing a wonderful job at exposing Common Core.

The parents in the suburbs still have and want to keep their voices in their district's decisions and their child's education. We will never abdicate that right. To have that right taken away from us, to have our local boards ability to know what is best for our children removed, is not the American way. Our schools, our communities, and our children are not part of a corporation.

But for Arne to say that, "isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were," speaks to a bigger issue of his ignorance.

Speaking only for me, I know what my son is capable of and what he can do. I do not need a test to tell me what my son does or doesn't know, what he is or isn't capable of. There is a difference between proficiency and ability. I'm tired of this proficient crud. It means NOTHING!

Thanks to Arne and Obama we are allowing our children to be mindless and clueless incapable of thinking for themselves. Oh, and please spare that we need to compete with other countries. India and China pay their employees squat. Is that what Arne wants, our children to make $5 an hour?

Arne, your time and your charade are over. The Education Revolution is just beginning.