Re: Phi Delta Kappan, Nation -- and Business Week!

[Bonnie Blustein <bonnie.blustein@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>]

I think that George N is right about George W.  He's doing a much better job
(so far) for Wall Street and the oil companies than Clinton ever did.  This
is not good news for the rest of us.  But the point is well-taken:  the
issue isn't "intelligence," it's "which side are you on?"
----- Original Message -----
From: George N. Schmidt <Csubstance@AOL.COM>
To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2001 4:55 AM
Subject: Phi Delta Kappan, Nation -- and Business Week!


> February 9, 2001
>
> Let's try to read Business Week, too, even though we all know we don't
have
> enough time to read "Fair Test Examiner" "Substance" and "Rethinking
> Schools"...
>
> But...
>
> I know there is a kind of heresy to saying this, but if we want to get a
> complete picture of what we're dealing with in our fight against the
> Testocracy, we're going to have to read the financial pages and financial
> press, as least irregularly.
>
> This not novel thought came to me after Monty's recent mention of the
> Business Week support for the Bush testing plan and a query from Susan
Harman
> about McGraw Hill (which resulted in my earlier posting on McGraw Hill's
> profitability).
>
> In addition to our reading of Phi Delta Kappan and Nation (or Rethinking
> Schools and Substance) we should also read Business Week (also owned by
> McGraw Hill, which published the Terra Nova and other tests, etc., etc.,
> etc....).
>
> If you read only the Nation and some of the other progressive press, you'd
> have gotten the mistaken impression that a Yale graduate with a Harvard
MBA
> was somehow "dumb."
>
> If you've been reading the business press you'd have noticed that the CEOs
of
> the world don't think the newly installed national CEO "dumb." And, I
> suspect, if one of our students got a scholarship to Yale and then came
back
> a few years later to one of our high schools with an MBA from Harvard we'd
> probably have that person speak to our classes. And be proud. And not
going
> around saying, "He dumb as a bag of rocks."
>
> I hope we're avoiding the provincialisms of progressivism as we proceed
along
> this perilous path to propriety. Business Week is frighteningly thorough
in
> its research. But what do you expect? Their words can cost a company or
> country millions of dollars.
>
> And probably more than we are, they are aware of the fact that our words
here
> can cost the testing divisions of the Big Four (McGraw Hill, Houghton,
> Harcourt, and Pearson) hundreds of millions of dollars.
>
> Gotta take the old car in to the shop. Just got the pink slip after paying
> the note for 60 months. Here we are, talking about evil Ramjack
corporations
> that do a few billion dollars in annual business and how nasty they are,
and
> we're all paying off our notes at interest over three, four or five years.
>
> Ain't life a joy?
>
> George Schmidt
> Editor, Substance
> 5132 W. Berteau
> Chicago, IL 60641
>
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