Re: Fw: McClellan Tell-All Exposes Media's Propaganda Problem

["honikins@sbcglobal.net" <honikins@sbcglobal.net>]

For two decades I've been teaching in an inner-city middle school,  
one of the lowest-achieving in its metropolitan area.  The kids are  
in general way, behind.  In most of the classes I've taught I've  
reluctantly teaching below grade-level.  I was struck by a comment  
that I heard over and over from other teachers, "I sure wish these  
kids had a quiet place to do homework. It would also be great if  
their parents had gone to college and had read to them and talked to  
them as small children.  You know, wouldn't it be great if these kids  
had library cards and computers at home.  I had a parent conference  
the other day and (insert child's name) mom showed up intoxicated."   
Very recently, principals in other schools have told me that they had  
a significant problem with parents who curse high expectations for  
their kids.

That's MY story.  Is it true?  Prove otherwise.


On Jun 2, 2008, at 7:37 PM, aburke5054@aol.com wrote:

> A few years ago I spent a week in an inner-city high school, one of  
> the lowest-achieving, if not the lowest-achieving,high schools in  
> its state. The kids were in general way, way behind.  In most of  
> the classes I observed the teachers were clearly teaching below  
> grade-level.  I was struck by a comment that I heard over and over  
> from the teachers, "That's all these kids can do." Very recently,  
> principals in other schools have told me that they had a  
> significant problem with teachers who hold low expectations for kids.
>
> Tell me again how there is no such thing as low expectations and  
> it's only "anti public education propaganda" and how those awful  
> feds are ruining public education by insisting on better schools  
> for poor children and minority children. Tell me again how NAACP,  
> La Raza, the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, the Citizens'  
> Commission on Civil Rights, and other liberal and progressive  
> groups have all been coopted into a plot against public education.  
> If that doesn't work, you can always fall back on the "Campbell's  
> Law," and the "unfunded mandate" arguments.
>
> Art
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tauna Rogers <taunar@plateautel.net>
> To: arn-l@interversity.org
> Sent: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 10:44 am
> Subject: [arn-l] Fw: McClellan Tell-All Exposes Media's Propaganda  
> Problem
>
> Free Press: media reform through education, organizing and  
> advocacyI just he
> received the following from FreePress.net (an organization I  
> admittedly don't
> know a lot about yet). However, I thought it might interest arners  
> because now
> seems like an opportune time to beef up pressure on these  
> organizations to help
> us expose the anti-public education propaganda surrounding  
> NCLB....especially
> given McClellan's remarks about "the soft bigotry of low  
> expectations".
>
> I have long been frustrated about mainstream media's near complete  
> neglect of
> the "other war", the war against public education.....even their  
> complicity at
> times.
>
> Here's the URL: https://secure.freepress.net/site/SPageNavigator/ 
> Punditsol?JServSessionIdr007=769gax9rf2.app43b
>
> Tauna
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Timothy Karr, FreePress.net
> To: taunar@plateautel.net
> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 9:26 AM
> Subject: McClellan Tell-All Exposes Media's Propaganda Problem
>
>
>
>      Dear Tauna,
>             Don't let Corporate Media continue to enable government  
> propaganda.
>
>            Take Action Now: Investigate the Propaganda
>
>
>       The country is still buzzing over a tell-all book by former  
> White House
> Press Secretary Scott McClellan. In his explosive memoir, McClellan  
> reveals that
> the Bush administration ran a "political propaganda campaign" to  
> mislead the
> American public on the war in Iraq.
>
>       But he takes it one step further, implicating the mainstream  
> media for its
> role in "enabling" this propaganda: "The national press corps was  
> probably too
> deferential to the White House" in spreading the president's case  
> for the war,
> McClellan writes. The mainstream media didn't live up to its watchdog
> reputation. "If it had, the country would have been better served."
>
>       This should be a shock to everyone. The president's own  
> spokesman lays a
> large share of the blame for Bush's pro-war propaganda on the media's
> "deferential" treatment of White House spin.
>
>       Please become part of a growing people-powered campaign to  
> investigate
> this scandal and make media more accountable to the public:
>
>      Make Mainstream Media Answer for Spreading Pro-War Propaganda
>
>       Click on the link above and sign a letter that urges House  
> Committee
> Chairs Ike Skelton, John Tierney and Henry Waxman to convene full  
> congressional
> hearings about propaganda in the news.
>
>       The media's complicity in promoting this war was confirmed  
> Wednesday night
> by CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin who said that network  
> executives had pushed
> her not to do hard-hitting pieces on the Bush administration as the  
> nation
> readied for war.
>
>       "The press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate  
> executives,
> frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that  
> was consistent
> with the patriotic fever in the nation," Yellin told CNN's Anderson  
> Cooper.
> (Watch the video).
>
>       More than 100,000 Free Press activists and allies have  
> already urged their
> members of Congress to launch an investigation into the media's  
> role in
> spreading pro-war propaganda. By joining their call, you will be  
> part of a
> massive coalition of citizens, bloggers and independent media who  
> refuse to let
> Big Media off the hook:
>
>      Expose the Propaganda 'Enablers' and End Fake News
>
>       McClellan's memoir comes on the heels of an April 20 New York  
> Times
> exposé, which revealed an extensive -- and likely illegal --  
> Pentagon program to
> recruit and place pro-war military pundits on nearly every major  
> news outlet in
> America. Congress has promised to investigate the Pentagon's role  
> in the
> scandal, but it shouldn't end there.
>
>       Our democracy is in peril when mainstream media fail to  
> question the
> official view and put the interests of ordinary Americans first.  
> This watchdog
> role is especially critical during a time of war.
>
>       Sign the letter and then tell your friends to help send a  
> loud message to
> Congress: We're not backing down until the truth comes out.
>
>      Gratefully,
>
>      Timothy Karr
>      Campaign Director
>      Free Press Action Fund
>      www.freepress.net
>
>       P.S. Thanks to you, Free Press is leading the charge to hold  
> media
> accountable for spreading propaganda. Our next step is to run a  
> powerful ad to
> put Congress on notice to act. Contribute now and send the message:  
> We're not
> backing down.
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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