Re: [eddra] Re: [arn-l] screed

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Well put, Pete.
Susan

On Thursday, June 26, 2008, at 10:51 AM, Peter Farruggio wrote:

> That's the problem with framing it as a NATIONAL crisis, and with  
> using test scores as a meaningful measure of anything important.  The  
> crisis of inadequate schooling for the mass of children is  
> international and directly tied to the worldwide economic crisis, the  
> New World Order.  Internationally, there have always been two  
> education systems: a superior one for the rich and an inferior one for  
> the non-rich (most people in the US still don't get it that the bulk  
> of the so-called "middle class" are really working class folks with  
> decent jobs).  In recent times, the inferior system has been made  
> progressively more inferior through a deliberate policy of  
> underfunding, so that the schools for working class kids are more  
> nakedly restored to the 19th century version of the anti-intellectual  
> factory model.  Voila the return of hardcore behaviorist pedagogy,  
> didacticist curricula, scripted lessons, test prep, etc  David  
> Berliner has truthfully and accurately described the inequitable  
> effects of the social class system in US schools, and Pauline Lipman  
> has characterized it as the "militarization" of the classroom in the  
> inner cities.  Good teaching has pretty much disappeared from low  
> income schools, including charters, thanks to the work of the  
> Republocratic "reformers", the standardista puppets of the business  
> magnates.  As Jerry says, it's best to steer clear of dishonest  
> us-vs-them international comparisons.  Better to focus on the class  
> warfare (so far waged by the rich against the rest of us) raging  
> within the US education system.
>
> Pete Farruggio
>
>
>
>
> At 09:10 PM 6/25/2008, GERALD BRACEY wrote:
>
> > I did not say anything about the Forum's "diagnosis and  
> > prescription,"  I simply objected to their use of selective and maybe  
> > false statistics.  Their article was called "A Nation Still At Risk."  
> >  As David Marshak pointed out to them in a letter, this simply  
> > perpetuates the frame of discussion that was established by ANAR.   
> > It's a phony frame and much needs to be reframed as Lakoff pointed  
> > out in Don't Think of an Elephant, or as Ted Koppel succinctly put  
> > it, "He who names it and frames it, claims it."  The Linda and George  
> > article perpetuates the frame established by ANAR, about the last  
> > thing in the world we need.
> >
> > In my next report, you'll see that virtually everyone, especially  
> > fear mongers, "filter what people say through the lens of  
> > international test scores", plus NAEP.  That's all, and it's  
> > horseshit.
> >
> > Jerry
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: <mailto:ABurke5054@aol.com>ABurke5054@aol.com
> > To: <mailto:arn-l@interversity.org>arn-l@interversity.org ;  
> > <mailto:LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.com>LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.com  
> >  ; <mailto:eddra@yahoogroups.com>eddra@yahoogroups.com ;  
> > <mailto:di@lists.uoregon.edu>di@lists.uoregon.edu
> > Cc: <mailto:rweaver@nea.org>rweaver@nea.org
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 9:15 PM
> > Subject: [eddra] Re: [arn-l] screed
> >
> > Public education is not the only formative agency in developing skills
> > that drive the American economy. Families develop skills, so do
> > companies, through their training programs, and so do the myriad of
> > trade schools, technical schools, and community colleges, in addition
> > to four-year schools, that send people into the world of work. So
> > while arguing about international test scores keeps the theorizing
> > classes occupied, and makes for attention-getting headlines, sweating
> > the economy over them is an exercise in silliness. On that I agree
> > with you.
> >
> > But what continues to astonish me is that you seem to filter what
> > people say about education only through the lens of what they say  
> > about
> > international test scores and ignore the rest. That's the mistake you
> > made about ANAR and you're doing the same thing here. There's a lot
> > more to what the Forum says about education than the link between the
> > economy and international test scores. And while I mostly disagree
> > with the Forum on both diagnosis and prescription, their proposals
> > should be judged on their merits.
> >
> > Art
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: GERALD BRACEY  
> > <<mailto:gbracey1%40verizon.net>gbracey1@verizon.net>
> > To:  
> > <mailto:LiteracyForAll%40yahoogroups.com>LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.co 
> > m; <mailto:arn-l%40interversity.org>arn-l@interversity.org;
> > <mailto:eddra%40yahoogroups.com>eddra@yahoogroups.com;  
> > <mailto:di%40lists.uoregon.edu>di@lists.uoregon.edu
> > Cc: reg weaver <<mailto:rweaver%40nea.org>rweaver@nea.org>
> > Sent: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 8:13 am
> > Subject: [arn-l] screed
> >
> > All,
> >
> > Given the deadful, fear mongering lead to an article by Linda
> > Darling-Hammond
> > and George Wood in an advertising supplement in today's Washington
> > Post, I think
> > people on this list should reconsider their affiliation with The Forum
> > for
> > Education and Democracy.
> >
> > The article opens with the ranks of the U. S. on PISA followed by the
> > dreary 70
> > percent graduation rate figure. I think this figure has been
> > successfully
> > challenged as being far too low and it appalls me to see it repeated  
> > as
> > gospel.
> >
> > I have recently received a book of articles written by European
> > researchers
> > challenging the reliability, validity, statistical procedures,  
> > cultural
> > bias,
> > exclusion of disabled kids, interpretation and virtually everything
> > else about
> > PISA. I shall be writing about this soon, but I note here that no one,
> > not
> > Darling-Hammond and Wood, not Roy Romer, not Bob Wise, not Bill Gates,
> > ever
> > mentions any international study but PISA. Why? Because like the
> > twisted, spun
> > and selected statistics in that golden treasury of misinformation, A
> > Nation At
> > Risk (the article is headlined, "A Nation Still At Risk"), PISA is the
> > only
> > study suited to attempts to induce panic. We have shown improvements
> > on TIMSS
> > and we look very good indeed on PIRLS. No one talks about that. But
> > if PISA is
> > no damn good, why pay ANY attention to it? Here's a short quote from
> > one of the
> > chapters by British economist, S. J. Prais.
> >
> > "That the U. S., the world's top economic performing country country,
> > was found
> > to have schooling attainments that are only middling casts fundamental
> > doubts on
> > the value, and approach of these surveys [such as PISA]."
> >
> > Right on, S. J. That's the right attitude. It's the test that has to
> > prove
> > itself against a reality check. We take a "believe the worst"
> > attitude. We
> > assume, very foolishly, that PISA is valid and go oh woe is us. We
> > should be
> > saying PISA is a crock (and I have been saying this; I received this
> > book
> > because my writings came to the attention of a chapter author in
> > Munich).
> >
> > Twenty-five years after A Nation At Risk, the Institute for Management
> > Development and the World Economic Forum both rank the U. S. the most
> > competitive economy in the world. IMD, which has been at this game
> > since 1989,
> > says the U.S. surpassed Japan as #1 in 1994. You might recall that at
> > the time,
> > Japanese kids were acing tests but Japan's economy was tanking and it
> > would
> > remain in the doldrums for almost 15 years. That alone should have
> > dispelled
> > the myth of the link between test scores and a nation's economic
> > health. So
> > where's the risk?
> >
> > The authors make some good points later in the article but if the  
> > Forum
> > on
> > Education and Democracy feels obligated to make its points by creating
> > misguided
> > fears, I for one want no part of it and I strongly encourage  
> > recipients
> > of this
> > post to rethink their position as well.
> >
> > Jerry
> > =
> >
> > __._,_.___
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