tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post5617560202327057258..comments2024-03-29T02:22:59.827-04:00Comments on the daily howler: Supplemental: The truth about our American schools!<b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-14065582001674885262014-10-16T01:38:06.046-04:002014-10-16T01:38:06.046-04:00"how on earth could any editor have chosen th..."how on earth could any editor have chosen that photograph?"<br /><br />Bob doesn't care about white kids.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-5139822960278034682014-10-16T01:04:07.612-04:002014-10-16T01:04:07.612-04:00He should have directed her to the person most wil...He should have directed her to the person most willing to fight for his tenure.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-84182136296055646442014-10-15T21:13:35.343-04:002014-10-15T21:13:35.343-04:00The Dept chair is just the person most willing to ...The Dept chair is just the person most willing to do bureaucratic make-work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-11582671045072391212014-10-15T17:36:10.380-04:002014-10-15T17:36:10.380-04:00"He is an Asst Prof, which means he is a begi..."He is an Asst Prof, which means he is a beginner in his field and most likely not very experienced in being interviewed by the media."<br /><br />He should have directed her to his Department head.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-37155741173287857532014-10-15T15:53:24.619-04:002014-10-15T15:53:24.619-04:00Sorry -- meant to say more concerned with content ...Sorry -- meant to say more concerned with content than quality, not less.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-49572511581912577872014-10-15T15:50:59.594-04:002014-10-15T15:50:59.594-04:00"I say, OK, tell me one question that's o..."I say, OK, tell me one question that's on the PISA (the OECD's standardized tests taken by students in more than 60 countries and economies). And that's where we stop. People don't know a whole lot about it..."<br /><br />Why should any member of the public be able to quote a single question from any of these tests? That seems pretty irrelevant in a discussion of how well our schools are doing.<br /><br />I vote for Schneider being incompletely quoted. He is an Asst Prof, which means he is a beginner in his field and most likely not very experienced in being interviewed by the media. He may not understand that he needs to give out sound bites and not leave reporters to draw their own conclusions about anything. Further, I doubt he was given a chance to review the article before publication, so he most likely did not get to correct anything about it. Many academics refuse to have anything to do with the media because of the likelihood of being made to look incompetent, as Schneider has been (giving him the benefit of the doubt). <br /><br />Yesterday Kevin Drum was wondering why conservatives have a much lower opinion of the schools than liberals. Last week Fox was making a fuss about the Purple Penguins (the school that tried to train its faculty to use non-gendered categories when talking about gender issues). These sorts of complaints appear on Fox all the time, so is there any wonder viewers form a negative impression of public schools. Further, they are the ones most concerned about home schooling in order to avoid exposing their kids to ideas inconsistent with their own ideologies, religious and political. I think it is also likely conservatives are less concerned with content of what is taught than quality of teaching, although they have championed the Back to Basics approach that now seems to be dominating schools with the emphasis on testing in NCLB.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-46781118506756745562014-10-15T15:48:10.565-04:002014-10-15T15:48:10.565-04:00I think it is safe to conclude, buying in wholly t...I think it is safe to conclude, buying in wholly to Bob's argument here, that our schools have declined for white people given the two people serfving as examples here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com