Discussion for article #231439
Feeling bad, genuinely or not, for dead Black kids is meaningless if your policies are in part responsible for those deaths. These dudes are gutting Black schools, closing Black schools down, and putting Black people (especially Black women who have been central to these protests) out of work.
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Wholly Smackerel!
A sensible opinion piece in TPM.
Duncan as been a lightning rod for PC protests who regard teaching as an employment program, rather than a calling. His perseverance and unflagging enthusiasm in the face of entrenched opposition from people who should know better is remarkable. That Obama has stuck with him through thick and thin is a hallmark of the commitment to principle displayed by this administration.
Here in Wisconsin, we’ve seen how Repugnicants can use the inertia of established education as a club to use against the entire profession. Duncan represents the courageous folks who are looking to improve our educational establishment for the new millenium without destroying all the good it does and should continue to do.
Nice to see him getting some props for once!
The ideal time for Mr. Duncan and everyone else to protest police violence is about a year before the election, when all those Republicans, all across the country, are running unopposed for sheriff, judge, county board supervisor, town clerk, school board and every other local elected office where most decisions, most directly affecting most people’s lives, are made every day. But as filing deadlines quietly passed, I didn’t perceive much community organizing from the vastly overrated Obama ground game.
Shut down all the Black schools, fire all the Black teachers, dissolve the unions, replace them with shitty for-profit schools owned by White people, and staffed by a revolving cast of young White progressives with no teaching experience, having fun slumming it on their grand pre-grad school adventure.
Courage.
As a teacher, I would support Duncan resigning as Education Secretary (and Conor Williams resigning from whatever his job is) to become a full-time protester.
Arne Duncan is a reformer?
Can anyone tell me what ideas these education reformers have brought to the table besides the notion that teachers are bad and must be held accountable? Maybe the reporting on education is just terrible, but that’s the only message I’ve heard from the Duncans and Rhees.
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