Friday, January 21, 2011

An un-Rhee-sonable approach...

Society today is filled with polarizing personalities.  From the ionizing ire of talk radio to the great divide that is the aisles of Congress, our nation seems to feel the need to take sides.  This, as any middle manager could tell you, is not the way to work through issues and solve problems.

These polarizing trends are not just reserved for politics, but are found in education as well.  Though education reform has become largely politicized, the pitting of one side against another for no apparent reasons of ideology has become all too commonplace.

Namely, the debate on education reform pits teachers against administrators against the kids.  The vast majority of school systems in the country are not this way.  Everyone is working together.  Only in places like Washington DC and New York City do you see such polarization, and usually it is due to a top-down, irreverent administrator who has minimal if any experience in the classroom.  Michelle Rhee was just such an administrator in the DC school system, and now that she has been fired and has started her own political action group called Students First in California, I don’t expect any change in her methods.

Rhee does not get my favorite moniker of pseudo-reformer, because she actually did make reforms as the DC supe, but she has a monopoly on the “malevolent makeover” style of reform.  She is polarizing and condescending, like a right-wing talk show host.  Rhee and those like her are just the reason why unions around the world are formed in the first place.  The name of her organization, Students First, says it all.  It is a sad statement that anyone need be reminded that education is for the kids.  Yet Rhee is as far from the students as is anyone in education reform, and as such, the name of her organization is a lousy front.

For the same reason Sarah Palin should stay in Alaska (in the words of Barbara Bush), Michelle Rhee should stay way over on the right coast in Washington DC.  Her brand of politicized, confrontational, black-and-white reform has no place in the Golden State or anywhere for that matter.  Until reformers can stop pointing fingers, they will never solve some of the most pressing issues facing our children. 

Stop being un-rhee-sonable!  Reclaim public education!

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