michael bloomberg

John Legend and the Well-Meaning Corporatists

by Jose Vilson on March 13, 2013

Davis Guggenheim, John Legend, Michelle Rhee

Davis Guggenheim, John Legend, Michelle Rhee

Last Wednesday, Huffington Post Education’s Twitter feed tweeted this out:

In the pithiest attempt at a response, I said “From what?”

After a more thorough read on all the school board races around the country, I noticed a disturbing trend of pundits funding their favorite candidates in influential districts. Places like Chicago, West Sacramento, and Los Angeles started getting funding from people like Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee, and, yes, John Legend.

John Legend’s presence in this debate particularly disturbs me because of the allure and seduction of having a musician stand side-by-side with the very people who condemn poor children, colored or not, to an artless, factory-inspired sense of schooling. Bloomberg’s distaste for public servants and their unions is well documented, as is Michelle Rhee’s bobbing and weaving of cheating allegations, both masterfully playing mainstream media to look like vanguards and radicals. I expect as much from them.

John Legend is different, though. Since my last letter to him, he’s gone further past original thought and more into neo-liberal think tank mode. A line like “If we think demography is destiny, we will allow our school system to confirm that belief” sounds like a Washington lobbyist read up on Deepak Chopra and tried to apply his tweets to education reform.

To make matters worse, he probably still ends arguments with a mini-concert, just to keep the less informed seduced, uncritical, and grateful for his presence, even as he openly plots to destroy communities.

More importantly, the culture around his opinions makes me wonder why anyone would equate celebrity with expertise, but education seems to be the only arena where songwriters and billionaires have better leverage in what happens in the classroom than the actual practitioners and partners in our children’s education, namely teachers and parents. His two to three lines of reasoning, often in the form of “But I know a school that…,” hold too much weight in the improvement of our schools. The research rarely backs him up.

I’m not in the camp of folks that say “Only educators should have a voice in education,” but I am in the camp of “If you’re going to have an opinion, read up.”

Anyone who’s known me for a while might question how I can come for John Legend’s neck when Matt Damon was the feature face at the Save Our Schools March that included Diane Ravitch, Linda Darling-Hammond, Jonathan Kozol, and me. If you take a listen to Damon’s speech, however, two things come to the fore: he’s not telling anyone he’s the expert in education and he ends his speech by introducing his mother Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an actual educator.

John Legend, on the other hand, lends his face to countless programs, yet never relinquishes the expertise to someone who knows better than he. Instead, the magic comes from within him and his own ideas, really the corporate reform slate cleverly disguised in a black musician. He might in fact mean well, but he seems to have stayed the course, an often dangerous proposition for anyone who opines so openly on a field with all the wrong voices in charge.

The list of famous folk who prescribe to this reform slate doesn’t start or end with him, but he’s put himself in the spotlight. Sadly, John’s legend in education will show a man who supports kids using pencils to bubble in scan-ready sheets rather than notes for the keys to their own lives.

Jose, who is happy he has his own space to publish this in …

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Top 10 List Of Things To Do For NYC Teachers Going To Work On Friday

by Jose Vilson on November 1, 2012

NYC schools are officially closed on Friday … for students. For teachers, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott sent out a memo to all teachers and administrators to go back to school on Friday. The cynical me remembers the few days in the school year when I tell my students they don’t have school but I do and they giggle and point, to which I reply, “It’s OK. We don’t want you here, either.” Gasps from them. “Just kidding.” Exhale. “Kinda.”

The more serious side of me wonders what the heck we’re going to do on a November day. I mean, I had this really awesome unit on scientific notation that ended with us trying to estimate how far the planets were away from each other, and it would have ended with a quiz that I’m sure they would have aced on average. Then, it got me thinking: none of us, and I mean NONE of us, actually knows what we’re going to do tomorrow.

Instead of kvetching about why Bloomberg and Walcott came to this decision, I’ve compiled a list of things teachers can do tomorrow that would make it really productive, starting from 10 to 1.

10. You can listen to someone speak at you for hours on end while doodling / checking e-mail / texting / eventually napping. (I wouldn’t advise it, on either end.)

9. You can come up with a Hurricane Sandy song to the tune of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore.”

8. You can pretend to be students waiting in a teacher’s classroom and just switch roles every period.

7. You can pat each other on the back incessantly and tell each other how awesome you were for actually getting to school on Friday.

6. You can play “I’m Thinking of a Number” and have that number be someone’s VAM score … with that person screaming out the door, crying hysterically. (You’re so insensitive.)

5. You can finally find out what’s that thing wiggling and rustling the bottom of your papers that you haven’t graded yet. That stack never gets small, jeebus.

4. You can tweet or Facebook Pauly D, The Situation, and Snookie about what they’re going to contribute to the relief efforts for the Jersey Shore. (fixed)

3. You can play telephone with the entire staff. I specifically recommend this with staffs larger than 40. 40 is a nice, round number.

2. You can leave a stray karaoke machine in the auditorium and see who picks up the mic, because that’s the person you videotape singing The Police’s “Message In A Bottle” and that’s the video you start your Election Day PD with.

1. You can start the day by calling the parents and guardians of all your students to check on them and see if they’re OK. You can even make yourself available for people to come in and have their questions answered about the schools.

While we don’t know much about the effects of Sandy on our school system from home, I know we as a school system can do better in our roles as leaders in our communities. Many of us have families to comfort, basements to dry, and rummage to clean up. Alas, when students see us next week, we have a job to do, none of it concerning the students.

As people.

Jose, because it’s true.

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Bloomberg Is The System

by Jose Vilson on June 25, 2012

Today, Greg Kristof of the Huffington Post reported that Michael Bloomberg has announced that he wants to have schools call up parents and deliver teacher evaluations directly to parents. This comes on the heels of the passing of a bill that clearly delineates guidelines for parent-school interaction when it comes to teacher evaluations. Michael Bloomberg, in his usual pomp, went on the radio to reaffirm his disappointment in the bill and the compromises made to pass it. A quote:

“Let me tell you what we’re going to do,” Bloomberg said on the WOR radio show. “We are going to have our schools call every single parent. We’re talking about fourth to eighth grade… We will tell you, you are entitled to this information and if you want it say yes right now and we will send it to you.”

Let’s be perfectly clear here. First, Bloomberg’s intentions have been transparent in that he prefers to turn public schools into parts of a huge corporate conglomerate, an idea he continues to reaffirm every time he speaks about education. The general public understands this, and even the media reporting on his efforts have taken a more critical tone about his record. Much of that has to do with the pressure from progressive groups within and outside the city, but some of it also has to do with the general public getting a decade’s worth of evidence and seeing more turmoil than ever before.

As the old axiom goes: the emperor continues to shed his clothes.

Second, we already have enough information on some of the facets of teacher evaluations to know that we have little reason to trust it until it becomes more sophisticated and maturates over time. If we know that the 40% of the teacher evaluation is dedicated to state exams until this piece is considered substandard then it’s 100%, we know we have a long way to go before this matter is settled.

Most importantly, Michael Bloomberg’s attitude towards parents has rarely demonstrated openness. We have plenty of examples of times when a main liaison would run away from parents demanding answers, parents’ mics getting shut down at hearings, and layers of bureaucracy added to our infrastructure to ensure confusion on the part of parents less informed about what’s happening in the school system. Our central offices can print out all the infographics and flyers they want, but in no way will that replace the general tenor of Bloomberg’s rhetoric to parents.

I don’t have much of a problem with parents knowing about my teaching so long as the right information gets out and doesn’t put me in a defensive position. What I do have a problem with is Bloomberg’s inference that he wants parents and teachers to have a distrust for each other. This call can make places where this relationship is already tenuous just downright hostile. This doesn’t a good school make. If anything, it perpetuates the idea that schools stand alone from the surrounding community, and, as an institution, is not subject to substantive participation.

Making robo-calls to parents and delivering teacher evaluations to parents may backfire. Then, his next effort commences. When you’re so well-resourced and such a position of power, you have all the time in the world to bully the people serving the million plus children of the city. After hearing about this news, and reflecting on the massive sweeping changes we’ve had in this country, I realized that Bloomberg, after failing at public education, can blame it on the system, one that existed before him.

Yet, because of all the changes and the resources he’s used to keep his reforms going, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in fact the system. He’ll have to go on record for all of this, too.

Jose, who had this itch to scratch …

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Eww. Seriously. That Is So Gross.

by Jose Vilson on January 31, 2012

Eww. Seriously? So Gross. (GEICO Commercial)

Ever have a baby sleeping right on your stomach when you see a hilarious commercial and you’re trying to suppress your laughter which only makes you laugh harder? That was the premise for tonight when I watched this Geico commercial about a guy who uses some popular girls from the local high school to help him with his diet. Watch:

Had. Me. In. Tears.

Then it got me thinking if I picked out my most incorrigible students and had some of our favorite education reformers present ideas to them, just to see what they thought. Up first, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

Blooomberg: Secretly, I want to fire half the teachers in New York and give the ones left a $20,000 raise. Just to keep ‘em quiet. Maybe that’ll show them.
Girl 1: Bloomberg, where all the kids going to go?
Bloomberg: Well, we won’t right out FIRE all the teachers left over. Your same teachers will still be around for a few weeks. Then when we get bored, we’ll rotate them. Imagine if you had more teachers throughout the year!
Girl 2: Imagine if we had to sit next to all those people mad tight or stand in the back of the class because we didn’t have any more seats?
Girl 3: That shit would suck. [Vilson looks from across.] My bad, language, language …
Girl 2: But, but but, yeah, what if I have to stand next to that one boy I really don’t like, but it’s our turn to stand next to each other because of this stupid idea?
Girl 1: Eww.
Girl 2: Seriously?
Girl 3: So gross.

Next up: US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Duncan: I have this Race To The Top program where I make states compete for money if they only agree to the reforms we like.
Girl 3: Like what?
Duncan: Well, we ask states to have more tests, find a way to fire bad teachers, and close down schools if they’re not doing exactly what we think they should be doing.
Girl 2: Oh. Sounds good.
Girl 1: Ugh, I hate tests! That mean ol’ teacher always has to give us one every week and she yells, “Hurry up and spit out your gum!” You know how much gum I have to spit out?
Girl 3: Yeah, well if this guy has his way, that teacher get fired!
Girl 2: No, that teacher wouldn’t! He gets good test scores, so he’ll probably stay!
Girl 3: Remember that one teacher we liked?
Girl 1: The geeky one who liked math a lot? Yeah, we liked her! What happened?
Girl 3: They fired her. The rumor is that some kids didn’t do well on the test, so they fired her for it.
Girl 1 and 2: Oh WOOOOWWW!!
Girl 1: Eww.
Girl 2: Seriously?
Girl 3: That’s gross.

Finally: former Washington DC Schools Chancellor and current edu-lobbyist Michelle Rhee

Rhee: First, let me say how much I really like students and …
Girl 1: Eww! :: cough, cough :: Sorry, continue.
Rhee: Like I was saying … [snickers to self], let me say how much I really like students. That’s why I created an organization called StudentsFirst, where students get to be first!
Girl 2: First where?
Rhee: Well, it’s like your football team. You like it when your school team wins right? It’s the same thing here. We want students to win!
Girl 3: Huh?
Girl 2: I think I see what she’s saying. She’s trying to say that students come before everybody else. It doesn’t matter if they’re adults or whatever, like, they need to fall back.
Girl 1: But I’m confused. Why does it matter as long as the adults are there to help us?
Girl 2: Right? Shouldn’t all schools just be good for everybody?
Girl 3: I just Googled her, and this is the same lady with the broom in her hand! Is she trying to sweep kids?
Girl 2: Is she gonna hit me with that thing?
Girl 3: Let her do it! I’ma get my brother after her.
Rhee: Umm, I think you’re missing the point, ladies …
Girl 1: Yo, you calling us dumb? You trying to say because we didn’t go to the school you went to that we not as smart as you! Ewwww!
Girl 2: Seriously?
Girl 3: That is so gross!

These girls will not be fooled.

Mr. Vilson, who has too many voices in his head …

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The Shakes, For Real

August 23, 2011 Jose

This afternoon, I posted the following joke on my Facebook: If school was in session, Bloomberg wouldn’t close schools. Around lunchtime, he’d say, “Let them have shakes.” I jest. Well, for the most part. Surprisingly, there was no announcement from our mayor on anything. NYC Educator might quip here that he’s probably having lunch somewhere [...]

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The Less Experience, The Better

November 9, 2010 Jose

I get it. The less experience and qualifications you have as an educational policy leader, the better. If you can play good defense and set nice picks, you’re qualified for the US Secretary of Education. If you’re part anti-Microsoft lawyer and part CEO of a random arm of a corporation, you can be chancellor of [...]

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The Education Boogey-Men

April 14, 2010 Jose

Over the last few years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting educational innovators and thought leaders from throughout the country, people who I either admire for their awesomeness or have pushed my thinking in ways I hadn’t thought of. People like the Teacher Leaders Network and my folks on Facebook and Twitter offer conversations I [...]

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King Bloomberg and My Unrepentant Contradictions

November 3, 2009 Jose

I’m living in a weird spot right now. I’m a die-hard Yankees fan who has a hard time supporting the construction of a stadium that, from within and without, stratified the rich and the poor and is supported by the one man who embraces that stratification like the millions of dollars he’s gained indirectly through [...]

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