[lbo-talk] Arne Duncan = Bill Gates

[Carrol Cox]

Twntieth century teachers (K through ph.d. training, have never escaped
completely enough what might be called the Curse of the 19th-c (Virgin)
SchoolMarn. They have no interests of their own: they merely serve a social
purpose by subordinating their lives to the (assumed) interest of the
students. This reduces them to  nuns ormachine parts  (pick your own
metaphor). And it is not even in the interests of the students, for it turns
them in practice to machine parts being assembled by the teachers for use by
capital. It also gives a sacred aura to (a) 'evaluating' students
(maintaining standards and (b) 'evaluating' teachers (the merit system and
tenure based on merit).

This is wrong. Teachers are merely humans (workers) trying to earn a living
(it being assumed under capitalism that life is something you have to
"deserve"). And teachers for the most part have incorporated themselves into
this anti-teacher structure and grounded their right no in their status as
human beings (workers) but as special 'servants' of 'society,' 'rewarded' in
so far as they successfully performed this servant role. (In Rome tachers
were usually slaves: it seems that there has not been that much of a change
in the last 1500 years.

Teachers must (but I fear that they will not, define their interests the
same as any other part of the workforce.

First, they must see that the school system exists for _them_, not for the
students. (In practice this will be in the interest of students too, but we
will leave that aside here). And what are the interests of workers
(including teachers)? They are job security, working conditions, hours, and
pay. At present the school system fails  in all of these areas, and teachers
fail in their understanding of what is in their interest (and thus in the
interest of stucents, society, and civilization in general).

Carrol

-----Original Message-----
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On Behalf Of Michael Pollak
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 3:59 PM
To: lbo-talk
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Arne Duncan = Bill Gates

On Fri, 19 Nov 2010, The Chronicle of Higher Education was cited saying


>
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/duncan-rewarding-teachers-for-masters-degr
ees-is-waste-of-money/28478


> Duncan: Rewarding Teachers for Master's Degrees Is Waste of Money
> November 19, 2010, 2:11 pm


> In a speech at an American Enterprise Institute forum on Wednesday, the 
> secretary of education, Arne Duncan, said state and local governments 
> should rethink their policies of giving pay raises to teachers who have 
> master's degrees because evidence suggests that the degree alone does 
> not improve student achievement. The remark was part of a speech about 
> ways lawmakers can use current budget shortfalls to make public schools 
> more productive. Mr. Duncan has consistently advocated tying teacher pay 
> to student performance, but he has rarely taken shots at credentialing 
> programs.

Holy fucking shit.   He appalled me 4 times in the first 2 sentences. 
That's gotta be some kinda record even in These Our Times.

Michael
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