What matters is who owns the media. And the various shysters and their "programs" is the same kind of thing, as you note.
That's why I think the main effort should be to re-frame the discussion, not to vilify the various talking heads who come round. I was specifically asked to write a piece anchored on the Rhee visit, so I did.
Glad you liked it.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- Joanna: " Rhee is an outstanding public speaker, who manages to turn her inexperience as an educator into the virtue of being the objective outsider."
[WS:] This is so typical of the self-promoting shysters. I do not think Rhee is unique - there are a dime a dozen of people like that in the academia, the punditocracy, and the NGO-world. This is what makes you a "successful person" - a person who invented and "owns" a problem of public concern and to whom lazy journalists come for comments any time they have to write a story on that problem. It tells you more about the fucked up nature of the American public discourse (not that Europeans are any better, but their style is a bit different - somewhat lower on brazenly shameless self-promotion) than the character of a person. Rhee as well as scores of smooth talking shysters do what it takes to be a "star" in the public discourse in America. Corey Robin makes a same point about Ayn Randt - a third rate writer who knew how to ride the American celebrity "system."
Another point - I do not think that there is a conspiracy to screw the kids in public schools. Nobody really gives a flying fuck about them, their only usefulness for these shysters is as material for self-promotion. My wife who is a public school teacher told me many stories illustrating this. At the lower echelons of educational bureaucracy, it is all about creating and popularizing "programs" that can be used as stepping stones for one's managerial or academic career. At the higher levels, it is about union busting, privatization - which is a big incentive because a lot of public money is at stake - and political opportunism. Again, people like Rhee are the product of this system - they are a dime a dozen - the only difference is that she attained a more prominent celebrity status than most.
A great piece, Joanna.
Wojtek ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk