Bee Eater Blog

Traditionally, the ‘cash cow’ metaphor is saved for colleges of education. Here we see it applied to a rescue plan for Philly schools. Good example of the upside-down politics of education. From a 1960′s perspective, fighting for poor, minority kids subjected to awful schools would be a good leftie cause. In 2012, however, this is turned upside down. The union cause, championed by Salon, is the “leftie” cause. All about jobs. That’s how it played out in D.C.

Fashion mogul Kenneth Cole takes a billboard on the topic, and is forced to back down. This rebuttal of Cole’s act, however, naively posits that protecting bad teachers is no longer an issue — because the unions have made gestures about teacher accountability. Press releases and practice are two very different things. The unions have supported some promising teacher review programs, and using test scores vs. peer-to-peer vetting is a legitimate debate. But to suggest that poor teacher quality is no longer a problem is just wrong.