« At The Races
The Ladder Charge »

Race To The Bottom?

There are loads of smart things floating around – on all sides of the Race to the Top issue – and then there is this essay in Education Week…wow…really?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 4:56 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

7 Responses to “Race To The Bottom?”

  1. David Says:
    December 15th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    Why are you surprised? The writer is embedded and emeshed in the Edschool world — where reality is always suspended.

  2. Craig Says:
    December 15th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

    No. Not really. It must be a joke. Just not a funny one.

  3. annonymouse Says:
    December 15th, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    seriously? IT’S TONGUE IN CHECK. sheesh.

  4. Dave Says:
    December 16th, 2009 at 11:18 am

    If it’s intended as a tongue-in-cheek commentary against Race to the Top, and it’s not funny or clever or insightful…what did it succeed at?

    Unless it’s a tongue-in-cheek commentary against those who are against Race to the Top, in which case it may be brilliant. Not sure if I agree, but brilliant.

  5. Linda/Retired Teacher Says:
    December 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Of course it’s tongue and cheek. The writer is a Chinese professor who is smart enough to know that our great American public school system has been a priceless gift to many of us and must be strengthened and preserved. He knows that other countries, including his own, admire us for our determination to educate everyone and our ability to allow creativity to flourish in our young people. In his opionion our public schools are the reason our country has achieved such unprecended greatness. He is poking fun at some of the present fads, as illustrated by some of the provisions in Race to the Top.

    I thought it was funny.

  6. Linda/Retired Teacher Says:
    December 16th, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    Oops! It’s “opinion” and “unprecedented.” Sorry.

  7. Smith/Mathematics teacher Says:
    January 21st, 2010 at 11:16 am

    I think that he did a great job making his points. The control has been taken away from the professional educators, lowering their work satisfaction and self-worth in the schools and causing a ripple effect that will be detrimental to the students in ways we can’t even imagine. I don’t blame this on Race to the Top- this has been the trend.
    Next school year, for example, Science and Social Studies are being reduced to semester classes in my middle school so the emphasis can be placed more on Math and L.A.! For electives, after the next round of cuts, we will have cut 2 of these teachers: 2 spanish, 1 tech,one part time band, 5 PE, 1 part time chorus and one art teacher. FOR 1100 STUDENTS! I have no idea which 2 they are cutting but it is going to be ugly.
    We have to emphasize Math but the state standards have been lowered…passing the Algebra state test only requires a 54%! On a basic test! Our grading scale says that a 67%, or lower, is failing, but the test we spend all year preparing for is passible with a 54%?

    I hope I win the lottery and can send my own children to private school.

Leave a Reply


6 - = four