with Rhee out, time to move out of DC?

[Anonymous]

As far as the "suicide" thing, it's actually a myth that Scandinavia has a higher suicide rate than other European countries.

From the Edinburgh University Library online resources:

"The myth of Swedish suicide” has its roots in the late-1950s when the American President Dwight D. Eisenhower referred to it in a speech which had been based on an inaccurate briefing. The President had tried to paint a negative picture of Sweden, a nation which - with its cradle-to-grave socialism - had set itself on a post-war neutral stance outside the then embryonic-NATO and American influence. Ever since many people have accepted the picture as fact and perpetuate the myth."

As you can see on this list by the World Health Organization, many other countries (Lithuania, Belgium, France, etc) rank higher:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

The whole Scandi-suicide connection is basically ignorance, myth, and assumptions posing as knowledge.

[Anonymous]

You cannot win the war shooting your own troops.

I agree. The other day, my mechanic told me he needed to replace the spark plugs in my car. I told him, "You cannot fix a car by dismantling it!" These technocrats are sooo short sighted.

Try again:

"The other day, my mechanic told me he needed to replace the spark plugs in my car. Although he has been working with cars [teaching children] for 15 years, I didn't need to listen to him or get his input. After all, I listen to Car Talk [taught in a classroom for 2 years]. I told him, "You're in a mechanics' union, aren't you? The Local 243?" He admitted he was. Game ON!

I fired my mechanic, saying DH and I didn't have the funding to pay for him. Then I realized we DID have enough money in our checking account after all, so instead I told anyone who would listen that I fired my mechanic because he was incompetent. After all, while he certainly made some cars run again -- the BMWs who'd had regular maintenance their whole lives and whose owners who actively took interest in their upkeep -- my mechanic was unable to [improve the test scores] make every last neglected, forgotten car run beautifully once more.

After I fired my long-time mechanic who was a member of a union, I replaced him with a young Princeton business major who has taken a 2-week mechanics' course and wants to make a difference, and also he can't get an IB job right now due to the economy. He is earnest, and he has a lot of energy. He is not in a union.

Finally it was time to change the spark plugs. First, I blew up the cylinder head of my engine, then I severed the spark plug wires and sold them off to a developer, so we can never use them again. Then I went ahead and told my Princeton business grad to disconnect all the hoses and belts in my car. He tried to install new plugs, but he is unable because there's essentially no car left under the hood what with the cracked gasket, missing wires, burnt belts, etc.

If I torch my car now in an abandoned lot in SE [and take a political job at the White House], it is technically accurate that I wouldn't need to replace the spark plugs ever again, correct?

[Anonymous]

13:24, I think I love you.

signed, longtime DCPS parent

[Anonymous]

Better yet:

The other day, my mechanic told me he needed to replace the spark plugs in my car. My uncle however is a delivery driver. He's been driving [teaching children] for 15 years, and he's one of the best drivers I've ever seen. So of course, I decided to listen to him instead. His opinion was that I needed to put better gas in the car.

I'm now paying significantly more at the pump, but the car still seems to run like shit. However, I'm going to give it another 5-10 years or using Exxon Gold Supreme at $5 per gallon, since he says it's just a matter of time until it turns around. Some folks say I should listen to the mechanic, but who knows cars better than a professional driver?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot win the war shooting your own troops.

I agree. The other day, my mechanic told me he needed to replace the spark plugs in my car. I told him, "You cannot fix a car by dismantling it!" These technocrats are sooo short sighted.

But the teachers aren't the troops. They are more like the rebels we've been paying off in Iraq and Afghanistan so they don't shoot us in the back, but unfortunately they have been increasing their demands and not giving us any tangible results. Why do people act as if teachers are an exalted species that can do no wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You cannot win the war shooting your own troops.

I agree. The other day, my mechanic told me he needed to replace the spark plugs in my car. I told him, "You cannot fix a car by dismantling it!" These technocrats are sooo short sighted.

Try again:

"The other day, my mechanic told me he needed to replace the spark plugs in my car. Although he has been working with cars [teaching children] for 15 years, I didn't need to listen to him or get his input. After all, I listen to Car Talk [taught in a classroom for 2 years]. I told him, "You're in a mechanics' union, aren't you? The Local 243?" He admitted he was. Game ON!

I fired my mechanic, saying DH and I didn't have the funding to pay for him. Then I realized we DID have enough money in our checking account after all, so instead I told anyone who would listen that I fired my mechanic because he was incompetent. After all, while he certainly made some cars run again -- the BMWs who'd had regular maintenance their whole lives and whose owners who actively took interest in their upkeep -- my mechanic was unable to [improve the test scores] make every last neglected, forgotten car run beautifully once more.

After I fired my long-time mechanic who was a member of a union, I replaced him with a young Princeton business major who has taken a 2-week mechanics' course and wants to make a difference, and also he can't get an IB job right now due to the economy. He is earnest, and he has a lot of energy. He is not in a union.

Finally it was time to change the spark plugs. First, I blew up the cylinder head of my engine, then I severed the spark plug wires and sold them off to a developer, so we can never use them again. Then I went ahead and told my Princeton business grad to disconnect all the hoses and belts in my car. He tried to install new plugs, but he is unable because there's essentially no car left under the hood what with the cracked gasket, missing wires, burnt belts, etc.

If I torch my car now in an abandoned lot in SE [and take a political job at the White House], it is technically accurate that I wouldn't need to replace the spark plugs ever again, correct?

We have a winner!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot win the war shooting your own troops.

I agree. The other day, my mechanic told me he needed to replace the spark plugs in my car. I told him, "You cannot fix a car by dismantling it!" These technocrats are sooo short sighted.

But the teachers aren't the troops. They are more like the rebels we've been paying off in Iraq and Afghanistan so they don't shoot us in the back, but unfortunately they have been increasing their demands and not giving us any tangible results.

PP, here (sparkplugs). I disagree with this, and don't think it's helpful.

Why do people act as if teachers are an exalted species that can do no wrong?

Agree with this though. This whole "teachers know what to do mentality" illustrates a fundamental misconception of complex problems. Folks who think "No need for architects when you've got construction workers; no need for a good project manager when you've got skilled programmers" are unlikely to have managed any complex system, or undertaken any project not trivial in scope. Those who have realize that they're two divergent skill-sets, and both indispensible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a winner!

Glad someone's coming out ahead, since the kids are fucked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a winner!

Glad someone's coming out ahead, since the kids are fucked.

No, you forgot, they're devastated! Get your hyperbole right!

[Anonymous]

OMG, what happened to moving away because of losing Rhee? Start a new thread and let us count the ways you should just GO.

[Anonymous]

Why any teacher would want a DCPS job, I have no clue. Little to no respect from the chancelor, parents, or students!

I attended DCPS all the way up and I can think of two bad teachers total from K-12. One was totally burned out from too many years of disrepectful students and needed to the retire, and the other retired the same school year that I was assigned to her (also a burnout candidate).

Two of my elementary school teachers attended my HS graduation! I remember falling in love with numbers in the third grade thanks to an old-school but awesome teacher, listening to my US History teacher in high school talking about lying in the street in undergrad to oppose segregation while police dogs were let loose, becoming vegetarian thanks to a Peace Studies class and a segment on animal cruelty, etc. It pisses me off to hear people cheer another round of firings just assuming that only bad teachers are canned. Teaching in DCPS is not a glamourous, nor lucrative job.

My best friend is a young teacher who is going into further debt for a Math degree because of her passion to get her middle school students up to speed. She spends her own money all the time buying materials for class, getting personal calls from students who gave her hell for months but now trust her enough to confide about problems at home (incest, abuse, abandonment). She loves working with the most challenging students and her passion is supported in NY by the administration at her school. I told her last year to PAUSE on moving to DC to teach like she'd planned because I didn't want her getting screwed in Rhee's political football game. With Gray taking over, I feel good teachers like her will have an ally. Make no mistake, she and I are more than happy to see the bad ones axed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My best friend is a young teacher who is going into further debt for a Math degree because of her passion to get her middle school students up to speed. She spends her own money all the time buying materials for class, getting personal calls from students who gave her hell for months but now trust her enough to confide about problems at home (incest, abuse, abandonment). She loves working with the most challenging students and her passion is supported in NY by the administration at her school. I told her last year to PAUSE on moving to DC to teach like she'd planned because I didn't want her getting screwed in Rhee's political football game. With Gray taking over, I feel good teachers like her will have an ally. Make no mistake, she and I are more than happy to see the bad ones axed.

Love hearing about your friend, pp! Great to hear she is in the classroom!

[Anonymous]

I am highly qualified teacher in DC that is delighted to see her go...Good teachers who can do better than dc like myself would eventually leave DC had she stayed......she has no respect for the profession and has done a lot to anger all good teachers in DC.