Play by the Rules

So says the New York Post, which seems to make the rules up as it goes along.  The Post supports every "reform" that comes down the pike.  They applaud when schools close, and never, ever question why.  They do cartwheels when public schools are replaced by charters.  Yet they're shocked, shocked when they find that credit recovery programs are shams designed to make students pass by any means necessary.

The Post, which applauded while GW Bush cheated, lied and drove the country into the dirt, has no patience for public schools that don't want to close.  They can't wait to make room for new schools with disposable McTeachers.

The test-prep factories that the Bill Gates/ Wal-Mart coalition is spawning are fine.  The non-union charters are fabulous.  The only problem, apparently, is that some unreasonable public school principals are unwilling to just lie down and die.  This is troubling to Gates and Wal-Mart, who need to save the world by supplanting public schools with non-union charters ASAP. 

It's unfortunate that billionaires who know nothing about education, including ultra-right wing Post publisher Rupert Murdoch, are the dominant forces in education today.  It's disgraceful that faux-Democrats like Barack Obama are eager to do whatever the billionaires request, and have no interest in representing the people who put them in office.   Of course I expect one-sided, shallow nonsense from the Post, and they rarely disappoint.

But these stories are the inevitable consequences of the test-prep, do or die frenzy that's gripped the nation.  Any thoughtful person can see that such incidents will multiply rapidly as the Gates/ Wal-Mart/ New York Post crowd make their imprint on education.

That's just one reason we should drop this nonsense and go back to teaching children.