A New Regents Chancellor

Betty A. Rosa has been elected NY Regents Chancellor, and she's been quoted saying if she had school age kids, she's opt them out of testing. I love this column in the NY Post predicting it's the end of Western Civilization. It's like it's written by a 12-year-old. Reforminess is finished, it says. The teacher unions have taken over and they're gonna ruin everything. No more judging teachers on tests, it says.

You gotta love a publication that finds writers with no ties whatsoever to reality and has them say whatever they want whenever they want. One apparent voice of reason infects their power structure and it's the end of the world. They print an article as well thought out as the rants of a child demanding candy at the supermarket and present it as state of the art. In fact, the article even admits that all the nonsense perpetrated by Bloomberg produced little in the way of results, and by results I mean the increased test scores that appear to be the only thing this writer values.

I'm very happy that someone who appears not to be insane has been appointed to a position of power, but I'm afraid I can't accept the position that Cuomo has bent to popular demand. Cuomo doesn't give a damn about popular demand except as it impacts perception. That's why he initiated rules that appear to give ground on his awful education law but in fact do not. Most of us are still judged by the same invalid test scores as before, and kids are still taking the same rigged tests whether they count or not. That they have more time to spend on testing is not precisely a victory.

Now I hope that Betty Rosa is able to affect positive changes, but there is a power structure in place, headed by Andrew Cuomo, that is owned lock, stock and barrel by his reformy campaign contributors. On the positive side, the opt-out crowd has not been snookered by Cuomo's superficial moves.

I hope the Post writer really believes all the nonsense he wrote, but whether or not that's true, some of his readers will buy it. We have a country of people willing to believe that a man who paints his name on skyscrapers and planes is a man of the people. In an environment like that, juvenile rantings passing as op-eds are not precisely a hard sell.

I hope Rosa will be able to change the discourse and direction of education and I wish her all the best. In a time when good news is rare, this is a ray of light. Let's enjoy the good news, but let's not kid ourselves that a scumbag like Andrew Cuomo can change his stripes unless his owners change theirs. The NY Post article is a pretty clear indicator they've done no such thing.