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Mark,

I never said Ruben was himself powerful, and if you read my comment carefully, you would have seen that I said the issue is not about him, but rather the fact that someone like him, who is part of the echo chamber of fallacious ed deform premises and assertions, is given a prominent platform on this site. The insidiousness is compounded by these premises being promoted by “bright, energetic new teachers.” Clearly, only awful people who don’t care about kids could oppose that.

For example, as of this moment, one third of the current Community posts are by Brosbe. Did you ever consider why he is given such prominence? Before I’m accused of being paranoid, I’m not suggesting any kind of dark conspiracy, but rather the more mundane pattern of conventional wisdom reproducing itself, even when it’s  flat-out wrong. As Edward Bernays, the founder of modern public relations said, it’s all about manufacturing consent.

As for respect, I find find E4E’s unsupported assertions that new teachers are somehow more effective than seasoned teachers to be disrespectful. I find Evan Stone’s comments that he and his group represent the “authentic” voice of teachers to be disrespectful. And I find their use of stealth funding to be disrespectful. Yet somehow, those views are reported uncritically on this site, while criticism of them, their agenda and the interests bankrolling it – which is what I have attacked them for  - leaves the overseers of the site aghast.

In paragraph two of the piece we’re responding to, Gotham Schools has the unmitigated chutzpah to harumph about “deceptions” by commenters, when it has refused to publicly address the ethical issues related to Brosbe’s deception regarding his stealth membership in E4E. Talk about pots and kettles! Then again, history shows that transgressions by media figures whose work comforts and validates the views of the powerful are treated very differently than those who are in opposition. For examples of that, take a look at the very different way in which Keith Olberman and George Will have been treated by their respective managements.

As for my reference to the civil rights movement, I see the fight against the hostile takeover of the public schools as a civil rights and social justice issue, and just as people fighting Jim Crow were accused and marginalized by accusations of their “incivility,” so too are people marginalized by the media echo chamber on education. Keep repeating the same Big Lie – public education has failed, teachers and their unions are at fault for the problems students face, effective teaching and schools can be measured by high stakes exams, turning over  the schools to private interests will help students, etc. – and shutting out opposing views, and people have a tendency to get upset, especially when those attacks are accompanied by efforts to fire people arbitrarily and reduce their benefits.

Again, why am I the S.O.B. when I defend myself against attacks, whether or not those attacks are coming from people who spuriously claim that all they care about is “the kids,” people who are so good at teaching, so passionate, so committed that they… stopped doing it before they even received the tenure they claim is too easy to get.

Sorry, but things are as bad as they are because too many people are willing to participate in the collective deception and fraud that benefits the few at the expense of the many. If pointing that with passion out is uncivil, then so be it.

Call for civility and other interesting arguments here  is whetting the appetite of Trolls round here. Can you hear the silent drumming down the halls of the Mines of Moria?

I hope I am not being accused of trollhood. I am indeed the parent of a student at Brooklyn Technical High School. We live in Brooklyn, in District 13, and my daughter was fortunate to attend elementary and middle school in District 2. I read the Gothamschools post and thought, hmm, not a bad idea to discuss. I read GS comments from time to time, and as a parent, I can see that you guys are really angry. I understand that, but what it looks like to me is that you are talking to yourselves, rather than engaging in discussion that can reveal what’s wrong in the Land of Tweed–which is plenty, in my humble opinion.

rf, I don’t think the troll comment was directed at you. Re: your comments “If you want to participate in the education and enlightenment of other citizens, including parents, about what you are dealing with as teachers in the NYC public school system, the current climate of comments is not going to help.” I believe that many of the people above work very hard to educate the public about the real conditions of the NYC school system. I think in response to Mark above my comments in parentheses listed pretty much the major issues with the NYC system. Those who are in opposition to teachers and unions have far more resources to get their message out (like newspapers, media, gigantic fortunes). If you read through the posts above and on other threads you can see quite a lot of info being dished out about grade inflation, principals and DOE stifling creativity and progress, money wasted etc. by teachers who work in the belly of the beast. Sorry, but the experience you have as a parent in a specialized HS are not typical (I think you recognized that as such above) – look back a few years at the Principal @ Tech forced out by the UFT expose by Jim Callaghan, the Iris Blige story, the last few Principals at Lehman in the Bronx, those are more typical. I have spent many days, afternoons, nights, and yes, weekends where I am away from my family to work with the parents and students at my school, to attend rallies in support of parents and students, visiting Albany and Washington to do so, emailing, writing and calling and sending letters to inform people about what is going on. If I and others want to comment on a few policies at this blog that I think are wrong headed and favor factions in education that would IMO destroy the system, and we are a little too passionate or a little too sick and tired of being dumped on by bought off quislings among my UFT brothers, the major daily papers, the President, the the Mayor, his rich pals, his ed. sec., and the solution to all problems in this country would be if I worked as a barefoot missionary with little salary, pension or benefits, and that if I just worked a little harder there would be no more problems in Urban America, pardon me and some of the others for not appreciating being scapegoated unfairly, and seeing this meme spread about everywhere. I challenge you to stay positive all the time in a work environment where you and your career have been under assault for years, most unjustly. Try to be a little more fair in your assessment of teachers, and walk a mile in their shoes.