The Committee On Education and Labor had a hearing on July 17th on Mayor and Superintendent Partnerships In Education: Closing The Achievement Gap. They had Bloomberg, Rhee, Klein and some other folks. If you care to watch the hours long fiasco, go ahead. What you need to know is that this is the beginning of the end of the beginning of the dismantling of teacher unions, and the pay for performance future we are in for in education.
You should watch the thing, or at least check out the PDFs above of each makher. It is the opposite of what we need, and they are being praised.
Michelle Rhee is the one to fast forward to. You don't even have to hear the question she is answering. She, in one breath, says it will be years after she is gone that her effects will be seen. In the next breath she touts her amazing (they are amazing. they amaze me, like magic amazes me.) successes from being at the helm for a whole year!
She goes on to talk about how to hire good teachers. She says find the ones who believe they can do it even in the face of adversity. Yep. That's how you hire good ones. Find believers!
I hate Michelle Rhee, I think. She blames teachers, unions, and school boards. And she doesn't just blame them, she condescends. She tries to humiliate them. And she is the face of Education Reform. She is education's FDR. Our Larry Bird and Magic Johnson of Education. She, my friends, is worse than Hitler (well, not really).
It is time to write letters to congressmen and shit. It is time to run for school board. It is time. Time. time.