Click photo to make Mayor Mike bigger and angrier (Photo Rudy Washington/New York Times)Backed by a small company of loyal profiteer and privatizer foot soldiers, an angry Mayor Mike fired off a few rounds yesterday in the direction of the terrorists, er, children haters who do not agree with his plan to create charter school chain gangs for the urban poor to be trained and stupidified into accepting their oppression.
To suggest that those who don't agree with his war on the public schools are disloyal to children only shows that Mayor Mike is more like Bush than anyone ever thought--which, indeed, could signal a can-you-be-serious run for the White House. Here is another Bush quote that Mayor Mike may find entirely appropriate: "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it."
From the Times:
. . . . While the mayor suggested that the gathering yesterday was evidence of a groundswell of support for his agenda, the group was composed of many people who also have business dealings with the school system, including two former Education Department officials, leaders of nonprofit organizations that are helping to run schools and high-profile donors who have given millions to support the mayor’s work.
Mr. Bloomberg has come under increasing attack from parent groups, community advocates, elected officials and union leaders, urging him to halt his plans to reorganize the school bureaucracy. These plans include eliminating the city’s 10 instructional regions and adopting a new school budgeting system.
At yesterday’s news conference, the mayor lobbed attacks at these adversaries, saying they were selfishly defending the status quo. “You are either with the children, or you’re against them,” he said. Pushed to name his critics, the mayor singled out the teachers’ union. . . .
This is the mantra of those who wish to dismantle public schools and unions. "We're doing it for the children. Adults don't matter."
ReplyDeleteThat logic holds true only if you somehow forget that our children will grow up to become adults, and without unions, they're replaceable widgets with neither protections nor benefits.
Bloomberg's widely received credit for improving the system, but he's done little or nothing of consequence even for test scores, the only thing he seems to value. We still have the highest class size in the state and I still teach in a trailer behind the 250% capacity building which houses most of the school.