Where to Begin on Frank Bruni's Stupidity and Ignorance

Every time I see another stupid, clueless and poorly written NYT editorial on education, or having anything to do with education, I am saddened by the lack of journalistic integrity that was and should be a part of one of the nation's leading newspapers.

Frank Bruni really outdid himself today with this pile of garbage, titled "Are Kids Too Coddled" in his defense of Arne Duncan's same stupid and ignorant comments about the Common Core and white suburban moms.

First, Bruni talks about shirts kids wear after a Bar or Bat Mitzvah in a rich suburb of Boston. It's the same in all Jewish communities across the country, but has nothing to do with the Common Core. Linking the coddling and spoiling of children with a lot of "stuff" and extravagance is not connected in any way to telling these children who have no resources, no healthcare, parents in prison or addicted to drugs, that they are not as smart as they thought they were. The kids in the wealthy, leafy suburbs of Boston probably don't have much to worry about as the path to a higher education, graduate school and the privilege of connections is mostly likely paved with silver spoons.

“Our students have an inflated sense of their academic prowess,” wrote Marc Tucker, the president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, in Education Week. “They don’t expect to spend much time studying, but they confidently expect good grades and marketable degrees.”

From what I've seen, most kids are doing their homework and working to the point of exhaustion to compete in the world being created by the testing industrial complex that is sucking billions of dollars from every last place they can find. Meanwhile, 43 million children are still living in poverty and there's just no money to fix the public schools in places like Philadelphia, Newark, Camden, Detroit, and on an on.

David Coleman may have met his match as the Common Core descends on white suburban moms who have the power and the resources to fight back, and they have started. It's easy to pick on the low hanging fruit or the powerless and the oppressed. It's another thing to start ruining the lives and the school days of the children white suburbia.

David Coleman, one of the principal architects of the Common Core, told me that he’s all for self-esteem, but that rigorous standards “redefine self-esteem as something achieved through hard work.”

“Students will not enjoy every step of it,” he added. But if it takes them somewhere big and real, they’ll discover a satisfaction that redeems the sweat.

And they’ll be ready to compete globally, an ability that too much worry over their egos could hinder. As Tucker observed, “While American parents are pulling their kids out of tests because the results make the kids feel bad, parents in other countries are looking at the results and asking themselves how they can help their children do better.”

Then we come to the same old regurgitated press releases about "competing in the global economy." 

And they’ll be ready to compete globally, an ability that too much worry over their egos could hinder. As Tucker observed, “While American parents are pulling their kids out of tests because the results make the kids feel bad, parents in other countries are looking at the results and asking themselves how they can help their children do better.”

This editorial is nothing but a piece of garbage.

I'll put it under m cats' food bowls and use it for something valuable.

Can't they get some intelligent education writers at the NYT?

Or are the NYT editorial writers too coddled?