tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post5509839243675819530..comments2024-03-27T08:53:29.267-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: The Atlanta CheatersPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-74643477923978414852015-04-03T21:16:14.533-04:002015-04-03T21:16:14.533-04:00"It's the kind of lying that prolongs the..."It's the kind of lying that prolongs the existence of a flawed system. So I think arguing that their was victimless is a tough job."<br /><br />Fair enough and good point. But I think we're in agreement that the BS Tests are, well, BS, so I guess I can't get that riled up when the scores are gamed, especially by teachers trying to preserve their jobs and, perhaps, their schools, even more especially when politicians and other powers that be game the scores all the time and it's perfectly legal for them.Diennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570040547158789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-27747177473500295692015-04-03T19:39:13.865-04:002015-04-03T19:39:13.865-04:00Peter - this offers brilliant insights. Your sugge...Peter - this offers brilliant insights. Your suggestion is appropriately provocative that they appear, after all, to have done this this from dedication to survive for their communities and to try to make sure the work they were doing didn't stop.<br /><br />That's the risk in ALL metrics based endeavors - whether private sector or public: When the stakes of missing the metrics become too high, people start to game the system and cheat. <br /><br />In corporations we see it EVERYWHERE. And, in addition to the thousands of brilliant corporate managers, there are thousands upon thousands who maintain their jobs simply by making sure they hit metrics - not by doing the thing that returns great profit for their companies.<br /><br />Ed Deming (quality control statistics expert) observed that companies shouldn't be managed by metrics - because that turned companies into perfect metric machines that go bankrupt. Because metrics are only an indicator - they don't tell the whole story.<br /><br />Sigh...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-32523082264592643672015-04-03T12:29:16.138-04:002015-04-03T12:29:16.138-04:00Gah-- let me try again. The Very Bad Thing line wa...Gah-- let me try again. The Very Bad Thing line was offered as a summation of what the coverage has said so far. I don't entirely disagree with it-- they falsified the records of students and provided lots of "success" press fodder for reformsters, thereby aiding the fiction that the system was working great. How many districts operated under even more weight because "Parks can do it-- what's wrong with you?" It's the kind of lying that prolongs the existence of a flawed system. So I think arguing that their was victimless is a tough job.<br /><br />That said, the sentence was over the top and bizarre in the extreme. That was just out of line and the "take them to jail now" business was just unnecessarily unkind.Peter Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-15726705106861918782015-04-03T12:24:42.935-04:002015-04-03T12:24:42.935-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Peter Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-31982385138483190512015-04-03T12:21:57.515-04:002015-04-03T12:21:57.515-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Peter Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-31790750419581296352015-04-03T11:32:22.199-04:002015-04-03T11:32:22.199-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Diennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570040547158789834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-34405782782871865032015-04-03T11:26:54.350-04:002015-04-03T11:26:54.350-04:00I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I&...I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm rather tired of the obligatory acknowledgement that the cheaters did a "Very Bad Thing". You yourself acknowledge that you can't answer the question: "What is the moral response to an immoral system?" yet you feel okay about condemning the people who did have to answer that question? You your self admit that, at least for Park Middle, they did it to save the school and the little success they had achieved. How is that different than, "No, Herr Officer, I don't know where the Frank family is hiding."? <br /><br />If you're a moral absolutist, yes, you have to condemn all cheaters. But then, you also have to condemn all the citizens that hid the Jews during the Holocaust because they all lived a lie. But if you allow for moral relativism, the question becomes, who was harmed by what they did? Other then themselves, I can't answer that question.<br /><br />And do you really think they deserve their punishment? 10 years in jail, more than most rapists and woman beaters get?Diennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04570040547158789834noreply@blogger.com