tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post3675082334933371819..comments2024-03-28T19:47:39.985-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Howard Fuller, Ed Reform, and New OrleansPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-45788961386168829972016-03-08T18:23:57.157-05:002016-03-08T18:23:57.157-05:00Read again. First, you've confused my voice wi...Read again. First, you've confused my voice with Fuller's. I suggest you listen to the podcast to get the full sense of what he's saying. Second, the portion that you quote says that apparently good results aren't enough because without local support, they are unsustainable and therefore not a real solution.Peter Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-4727372143470476022016-03-08T15:36:01.714-05:002016-03-08T15:36:01.714-05:00Perhaps unintentionally, but Greene provides the r...Perhaps unintentionally, but Greene provides the real crux of the matter regarding educational reformer vs critics. He does so in the narrow context of New Orleans and its black population but it really is more broad than this.<br /><br />"Fuller asserts that some students are now far better off than before, and many are not. But even if there are good outcomes from the complete charterization of NOLA, if African-Americans have not had a significant role, and if this is all more disempowerment of blacks in the community, the reform is a fail. It is unsustainable, because there is no broad support in the black community."<br /><br />The key sentence is the second one. He states that even if there are good outcomes from charterization, he still thinks that it's a failure if there is not local "buy-in" (in this case, blacks in New Orleans accepting the reforms). <br /><br />After Brown v. Board of Ed ruled "separate but equal" illegal, there was very significant resistance to the "educational reform" of the day (compulsory education). This was visceral and wide spread - from Senator Byrd in VA to Gov Wallace at the Univ of Alabama. But integration continued because government discriminating on the basis of race is wrong. <br /><br />Of course, I do not defend state sanctioned racial segregation. I deplore it. But the calculator in Greene's head is clear. If the status quo (blacks or teachers unions) are against such "educational reform" ... even if such reforms result in "good outcomes", then they should be rejected. <br /><br />This calculation which requires acceptance by the entrenched locals over merit for those served by education is as wrong now as it was in the 1960's. alanbackmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16174033131550945945noreply@blogger.com