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View Full Version : I just added a name to my list of "people to meet"


blueback
08-29-2008, 05:30 PM
Newsweek has an article (An Unlikely Gambler) about Michelle Rhee who sounds awesome. She is trying to reform the DC school system to replace the teacher's union with a plan that would reward excellent performance with 6 figure salaries. Also, I think she's an INTJ.

A few exerpts:

"Rhee warned [DC's mayor] that she was not politically correct and was sure to cause him political pain."

"She gives you this stare as if she's looking right through you. 'I'm listening but I'm not hearing you'"

"Rhee showed she was serious by firing more than 100 non-union central office workers, including administrators, and [1 in 4] principals."

"She may not be the warmest person...but she's got it totally together"

"If they are willing to go on 'probation' for a year - giving up their job security - and can successfully prove their talent, they can earn more than $100,000 a year and as much as $130,000...after five years. If not, they still get a generous 28 percent raise over five years and keep their tenure. (All new teachers must sign up for the first option and go on probation for four years)"

"In one meeting, according to Rhee's account, she told [the union president] 'Either we do this with you or we do this to you.' And then she challenged him by saying 'you don't have what it takes to pull this off.'"

"I believe this contract is going to pass', she told Newsweek 'and I believe it is going to have a huge impact.' But, she added, 'even if it didn't, it wouldn't stop me."

"It is hard to know how Rhee sustains her own pace. Three days a week she picks up her kids at 5:30 and stays with them until bedtime - then it's back to work until 1 or 2 am when their father...has the kids, she basically works 18 hour days."

"Rhee does not seem interested in the rituals of political nicety"

Colette
08-29-2008, 05:42 PM
Hehe. Unions do work well for workers in low paid industries (such as manufacturing, mining etc) where the employer is trying to squeeze as much productivity out by cutting corners on break times, leave conditions, safety requirements and so on. For these workers, individual bargaining power would get them absolutely nowhere. I think there's a place for unions, but where they exist in higher paid industries (such as, for example, junior hospital doctors), they can end up holding an employer to ransom, and they seem to occasionally lose sight of economic reality in their demands.

Karamazov
08-29-2008, 05:51 PM
I've read some articles as well. The D.C. school system is so dysfunctional that many people simply try to live with it as is. There have been individuals like Rhee ,who came out swinging and making changes but they ultimately became overburdened and acquiesced to the fact that there may never be a solution.

If she can do it, great. It would solve a lot of problems that have plagued D.C. inner cities for decades.

Monte314
08-29-2008, 07:38 PM
I'm not aware of any reliable way of measuring effectiveness in the classroom. In Florida we have an annual achievement test that rewards "successful" schools. The result? Better education?

No, curricula that "teach the test". In business we call that "cooking the books".

PHS Philip
08-29-2008, 07:41 PM
I'm not aware of any reliable way of measuring effectiveness in the classroom. In Florida we have an annual achievement test that rewards "successful" schools. The result? Better education?

No, curricula that "teach the test". In business we call that "cooking the books".

Completely true. One of the best teachers I've ever had was a terrible teacher from the perspective of the curriculum (RE: what's on The test). He spent the first 3 weeks of our Biology class on critical thinking. Our first project was debunking the pseudosceince of our choice. When we moved on to science, he tried to teach science, not just facts. He taught the methods of science. He tried to teach the beauty of science. Unfortunately, all of this takes time away from The Test, and none of this is on The Test, because it's hard to measure if a kid knows how science works, or how to think critically. That's the essence of science, but The Test brushes it aside, and science classes suffer.

(Sorry for going on a semi off topic mini rant)

redbaren
08-29-2008, 08:01 PM
I have had teachers that only focused on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Which since we did good on the Fcat she got promoted, but we did not learn any thing but the things you need to know on the test.

Motor Jax
08-30-2008, 03:15 PM
heh, i was one of the few that wouldn't conform...

then again, i moved around so much that i would hardly be in any one school in any one state for more than a couple of years anyways....

i guess for me, the Test never applied... i never was taught the Test, i don't know the Test...

all because i moved around so much growing up...


i have a profound love for history, math, and science though... so those were and have always been my biggest self-study areas...