Arne Duncan may well be the most detested man in educational history. He has ruined education for American children. The fallout will last for years. He is a friend of the president. Playing basketball earns him the title of the head of the nation’s children. He has no experience as an educator. He is a farce, and the children of the United States have suffered and will continue to do so for years from his arrogant ignorance. Yet, he is still in power. But, for how long?
What do you know about him?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Duncan.
When will his reign of terror end? The
Arne Duncan is an idiot. Lets face it, the American public is tired and done with this one ed reform man show. It has been nothing short of a fiasco. His legacy? Duncanisms….
“White suburban mom” ring a bell?!!! Open mouth insert foot….Duncan sure proves that he is out of touch with reality time and time again.
Gary Rubenstein writes:
“I am always baffled the way that Arne Duncan finds new ways to demonstrate how unqualified he is for any job in education, let alone U.S. Secretary of Education. In this post, I’ll present six of my favorite examples.
“I see extraordinary schools where 95 percent of children live below the poverty line, where 95 percent are graduating, and 90 percent of those who graduate are going on to college.“
This is from the September 2009 NEA Today magazine, in which Duncan attempts to answer questions from teachers. Since then, the claims of the 90-90-90 schools (or 95-95-90 schools, in this case) have been challenged so much that we rarely hear about them anymore. But Duncan didn’t just hear about them, but he apparently saw them with his own eyes.
“The vast majority who drop out of high school drop out not because it’s too hard but because it’s too easy.”
This was said in a television interview on October 31st 2013. The sad thing is that he really believes this.
“if we had 95,000 good principals, we’d be done.”
This was in a Newsweek interview on January 30th 2011. This is notable since it goes against the reformer mantra that teacher quality is the most important in-school factor. This is the only time I’ve seen him admit that other in-school factors are very important, though he overstates this, for sure, saying that we’d be ‘done.’ Basically, he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to think.
“Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who are proving her wrong every day.”
This is from an article by Jonathan Alter on June 3rd, 2011, two days after the publication of Ravitch’s influential ‘miracle school’ New York Times op-ed, which I’m proud to have helped her research. Meanwhile, teachers who are aware of Ravitch revere her and flock to see her when speaks in their cities.
Is his point that class size does not matter, as he has said in the past? 110 kids in a room, and this picture of them stuffed in with no notebooks or seats or anything, is something to be angry about, not to celebrate because they are quiet when the teacher speaks. The absurdity of his tweet is so tragic that it is almost funny.
“I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina.”
This is an old favorite from an interview on January 30, 2010, and needs no analysis.
http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org/2013/11/08/the-lack-of-wit-and-lack-of-wisdom-of-arne-duncan/
“The former head of the Chicago public school system, Duncan told parents that there is a sense of complacency regarding education in the United States, but also a lack Duncan said, but also a lack of action by politicians.
“Both South Korean and U.S. citizens believe that the caliber of teacher matters tremendously, and the great teachers make a huge difference in children’s lives,” Duncan said. “The difference is: they act on their belief. We don’t. We talk the talk, and they walk the walk.”
While teachers in America often come from the bottom of the academic barrel and are disproportionately teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds, Duncan said, teachers in South Korea are selected from the top of the class and are rewarded for working with low-income students.
Out one side of his mouth Arne Duncan warned officials not to retreat from the goals of No Child Left Behind. He supports the privatization agenda, a testing regime that ties student achievement to teacher accountability and his pride and joy – the common core.
Apparently, a year ago, Secretary Arne Duncan introduced an effort to get teachers from the bottom of the barrel to the top his program “Teach to Lead” which debuted at the 2014 National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Teaching & Learning Conference. What a guy!
In March 2015, Arne Duncan praised and congratulated the amazing Nancie Atwell for winning the first Nobel Prize for Teaching vis a vis Global #TeacherPrize.
“Thank you for teaching our kids so well” Duncan gushed.
What he did not expect, I suspect, was the depth and bold honesty that Atwell would express in accepting this award and discussing present day education policies implemented by Duncan et al and the profession that supports those methodologies.
When asked about the spirit of teaching and what advice she would give teachers, Atwell provided some strikingly honest but sage advice.
She said:
“Honestly, I encourage them to look at the private sector becuase public school teachers are so constrained right now by the common core standards and the tests developed to monitor what teachers are doing with them. Its a movement that turns teachers into technicians not reflective practitioners and if you are a creative smart person, this is not the time to go into teaching. That is sad…”
http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/03/17/bts-nancie-atwell-teaching-award-million-dollars.cnn
Speaks volumes.
By the way, Atwell is donating the $1million award she recieved to her school. The reason? The school does not have what it needs (from the government) to continue to operate safely and to support her students, so Atwell plans to provide for them instead.
Great job, Arne.
We are so done with you.
Duncan went to Haiti where the schools have no toilets or walls and promised them that adopting common core was the answer to their problems. This is the kind of stupid he represents. And what he has done to the special needs community is an outrage.
Christine Zirkelbach from Hudson Valley Against Common Core advocacy group shares:
“He repeatedly talks about how “We know that students with disabilities can achieve with high standards,” but when questioned about how this will be implemented, Duncan responds with a slack jawed expression and more sound bites. This clip, with Senator Cassidy questioning him on training for teachers on how to recognize and address dyslexic children in the classroom is especially noteworthy because the Senator informed Duncan the day before that this would be a line of questioning and Duncan still could not string together a coherent answer.”
The nation wants him gone. His kids don’t suffer with common core.
Here is a compilation of articles that clearly states how the American public feels about Duncan.
Read here:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/10/arne-duncan-loves-common-core-for-your-kids-but-not-his/
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/arne-duncans-children-were-never-exposed-to-common-core/
http://madworldnews.com/champion-common-core/.
This is an excellent read.
“So the biggest tragedy of Arne Duncan is not only the millions of students and families ill-served under his tenure but the millions that will likely be ill-served in the future because it looks like his self-righteous, narrow-minded zeal will leave the federal government’s role in education marginalized for the immediate and foreseeable future.
You would think people who work in Washington, D.C., would get that.”
He has ruined us. It will take decades to recover.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7761026?utm_hp_ref=tw
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/07/09/arne-duncan-era-has-not-been-good-students.
Where is any democratic process? Again the American public is saddled with someone with insufficient experience and a terrible agenda running the show. Against our will, this goes on and on and on. Anyone else wish he had just stayed on the basketball court? Show of hands….
(Anna Shah, @SOTHVNY / HVACC, contributed to this piece. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HudsonValleyAgainstCommonCore/ )
https://stopcommoncorenys.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/deformy-duncan-and-his-dastardly-agenda/
stopcommoncorenys 
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