Obama and Education Reform - What does history suggest? (Madison Speech)

[WhiskeyGirl]

I remember reading last year about the Bill Ayers / Obama connection.  I remember reading about Obama being part of a team that doled out money for school experimentation, and that the experimentaiton didn't really work that well.

I googled and found this article.  It talks about the kind of reforms that were funded.  Are any reforms/experimentation going to make test scores go up?  Help America's children do better in the global marketplace?

Obama and Ayers Pushed Radicalism On Schools”

By STANLEY KURTZ
Despite having authored two autobiographies, Barack Obama has never written about his most important executive experience. From 1995 to 1999, he led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), and remained on the board until 2001. The group poured more than $100 million into the hands of community organizers and radical education activists.

The CAC was the brainchild of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground in the 1960s. Among other feats, Mr. Ayers and his cohorts bombed the Pentagon, and he has never expressed regret for his actions.

There are people who build great nations…and others who destroy them.

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created ostensibly to improve Chicago's public schools. The funding came from a national education initiative by Ambassador Walter Annenberg….

One unsettled question is how Mr. Obama, a former community organizer fresh out of law school, could vault to the top of a new foundation?…

The CAC's agenda flowed from Mr. Ayers's educational philosophy, which called for infusing students and their parents with a radical political commitment, and which downplayed achievement tests in favor of activism...

In works like "City Kids, City Teachers" and "Teaching the Personal and the Political," Mr. Ayers wrote that teachers should be community organizers dedicated to provoking resistance to American racism and oppression. His preferred alternative? "I'm a radical, Leftist, small 'c' communist," Mr. Ayers said in an interview in Ron Chepesiuk's, "Sixties Radicals," at about the same time Mr. Ayers was forming CAC.

CAC translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice. Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with "external partners," which actually got the money. Proposals from groups focused on math/science achievement were turned down. Instead CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or Acorn).

Is this the future of American schools?  More fluff?  Did all these grants make the schools in Cleveland or Chicago better?  Raise test scores for these students?

CAC also funded programs designed to promote "leadership" among parents. Ostensibly this was to enable parents to advocate on behalf of their children's education. In practice, it meant funding Mr. Obama's alma mater, the Developing Communities Project, to recruit parents to its overall political agenda. CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents "organized" by community groups might be viewed by school principals "as a political threat."

Read more here – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html

Mr. Obama’s recent speech at a school in Madison Wisconsin, raises some questions - my paraphrase and summaries. 

Mr. Obama talked at great lengths about the Government giving away money/grants to schools for new programs.  WHAT kind of programs?  Enhancing math and science programs?  Or radical agendas?

He made a point of telling/suggesting to the crowd that ‘smart’ schools/states/communities were already receiving money.  He also told the crowd that some schools/states/communities had errected ‘firewalls’ that failed to link teachers jobs to student learning.  This prevents the teachers perceived to be bad from being replaced, by teachers from Obama’s future educator army.

Are Chicago Public  Schools a model for the nation?  A model for the nation?  Does it show in Chicago’s test scores?

How have those alternative routes to a teaching certificates worked in Chicago?  Was all that Annenberg money put to good use?  A model for the nation?

I recall that Obama has some innovative new routes to teaching certificates in mind.  There are any number of programs that are already in practice today. 

What make’s Obama’s better?  Just an opportunity to weed out those with different ideological values?

What about the responsibility of parents?  In some schools, from my reading, they provive three meals to students.  Back in the day, there was a school 'lunch' only.  Later, they added breakfast, and today it's three a day. 

Don't these parents have responsibility for preparing their children for school?  I would imagine that some even get public money in the form of Food Share to feed their families.

When will Mr. Obama hold American's parents responsible for preparing their children for school? 

When will these parents face sanctions?  (think about the news stories about 'back to school' grants for low income people - iirc, the gift cards went to purchase things like flat screen TVs.)

No sanctions for failing parents, just send them another $1,000 gift card...

[WhiskeyGirl]

"Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics" - the case for real numbers and not government rule/spending/preference based on statistics and statistical disparities.

Mr. Obama also went on about educational disparities affecting children of color.  Why isn't he concerned with all children?

I saw someone on TV comment, that by numbers, not statistics, there are more poor whites/non-minority people in America than poor minorities.

Why does it seem that Obama only works to better the lives of minorities and people of color?  Aren't there more disadvantaged white folks?  Why not work to make society better for everyone?

What’s wrong with a color blind society?  One that doesn’t base your access to education, healthcare or housing on color, race, ethnic, or any other political manipulation called a ‘disparity’?

Mr. Obama told the crowd that children of color are part of the future workforce too, and they need help.  Don’t all children need help if they are disadvantaged?   Should the color of one’s skin matter?

I’m sure it’s not a case of Barack being against the non-minorities…The Obama Administration is just 'for' the minorities, people of color, and those politically identified.

Mr. Obama was once associated with the Gamaliel organization.

From their website –

Work, Our Response to God
In creating a good world, God also created human beings to continue this good work.  Work is an integral part of our response to God’s call.  By working with integrity and responsibility toward all our neighbors and all creation and by treating other workers and ourselves with respect, compassion, fairness, and gratitude we engage in work that is pleasing to God.

Are Barack’s racial, ethnic, and political manipulations in education, healthcare, and housing pleasing to God?

We affirm equal opportunity for all and abhor all forms of injustice flowing from racism, poverty, and intolerance. As people with faith in a good and just God, we proclaim the values of shared abundance, sacred community, unrelenting hope, equal opportunity and justice.

It seems to me, we are less equal since Obama took office.  I’m sure he’s not against any group; he’s just for those groups including minorities, people of color, and other political favorites.

Segregation and racism are primary and driving forces inside American politics, culture and society.  Racism fuels the current injustice and the current political reality we experience every day. Racism is masked and concealed inside a system of spatial segregation. Racism ultimately says that not only am I not my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, but that they are not my brothers and my sisters.

The shooter in Texas, did he see his victims as brothers and sisters?  What price was paid by all those he killed and injured?  I'm sure he wasn't 'against' those in Texas, he was just 'for' all these others...

Read more here – http://www.gamaliel.org/Platform.htm


It seems like the Obama Administration seeks to segregate Americans with regard to access to education, healthcare, housing, and income (to name a few things) based on race, ethnic, and political favoritism.

Where is the justice?  Treating everyone the same?  What happened to “we’re all in this together”?

Why isn’t everyone given equal and fair access to education?  Healthcare?

Why create an unjust and discriminatory society?  Government?

For all the words of Mr. Obama, it seems like more and more he is president to only some people in this nation. 

What are his plans for those left behind?  Those directed to the back of Obama’s bus?

[WhiskeyGirl]

How many of Obama's children of color are from immigrant families?  How many are poor?  Are these children of color somehow more valuable than the poor children that happen to be white?

Why not help ALL disadvantaged children?  Why usher in a new racism?  A new segregation?