The first thing I saw when I checked my mail after a week away was a campaign flyer for Mayor Money Bags with a big box giving his progress report.
* Math scores up 42 percentage points--no one in their right minds would believe gains this high are possible. Ask any math teacher and you will see how little the kids actually know. Walk into any freshman math class in college and see how ill prepared the students are to take the class they are in. Recall that a passing grade on the Math A regents is the equivalent of knowing 33% of the material.
* Reading scores up 28 percentage points--again an unrealistic statistic made possible only by easy exams with very low raw scores needed to pass.
* Graduation rates up 15 percentage points--no argument here. Credit recovery and boot camps are pushing them all out. Under Bloomberg the slam-bam-thank you mam education system has become a reality.
* Crime in schools down 44 percent--see what happens when incidents go unreported, the safety rates go up.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I get so angry when I read things like:
Mike Bloomberg: MAKING PROGRESS IN OUR SCHOOLS. The flyer quotes a parent saying how his kids are better prepared for college because they are getting extra attention and encouragement from their teachers. I must be missing this. With class sizes of 34 and teacher assignments 6 out of 8 periods every day, where exactly does this parent think his kids are getting all these extras from? The teachers I know and work with don't have the time they want and need to devote to all their students. Another parent said that her child's teachers are always accessible. Funny, that same 6 out of 8 period a day program does not leave much time for accessibility to parents either. A parent even states that the mayor is fixing NYC schools to keep the middle class here. He's fixing the schools by closing down schools that work and by giving much needed space to charter schools?
I just read that the Naked Cowboy is running for mayor. He can't know any less about running a school system than Bloomberg and he does look hot in those tighty whities he wears so I am giving him my vote.
* Math scores up 42 percentage points--no one in their right minds would believe gains this high are possible. Ask any math teacher and you will see how little the kids actually know. Walk into any freshman math class in college and see how ill prepared the students are to take the class they are in. Recall that a passing grade on the Math A regents is the equivalent of knowing 33% of the material.
* Reading scores up 28 percentage points--again an unrealistic statistic made possible only by easy exams with very low raw scores needed to pass.
* Graduation rates up 15 percentage points--no argument here. Credit recovery and boot camps are pushing them all out. Under Bloomberg the slam-bam-thank you mam education system has become a reality.
* Crime in schools down 44 percent--see what happens when incidents go unreported, the safety rates go up.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I get so angry when I read things like:
Mike Bloomberg: MAKING PROGRESS IN OUR SCHOOLS. The flyer quotes a parent saying how his kids are better prepared for college because they are getting extra attention and encouragement from their teachers. I must be missing this. With class sizes of 34 and teacher assignments 6 out of 8 periods every day, where exactly does this parent think his kids are getting all these extras from? The teachers I know and work with don't have the time they want and need to devote to all their students. Another parent said that her child's teachers are always accessible. Funny, that same 6 out of 8 period a day program does not leave much time for accessibility to parents either. A parent even states that the mayor is fixing NYC schools to keep the middle class here. He's fixing the schools by closing down schools that work and by giving much needed space to charter schools?
I just read that the Naked Cowboy is running for mayor. He can't know any less about running a school system than Bloomberg and he does look hot in those tighty whities he wears so I am giving him my vote.
7 comments:
The Naked Cowboy gets my vote and whatever else he wants from me......maybe some tutoring? {:>)
Why not Rev. Billy?
http://www.voterevbilly.org/
Bloomy looks more like a boxers guy...down to his knees, with garters and sandals.
Although I agree with much of your critique of Mayor Bloomberg (i.e. testing), I do think he has made the schools a safer place. There is discipline in my school, and the administration is backed up when punishing a student. The few years I worked in the city schools under Guiliani were a nightmare. Students running in the hallway during classes, coming and going when they felt like it, etc.
I'm glad you have had a positive experience. Under Bloomberg, all I have seen is principals scrambling to get that bonus for improvement and that does not include reporting incidences. (At least that is what I saw under Suit, I have drawn no conclusions about how our new principal will react to problems.)
Yup been pretty positive in regards to school discipline. My principal doesn't hesitate to report incidents and doesn't tell us to either. (I am a dean in my school). Just for FYI sake, I also teach in a rather large HS in Queens. Not one of the small schools.
Naked Cowboy For Mayor Rocks.
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