Anyone who disagrees [with mayoral control] wasn’t paying attention to the tragedy taking place in NYC schools during the 70 & 80s.I don't claim to be an edu_scientist, like this guy does, but I was around in the 70's and 80's and saw first hand what went on in the schools.
There were plenty of kids in those days that could not read or write or do simple arithmetic and there are just as many of those kids around today. The big difference is that back then we didn't pretend they could pass algebra and chemistry and an English regents. We didn't give them tests with such low raw scores needed to pass that they all passed. What we did do was address the needs of the kids in with these deficits. There was plenty of federal money around to provide small classes in math and reading. I know, I taught groups of 15 kids and had a para in the room to help me. Not all the kids succeeded but there was a real individual plan for every child and every child got the help they needed. Most did not go on to college but when they graudated high school they had the skills they needed to succeed in the real world.
Holding the mayor or anyone else accountable for the shape of our schools only works if there are repurcussions for not being able to succeed. So far, I have seen none for this mayor.
Having Bloomberg in charge of our schools would be the equivalent of having me run his billion dollar company. We both know nothing about the areas we are supervising.
