Here to Help

Our online colleague, Dick Shutz,  posted the attached on EDDRA2, a group originally developed by the late Jerry Bracey.  He has given his permission to publish it here.  Enjoy!

Here to Help

Hi Teach, meat me  (or do you spell that, meet mee?)  But, heck, this isn’t about me or about spelling;  it’s about our kids’ future and about ensuring the country remains internationally competitive.

I’m an Education Venture Capitalist, and I’m here to help.  I’ll give it to you straight up; I want to Partner with you.  We can’t have a civil marriage; it would be illegal.  But we can hook up, bi-educationally, or whatever.  My billionaire friends and I are Partnering to beat the band.  We’ve done a leveraged buyout of the US Department of Education and the major school districts in the country.    And we’ve seduced  the governors and chief state school officers to front the construction of national standards. The standards were pimped out for us by the College Board and ACT–Common Core Standards–they’re called.  Yeah, common is right and they’re rotten to the core, but who notices.  No one looks at the standards.   The only thing that matters is that they’re rigorous and that they set the bar at a high level.

But I digress; back to our Partnership.

As my Partner, you’ll have complete freedom to teach however you like.   After all, you’re the most important “variable” in the education equation.   All you and your colleagues have to do is be accountable and teach all of the standards, to all of the kids, all of the time.    What’s more, we’ll give you standardized tests that will allow you to show everyone that you’re “doing it.”    Since you’re highly qualified, it will be a piece of cake.

We’ve told people that our “Reforms”  (note the ”  ”) will get all kids graduating from high school college or career ready–by 2020.   We’ve said ”career-ready” with a straight face, which was tough do.  With unemployment and the job outlook being what it is, and the job outlook being what it will be, we were afraid people would laugh.  But guess what?  The states couldn’t have been more eager to compete with each other in racing to the top.  “Race to the Top!”  Can you believe that laugher?  Well, President Obama did, and the media did.

By 2020, who knows?  That will be then, this is now.   What say, Partner?   You on board?  Deal?  Um, where shall we meet for our first hook up?  Wall Street, K Street, or Main Street?  My friends and I own them all, so it’s your choice, Partner.

Dick Schutz