Arne all excited that Obama and Christie agree so much on education.

In my mind Chris Christie of New Jersey is just plain rude, and he is especially obnoxious toward teachers. Arne's words here are an indication he has heard nothing teachers have said. He is ignoring those in education and pandering to the business world.

From the NJ Star Ledger:

Arne Duncan: Better education starts with best educators


Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesEducation Secretary Arne Duncan is pictured in this file photo. He spoke with Star-Ledger editorial page editor Tom Moran about school reform.



And he admits to spending hundreds of millions on standardized tests that are not so good because he doesn't want to "let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

I hate that term. For too long our party has used that "enemy of the good" foolishness as an excuse for doing things that are not proven to work. I despise that policy.



Diane Ravitch had more to say on this statement at her blog.

Arne Duncan says...



The very fact that Obama and Arne Duncan respect and agree with Christie on so much should sound some alarm bells. This is the man who among other things called a student an idiot and told him to shut up.

He called the nation's jobless "lazy examples of an entitlement mentality."

Chris Christie..the nation's jobless are lazy examples of an "entitlement mentality"



If this administration thinks they are showing bipartisanship with such agreement, they are so wrong. It is showing a lack of caring and understanding of what the right wing extremists are about in this country.

link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021085611#post1


.

First, there were a lot of nice things said about madfloridian on that thread, so thank you for that.

Two, I have gone to DU3 only about twice on my own. All the other times, it's been because a DU2 post has linked me to something in DU3, as your post did, whereupon I remember anew why I chose not to migrate.

I miss the old DU, but I will never find it at DU3. Or, for that matter, at this DU2, though I have found at this DU2 things to love.

DU of a year ago, though, it a friend who has gone forever.

Thank you for sharing. :)

And that's not even close to stating how awful he is.

ETA:

Just checked his wiki for the first time. A lawyer who grew up in the affluent area of Livingston.


Father an accountant. No mention of mom's profession, so maybe Dad did well enough to make this a one income family.

Wife an investment banker, who quit after 911 (She was at Cantor Fitzgerald, one of the lucky ones, I guess.)

The only elected office he held before Governor was freeholder of Morris County. Here is evertyhing Christie's wiki says about that:





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Christie



Seems as though he defamed his way to fame, to the extent that N.J. freeholders are famous.



As a lobbyist, he succeeded in keeping securities fraud out of New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act. Now, there's a proud moment.

He was an AG in the D of J and also sat on advisory committees for Ashcroft and Gonzo, which suggest to me that he was well connected politically in a way most New Jersey freeholders are not.

His career as D.A. in NJ was full of controversy too. I cannot quote much more without rule violations, but check out the sections of his wiki about (1)claims of misue of deferred prosecution agreements, (2)claims of partisan attacks and )3)claims of cell phone monitoring and entrapment.

I guess succeeding as D.A. is so much easier if you don't have scruples? And, from his success as D.A. he got to the Governor's office.

Of course, Governor Goldman Sachs Korzine did not help matters much. I've heard his campaign against Christie included a lot of fat jokes, which did not help him, but Goldman Sachs was poison in any 2008 election anyway. Christie won handily, even with a former Republican indie in the race.



have i mentioned how much I enjoy Mr. Google and Ms. Wiki?

And his boss keeps backing him.

You have to wonder how some of the ardent Obama choir would feel if something they have given their lives to were trashed and degraded by their guy. I mean suppose he were backing a reversal of Roe v Wade? Or suppose he were backing jim crow laws? If you spent forty years fighting for equality, mightn't those actions make you a little less enthusiastic? Well many of us have given our lives to improving schools and working to make the lives of all children better. This administration is pushing the very plans and programs that reagan started championing. Democrats used to fight that stuff. Now, too many cheer them because their guy backs them.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, historical perspective is a bummer.

They are his policies, and we would have fought him.

Teachers have become scapegoats, and parents and students are off the hook with any accountability whatsoever.

"If this administration thinks they are showing bipartisanship with such agreement, they are so wrong."

No, they think nothing of the kind. This is the Obama ideology, indistinguishable from the the one pushed by the GOP for the last thirty years.

back in April of '08, when he said, in that infamous FOX interview:





http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352785,00.html

As far as I'm concerned, he hasn't gotten into nearly enough trouble with teachers' unions over his education policies.

A few are, most are silent. It's an atmosphere that is not conducive to real learning.

and it includes me. :(

who must be quiet right now. I bit my tongue all the time before I retired. Things were getting bad even then. You know things are bad when a principal tells you not to say bad things about Jeb at the teacher lunch table. And yeh, that happened. Pretty sorry.

and you should know how much we appreciate it. I actually didn't know DU2 was still up and running until someone at DU3 asked after you, or I would have been here a little more. Someone said you were here, so I checked in.

I don't spend much time at DU3; I've checked in a little this summer since I'm not at work.

You can hardly call the current administration a Democratic one. The terms republican and Democrat have become the same as high school football teams. You just cheer for your guys. They are your guys because you cheer for them. No moral or principle is used as a criteria.

Maybe we need a thread nominating those that DU2 readers consider the still be Democrats.

Keep on with you good work.

Arne is a disaster. He's not the brightest individual to ever hold a position as important as this one. He was never fit for this job, he is clueless on the profession of teaching and demonstrated that in the most embarrassing ways more than once.

Someone who hates teachers does not belong in that position.

I agree with all you said. He is not qualified in any way to be in charge of education. What he is doing is hurting students everywhere, and he seems clueless.