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Sunday, June 5, 2011

School Tech Connect: Thank You, Mr. Alter

School Tech Connect: Thank You, Mr. Alter

Thank You, Mr. Alter

Another week approaches. Here at School TechConnect, we still dream of chimney cakes.

On a happy note, Jonathan Alter's ill-conceived Bloomberg piece has triggered an avalanche of scathing public rebukes of the Duncan/Gates administration. Alter carries buckets of water for Duncan in the piece:
“Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who are proving her wrong every day,” he said when I asked about Ravitch this week.
Alter is part of the disconnected-from-public-education cadre of experts in public education, and like others before him, he basically repeats the company line about charter schools and blah blah blah. It's all so nauseating. I have yet to run into a single teacher who has read Ravitch and disagrees with her, except perhaps some ed-tech people, who worry that she's not in love enough with technology. Nobody's insulted by her, particularly urban teachers who understand that every time their kids take another test, some politician is either