Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Student takes on Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee

Student takes on Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee :

Student takes on Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee 

School reformer extraordinaire Michelle Rhee hasbegun a three-city event where she is hosting town halls in what she says is an effort to have a “real talk” with teachers, who for years have viewed her as anything but a friend. (The same could be said of one of her traveling companions on this tour, Connecticut  educator Steve Perry, who is famous for referring to teachers unions as “roaches.”)
Rhee and her panel began their tour in Los Angeles earlier this week and will go to Birmingham on Sept. 12 and then Philadelphia on Sept. 16. One of the more interesting moments of the Los Angeles town hall was when a University of Southern California student, Hannah Nguyen, called out Rhee on her “school reform” movement.
It turns that Hannah Nguyen is a former big supporter of Rhee’s brand of reform, once belonging to Students for Education Reform. She changed her mind after looking at what really happens in schools and now is involved with Students United for Public Education.
Here’s the video of her statement at the Rhee town hall, and below that, a partial transcript.

Hi everyone, my name is Hannah, I’m a student… Just a few things though, I felt like this whole event was very much looking at these educational policy issues as a reformers versus teacher unions kind of issue, and as a student standing here and