Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times has a featured article today on Amplify, a company owned by Rupert Murdoch and led by Joel Klein, former New York City’s schools chancellor.  Amplify is promoting a tablet computer for every child hooked into a database maintained by the company.  Surely there are benefits to using technology in education.  Tablets and other digital equipment can be important providers of content, instruction, and improved communications among students, teachers, administrators and parents.  The article reviews several of these issues well.  However, there are several concerns.

First, Murdoch, Klein and company represent the view that public education as a system is broken and has to be disrupted by privatization.   Supported by Arne Duncan and Bill Gates, Amplify represents  “reforms that increase the role of market forces — choice, competition, the profit motive — in education…[They] want private enterprises vying to make money by providing innovative educational products and services…”   Klein’s basic strategy as chancellor was to close down public schools and open charter schools in their stead.  While chancellor, he raised ethical questions by working for a charter schools lobbying group to help them to raise money. 

Second, Joel Klein has absolutely no people skills.  He created a toxic environment that vilified teachers and ignored parents.  He bashed teachers mercilessly and blamed them for all that was wrong in the NYC public schools.  He had absolutely no relationship with the United Federation of Teachers and was incapable of negotiating with them on education issues.  His handling of school closings was abysmal with parents screaming and shouting at public hearings for their children and neighborhood schools.  He consistently ignored any of their pleas.

Lastly, there is a serious question regarding privacy and having student data in any private enterprise’s database let alone one owned by Rupert Murdoch.   The article references Josh Golin, the associate director at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood: “When you are talking about Rupert Murdoch and his empire, there are a number of ways that data could be valuable to his companies beyond instruction.”  In response, Klein says flatly, “The data belongs to the district.” The agreement…requires Amplify to secure the district’s permission if it wants to use any of that data — in anonymized form — to improve its products. “The more you rely on big data to improve the human experience, the more risk there is,” Klein says. “But we shouldn’t be able to freelance with the data. I’m not Amazon..”  However, after what happened in the United Kingdom with Murdoch’s well-publicized scandals involving hacking into phone and voice mail and then bribing of police officials, school district administrators should not trust a Murdoch-owned company with their children’s data.

In closing, school districts would be wise to steer clear of any product produced by Murdoch, Klein and company.  Their attitudes, personalities, and previous performance should set red warning lights going that they are all about profit and nothing else.  It is a shame because education technology does have a lot to offer but not from these two.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The CUNY University Faculty Senate Executive Committee issued the statement below following protests against Visiting Professor David Petraeus at the Macauley Honors College.

Tony

——————————————————————————

From:  The University Faculty Senate Executive Committee

To: The CUNY Community

Protestors, reportedly including CUNY students ,  have harassed new Macaulay Honors College Visiting Professor (and former CIA head and general)  David Petraeus on his way to class, using epithets, shouting “You will leave CUNY,” and chanting “ Every class David,” expressing an intent to continue their verbal attacks. Because they disagree with Professor Petraeus’ views, these demonstrators intend to deprive him of his ability to teach and the ability of his students to learn from him.

CUNY has long-established policies  to protect the academic freedom of faculty, which are essential for the University’s operation as a center of learning.

The Executive Committee of the University Faculty Senate deplores all attacks on the academic freedom of faculty, regardless of their viewpoint.  In the past, we have been strong advocates for the freedom of Kristofer J. Petersen-Overton to teach at Brooklyn College without harassment or retaliation.

Professor Petraeus and all members of CUNY’s instructional staff have the right to teach without interference.

Members of the university community must have the opportunity to express alternate views, but in a manner that does not violate academic freedom.

William E. Phipps

Executive Director

Dear Commons Community,

With the victory of Bill de Blasio in the New York City Democratic Primary on Tuesday, his theme of “ a tale of two cities” one rich and one struggling, has analysts examining his message. New York Times columnist, Charles Blow, commented:

“On Tuesday, the nation’s largest city — the heavily Democratic New York City, where the Occupy Wall Street movement was born — sent a message of stinging repudiation to the nation’s wealthiest mayor, Michael Bloomberg: enough.

The most progressive Democratic candidate, Bill de Blasio, who had in effect run as the anti-Bloomberg, was the clear leader in the Democratic primary.

And, for the most part, the city’s citizens seem to have eschewed identity politics in favor of class politics.”

Blow also cited several data resources that indicate that the trend goes beyond New York:

“There are also national signs of unease. According to a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday, fewer than 8 percent of respondents thought that, after the recent recession, government policies have helped the poor, the middle class or small business a great deal. About five times as many believe they’ve helped the wealthy, large banks and other financial institutions, and large corporations.

And as the stock market soars for those with enough money to be in it, a Gallup poll released Thursday found that one in five Americans say they have struggled to afford food in the last year and that access to basic needs is near a record low.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market is dire, despite what the unemployment rate says.”

The graphic at the top of this posting compiled by The Huffington Post, compares several economic indices reflecting wages, profits and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.   It illustrates that wages have been stagnant since the recovery while the other two have soared.

The push-back to de Blasio has been that he is appealing to class differences to win over voters.  Well maybe he has struck the right chord with voters who are struggling economically in New York and other parts of the country.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

President Vladimir Putin of Russia cautions President Barack Obama on Syria today in an op-ed piece in the New York Times.  After referring to the cooperation and conflicts between our two countries, Putin essentially makes the case that the United States and the Middle East would be much better off by not taking military action in Syria.

“The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.”

Putin’s also advises the United States to back-off from its policies of policing the world.

“It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.”

And his strongest advice:

“I would rather disagree with a case he [President Obama] made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.”

Putin’s comments might be difficult for President Obama and others who are promoting involvement in Syria to accept but they are the right course at this time.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

A NSF-funded San Jose State University research team has taken a close look at a high-profile experiment in which the institution offered “augmented” online courses (MOOCs) last spring in partnership with the online-learning company Udacity. The team released its long-awaited report late yesterday, and it contains few surprises.  As reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

“.. the university and Udacity stole much of the report’s thunder two weeks ago, when both made a big deal about how students’ grades in the online courses—dismal in the spring experiment—had improved when the same courses were offered again during the summer, this time to students who were largely better prepared.

The university’s experiment has attracted a fair amount of attention because it attempts to test whether the technology and approach that Udacity has taken for its massive open online courses—MOOCs—can be adapted to work in conventional online courses offered to a limited number of students by a traditional university.”

While the spring results were indeed discouraging—students in comparable face-to-face courses did much better—the researchers say that low pass rates in the online courses “should be considered in light of the fact that the project specifically targeted at-risk populations”.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times’ Gail Collins analyzes today Bill de Blasio’s  victory in the New York Democratic Primary last Tuesday.   She comments that one big factor for his victory was:

“…a TV ad he aired that featured his son, Dante, talking about his father’s stand on the issues. Michael Barbaro of The Times, in a postelection analysis, called it “the commercial that changed the course of the mayor’s race…

…The thing viewers remember most about the de Blasio ad is not the candidate’s housing policy but the fact that his family is racially mixed: he’s white, his wife is black and Dante has the most impressive Afro since Angela Davis…”

However, the real key to the Dante ad was not that it reminded black voters that the candidate had an African-American wife. It was the way:

“… it appealed to our multiethnic yearning for racial harmony. The de Blasio family seems so happy. The pictures of them laughing together remind you both of how far we’ve come and where we’d like to go. It’s the same effect the nation got when Barack Obama talked about his background and you remembered that when Obama was born, less than 10 percent of Americans approved of interracial marriage.”

De Blasio will have to prove himself as a candidate, but as Collins concludes:

“..we’ll remember that he was the guy who made one ad that created one urban feel-good moment, just before Election Day.”

Yes!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Bill de Blasio won yesterday’s Democratic Party primary for mayor.  With 98% of the precincts reporting,  de Blasio had 40.2% of the vote over Bill Thompson who had 26.0% and Christine Quinn  who had 15.5%.  A candidate had to have over 40% of the vote to avoid a run-off election.  Because there are still paper ballots to be counted, it has not been concluded if there will be a run-off.  If there is, it will be between de Blasio and Thompson.

As expected, Joe Lhota  easily defeated John A. Catsimatidis for the Republican Party’s nomination.

Christine Quinn’s showing was perhaps the most interesting news of the primaries.  She had led in the polls for much of the campaign season, was endorsed by the three major newspapers in New York City and spent the most amount of money of any of the candidates.  However, her Faustian bargain with Michael Bloomberg to extend term limits, may have doomed her candidacy as it became evident that Democratic voters wanted a clean and complete break from the current mayor’s policies.

See the New York Times for further coverage of the election results. 

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Today is primary day in New York City and  voters will take a major step toward choosing a successor to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.  As reported in the New York Times;  

“With polls suggesting Bill de Blasio was comfortably ahead in the Democratic contest, attention was focused on whether he would surpass the 40 percent threshold needed to become the nominee, or face a runoff against the runner-up — expected to be either William C. Thompson Jr., a former comptroller, or Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker.

In the Republican race, Joseph J. Lhota, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and John A. Catsimatidis, a billionaire businessman, were leading the field.”

For readers interested specifically in education issues  please see my posting of September 3rd on all the candidates.

Regardless of your views, and if you are a registered Democrat or Republican, you should take the time to vote today for the candidate of your choice.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

In an interview with New York Magazine, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Bill de Blasio is “using his family to gain support” and that his campaign is racist.  Here is the exchange:

New York Magazine Interviewer:  Then there’s Bill de Blasio, who’s become the Democratic front-runner. He has in some ways been running a class-warfare campaign—

Bloomberg: Class-warfare and racist.

Interviewer: Racist?

Bloomberg: Well, no, no, I mean he’s making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone watching what he’s been doing. I do not think he himself is racist. It’s comparable to me pointing out I’m Jewish in attracting the Jewish vote. You tailor messages to your audiences and address issues you think your audience cares about.

But his whole campaign is that there are two different cities here. And I’ve never liked that kind of division. The way to help those who are less fortunate is, number one, to attract more very fortunate people. They are the ones that pay the bills. The people that would get very badly hurt here if you drive out the very wealthy are the people he professes to try to help. Tearing people apart with this “two cities” thing doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s a destructive strategy for those you want to help the most. He’s a very populist, very left-wing guy, but this city is not two groups, and if to some extent it is, it’s one group paying for services for the other.

In August, de Blasio released an ad featuring his African-American wife, Chirlane McCray, and his 15-year-old son Dante. In the clip, the teen says his dad “is the only Democrat with the guts to really break from the Bloomberg years.”

It seems to me that most candidates for office use their families in different ways to garner support and votes.  Bill Clinton relied on Hillary.  Barack Obama on Michelle and his children.  Mitt Romney on  his wife Anne and his children.

I think Mayor Bloomberg used a poor choice of words or he is desperate and cannot stand the thought that Bill de Blasio who has run basically an anti-Bloomberg campaign, may win the Democratic nomination tomorrow and very possibly could be elected mayor  in November.

Tony