I’m a longtime leftist who’s become frustrated with current progressives. That said-- even with my skepticism about some of the things the right attacks, I rarely see evidence that the coordinated attacks on progressive education ideas/practice are in good faith. And even when they’re in good faith, I don’t see evidence that the attacks are backed up by serious analysis or serious thinking.
This article is a refreshingly non-hysterical assessment of the kind of non-serious policy discussion that goes on at a dubious conference of this sort.
Possibly there are right wing groups who approach their policy discussion with the measured seriousness you used in this piece. I doubt it, but I want to believe there are.
It’s helpful for me to collect pieces like this to remind me that even in periods where I object to both tactics and thinking on my side, the rebuttal from the other side is intellectually a non-starter.
I’m with you. One of the worst things about M4L in my opinion is that they are taking up all the air in the room, so that groups and individuals focused on legitimate education issues aren’t heard.
Aargh. Yes. That’s a huge problem. Because while I begin from a liberal idea about education (whatever that means), education is a very complicated subject. I am a teacher and I’m not convinced that every single teacher is great, and I’m damn sure not convinced that every school board is right about everything. Nor am I convinced that any glib one size fits all philosophy about education is likely to be good in every way. Nor do I automatically believe parents always have a clue. They know their kids, sure. But is that really a substitute for a serious grounding in the subject? Etc.
In short, I’m going to skew left but I’d like to hear serious voices from the right in the conversation. Maybe I’ll dismiss them if I hear them. But I don’t want them drowned out by disingenuous yahoos on their own side.
I’d like to hear that, too. Unfortunately, I think many conservatives have been drowned out by voucher proponents who are funded by huge money (Kochs, DeVosses, Yass) that promotes a lot of words that really just boil down to, lower taxes for the rich and more vouchers. I think until we manage to compete with those very loud voices, it will be hard for anyone of any political persuasion to be heard. And the nuance gets lost.
I’m a longtime leftist who’s become frustrated with current progressives. That said-- even with my skepticism about some of the things the right attacks, I rarely see evidence that the coordinated attacks on progressive education ideas/practice are in good faith. And even when they’re in good faith, I don’t see evidence that the attacks are backed up by serious analysis or serious thinking.
This article is a refreshingly non-hysterical assessment of the kind of non-serious policy discussion that goes on at a dubious conference of this sort.
Possibly there are right wing groups who approach their policy discussion with the measured seriousness you used in this piece. I doubt it, but I want to believe there are.
It’s helpful for me to collect pieces like this to remind me that even in periods where I object to both tactics and thinking on my side, the rebuttal from the other side is intellectually a non-starter.
I’m with you. One of the worst things about M4L in my opinion is that they are taking up all the air in the room, so that groups and individuals focused on legitimate education issues aren’t heard.
Aargh. Yes. That’s a huge problem. Because while I begin from a liberal idea about education (whatever that means), education is a very complicated subject. I am a teacher and I’m not convinced that every single teacher is great, and I’m damn sure not convinced that every school board is right about everything. Nor am I convinced that any glib one size fits all philosophy about education is likely to be good in every way. Nor do I automatically believe parents always have a clue. They know their kids, sure. But is that really a substitute for a serious grounding in the subject? Etc.
In short, I’m going to skew left but I’d like to hear serious voices from the right in the conversation. Maybe I’ll dismiss them if I hear them. But I don’t want them drowned out by disingenuous yahoos on their own side.
I’d like to hear that, too. Unfortunately, I think many conservatives have been drowned out by voucher proponents who are funded by huge money (Kochs, DeVosses, Yass) that promotes a lot of words that really just boil down to, lower taxes for the rich and more vouchers. I think until we manage to compete with those very loud voices, it will be hard for anyone of any political persuasion to be heard. And the nuance gets lost.
It’s a dispiriting conclusion, but yeah.