![]() IN HIGHER STANDARDS! Brooks believes in higher standardsfor ten-year children, that is: // link // print // previous // next //
THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2009 Spin and Marty: As he starts this mornings column, E. J. Dionne describes the problem defining the age. Hes speaking about our financial elite, though the problem extends a bit farther:
Later, he describes a famous way society has changed in the past fifty years:
More specifically, its when elite compensation soars that the system runs into trouble. You simply cant pay people that much without creating a crackpot culture. In the 1950s, CEOs are said to have earned only forty times the average wage. That was a vastly different culturea culture which, in this respect, seems to have been less insane. You cant pay gigantic sums to elites without creating a crackpot culture. We thought of that when we read, in this mornings Times, that Betsy Blair had died. It isnt just Natasha Richardson, who also starred in one of our favorite films (more tomorrow). So too Blair, who starred in Marty, the 1955 Oscar winner. In todays report, the Times describes her as the shy love interest in the film. But in fact, the film turned on something different; to the male friends of the title character, the Blair character wasnt pretty enough. The film turns on the Ernest Borgnine characters ability to see past the pressure brought by his friends (and by his immigrant mother, who wants him to marry an Italian girl). In the end of the film, Marty Pilettia meek, very average person himselfstands up, in a speech to his friends, for what he himself truly feels:
In 1955, you could win the Oscar (and the grand prize at Cannes) with a film which turned on that speech. In many ways, our society was much less enlightened then. In other ways, we may have been brighter. CEOs werent earning nearly as much. Apparently, they didnt yet feel the need. Today, our financial elitesand our journalistic elitesare paid enormous sums. In some cases, our journalistic stars are paid those sums by the same sorts of corporate elements found at AIG. You cant pay people those kinds of salaries without creating a crackpot culture. That in mind: Some people complained when we rolled our eyes at Olbermanns serial nonsense last week. We think we understand that reaction; we all like to feel that were part of a team. But Countdown increasingly is a sick joke, both in the level of its political reasoning and in its gong-show values. It isnt fair to ask a cable show to rise to the level of a film like Marty. But here you see our progressive star gonging again, this Tuesday night. You can watch the tape yourself (just click here). With some classy cover art, it appears under the MSNBC headline, Brothel bargain:
For ourselves, we still dont get it; even after watching the tape, we have no idea what this telepathic joke was. We do know why Olbermann offered this segmenthe wanted to talk about brothels! And minutes later, he and one of his idiot friends were discussing how much meat they like on a womans bones. You see, a cat-fight had broken out among three famous women (Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Meghan McCain). Keith and his buddy were on it:
Poor Keith! He had to stifle! But as they continued, the lads even dragged poor Tyra Banks in. Because shes so stupid, of course:
Does anyone know why these twinned baboons seem to think theyre smarter than Banks? Forget about the gong-show values this big gender-nut seems to live for. The sheer stupidity of Olbermanns show seems to increase every night. The reasoning behind his worst-person, best-person and Still Bushed narratives seems more tortured every time out. And surely, we can see the (admittedly comical) problem which lurks in this typical format:
Too funny! We wonder what Clyburn will say? But no one appears on this show who doesnt pre-agree with its host. Increasingly, it seems Olbermanns staff must spend ten minutes preparing each evenings program. We understand that people like to believe that this program is part of their teams group effort. But Olbermann is paid $5 million by the same corporate buffoons who paid Chris Matthews all through the last decade. At that time, they spun you against Clintonand very hard against Gore. Now, they spin you in the other direction.
A modern nation cant run on dumb. But when corporate owners pay people this much, a crackpot culture will result every time. Each evening, that culture is on full display. Dionne defines an existential problem in this mornings piece. Read each thrilling installment: When it comes to public schools, David Brooks believes. Read each thrilling installment:
In part 3, we see that Brooks believes in higher standards: PART 3IN HIGHER STANDARDS: Like almost every major pundit, David Brooks believes in higher standardsfor ten-year-old children, that is. Many of our major scribes hold themselves and their colleagues to quite fluid standards. But children seem to deserve so much more! Confronted with the lives of children, pundits pleasure in standards comes forth. In the following part of last Fridays column, Brooks explains the way Obama will make states adopt higher standards. A race to the bottom may end, Brooks believesif the various states will comply:
States will be compelled to raise their standards, and this of course sounds like a good thing. Unfortunately, it isnt clear from Brooks column just what this act would consist in. Clearly, Brooks wants other states to be more like Massachusettsa state which has rigorous proficiency standards. Does this mean we want all the states to have tough statewide tests, so kids will have to meet a high standard in order to get themselves rated proficient? Does it mean we want the states prescribing tougher materialin fourth-grade math, let us say? (In principle, these are two different things. A state could prescribe tough material, then have easy tests.) As is often the case in these matters, Brooks never quite explains; well guess that hed want both improvements, so lofty are his ideals. And heres something else: Well guess that Brooks has no idea how much pain and dysfunction his prescriptions can cause, as children who cant meet existing standards are asked to meet those which are higher. What exactly does David Brooks want? In his next paragraph, the murk only deepens. Consider this fuller passage:
According to Brooks, Obama wants school districts to do the effective and hard things, not the easy and mediocre things. Youre rightthats almost comically vague. But so it goes when pundits take time from their busy days to rattle stale cant about schools. (By the way: Nothing is easier than teaching material which is over kids heads, then clucking about how hopeless they are when they fail and cry. Nothing is easier than working straight from the book, even if its years too advanced.) By now, every scribe has recited this tale about the need for more rigorous standards; it has been thoroughly standard fare for the past twenty years. Last week, we discussed this notion in some detail, pointing to the contradictions contained in the sweet-sounding nostrum (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 3/13/09). In the real world, a tougher curriculum might be great for some kids; for other kids, such a change can be quite destructive. The reason for that is fairly simpleeighth-graders arent all alike. Is there really any state where all eighth-graders (let us say) take the same math course? Where the kids on track for MIT are taught the same math as the good, decent kids who may be years below grade level? Does Massachusetts really teach the same math to every child who is an eighth-grader? We assume the obvious answer is no, which leaves us puzzled by Brooks cry. If Mississippi adopts Massachusetts standards, how would that act affect the kids who may be struggling far below level? Most likely, it wouldnt affect them at all. But in the decades in which big pundits have recited the cant of the standards movement, weve never seen a single punditor a single expertflesh out this puzzling tale. How would rigorous standards help struggling kids? The question rarely occurs to big scribes. Theyve never set foot in a low-income school; theres little chance they ever will. Instead, they type their memorized tales, featuring well-known heros and villains. The heros are always high-minded reformers. the villains, who stand in the way of the heros, are said to believe in liberal orthodoxy on school reform. After all these years, we have no idea how higher standards are supposed to work for Mississippis struggling children. Your pundits dont have a clue either. In fairness, the passage we have quoted follows the most intriguing part of Brooks column. In that passage, he quoted the gloomy Arne Duncan saying something quite surprisingsomething which is perfectly true. But Brooks understands his brief so poorly, he doesnt explain what Duncan meant. In this passage, the Ed Secs highlighted statement is remarkably strong:
States are lying to parents, Duncan said, although it isnt quite clear what he meant. Well guess that this is a reference to teststo watered-down tests which are quite easy, thereby producing artificially high passing rates. States really can mislead parents this wayand in several others, of course. Duncan used a very strong word in that quoted remark. In a different world, a pundit like Brooks would have tried to nail down what he meant. States really can mislead parents this way; Duncan even said (some) states are lying. And sure enough! Three years ago, we discovered the way one major state was systematically overstating its passing rates. This state was baldly misleading its parents. It had done so for several years. Eventually, the head of the states school board acknowledged the states problem to us. (He was a civilian, not an education professional.) He told us he hadnt known this was occurring. We took him at his word, although its absurd to think that professionals in this states education department didnt know they were running a scam. Good grief! It was much as Duncan said! In this case, a major state had adopted bogus reporting procedures, thereby producing fake passing rates. And when we reported this startling fact, do you recall what happened? When people like Brooks talk up these high-minded reformers, you might want to recall what these high-minded experts did when presented with this type of problem.
TomorrowPart 4: In a Potemkin class
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