![]() WHAT DOES IT MEAN! Are we willing to let Bill Gates spread bull? The answer seems to be yes: // link // print // previous // next //
MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2011 The soul of a disengaged class: Lady Collins was drinking life in on her over-stuffed chaise as pool boys rushed up with her fruit-festooned drinks. The sun felt warm as she murmured the mots comprising her latest new column. Whats in a nickname? she thoughtfully mused, thus creating her columns headline. Withholding the obvious answerNothingshe regally dictated this:
Bravo! Mack had announced that he wouldnt be running! Collins used this as the latest excuse to tell us his funny full name. Bravo! Already, Collins had burned 131 words off her latest column! Before she was done, she would kill at least 200 words with vapid observations about various peoples weird names. And speaking of pointing [things] out once again, Collins didnt miss the chance to kill time in the time-honored manner:
Bravo! Seamus the Irish setter made Collins column again! According to a Nexis search, this represents at least the seventeenth column in which this high lady has burned time away by citing Mitt Willards roof-abused dog. In such ways, an inane upper class toys with American lives. (For one early effort, The Revenge of Seamus, go aheadjust click here. Collins, in 2008: Im going to have to get through the rest of the year without ever again referring to the fact that Romney once drove to Canada with the family dog, Seamus, strapped to the roof of the car. People, please! Fat farking chance!) A column by Collins spreads pain through the land in various ways, of course. Adding to the human stain, readers rush to append their remarks, thanking this high-ranking lady for sharing her deathless insights. In the case of this most recent column, Commenter 3 complained that, although the world is filled with serious real problems, our politics is little better than a very poorly mounted circus. He failed to note the way this high lady sidesteps those real problems too. Commenter 4 complained that Republican voters won't see through the usual claptrap. He failed to note that a similar problem seems to afflict Collins fans. That said, it was Commenter 2 who made the analysts wander the moors, cursing the heavens and their own fates. That comment: I had forgotten all about Mitt Romney's National Lampoon of a vacation with the dog strapped to the car roof. Thanks for reminding us, Gail! Thanks for reminding us! As they say around the Times pool, seventeenth time is the charm! Question: Did Collins get around to making real points in this latest new column? Actually, noshe did not. In one paragraph, she claimed that T-Paw contradicted himself about Libya. But if you google Pawlentys full statements, you will perhaps be able to see that this just isnt the case. (If you simply review what Collins wrote, youll see that her claim doesnt make much sense even on its own terms.) But then, look what happened when she tried to challenge a recent bad statement by Willard:
Huh? Rather plainly, Romney said that Obama doesnt believe that our country is a great and unique nation. As usual, Lady Collins missed the thrust of Willards remark. But then, who has time for that? Bottom line: By the time Collins got to Newt, she had left herself so few words that she had to offer a capsule account of his recent apparent flip about Libya. Unfortunately, conservative readers will quickly dismiss what Collins wrote. They have heard Gingrich explain that he truly committed no flipbut after wasting much time on the candidates names, Collins simply didnt have time to debunk Gingrich in full. Nor did she have time to place this apparent foolishness in a larger contextin a context which might help readers understand the disastrous way our discourse now works. So it goes as a high-ranking royal helps shape the liberal outlook. But people! Collins is a ranking player! Fawning respect must be paid! Adding insult to injury, liberals are forced to watch the ladys monthly guest spots on the Maddow show, where her keister routinely gets kissed within an inch of its life. Maddow never fails to kiss the asp of this fatuous lightweight. Heres the way the fawning went down after Novembers chat:
Heres what happened after last months session:
That appearance represented an anniversary of sorts. Collins had done her first Maddow spot exactly one year before:
Warning! Collins hasnt appeared on the program this month. And only four programs are left! Why would a progressive former Rhodes Scholar kiss such flyweight keister this way? Why would she be a great fan of such work? Tomorrow, well look in on Charlie Rose, another High Gotham multimillionaireone with substantial conflicts. Rose tends to kiss correct keisters too. Does anyone know why that is? Respect must be paid: On one occasion, Gwen Ifill appeared on the program. Heres how that went down:
Gag us! In fairness, this wasnt as bad as the many times Maddow bowed and scraped before Colonel Wilkerson, the man who assembled Colin Powells speech to the United Nations. Maddow never quite remembered to ask him how he had managed to bungle so badly. For reasons we havent fathomed yet, big respect had to be paid!
Good lord! The indignities we the people must bear to keep important careers on track! Tomorrow, well look at Broadcaster Rose and his ties to a high billionaire. EPILOGUEWHAT DOES IT MEAN (permalink): In the past two weeks, we examined some facts about the nations public schools, fighting off streams of disinformation from the likes of Ravitch and Gates. In retrospect, we thought a brief Q-and-A might answer some lingering questions: Why have Texas students performed so well on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (the NAEP)? We have no idea. But within all demographic groups, Texas students outperform the national average on these gold standard tests. (Often, Texas kids outperform their national peers by substantial margins.) Of course, youd never imagine such a thing if you read Diane Ravitchs recent report in the Daily Beast, in which she attacked the Texas schools in baldly disingenuous ways. Why have Texas students scored so well? Youd think we might actually want to find out! Instead, Ravitch tried to make readers think that Texas students have performed poorlyand she tied this alleged poor performance to the idea that annual testing has been a terrible scourge. If we really want to figure out what kinds of teaching may actually work, we cant go about the task this wayby baldly misinforming the public about the most basic facts. By the way, teachers in Texas are working hard too. Why should we trash them this way? If Texas kids have scored so well, does that mean testing actually works? Ravitch claimed that Texas dismal performance shows that testing doesnt work. What do the states good test scores mean? Youd almost think wed want to find out! Instead, the public gets fed a constant pile of partisan disinformation. Nationwide, test scores have risen rather substantially during the period Ravitch citedthe period from 1998 through 2009. For the record, the testing / accountability / standards movement has been in force for roughly two decades; No Child Left Behind merely systematized a pre-existing movement. Does the nationwide rise in NAEP scores suggest that this approach has borne fruit? Youd almost think wed want to ask! Instead, Ravitch persistently joins the anti-union forces in pretending that the national rise in test scores doesnt exist. Why do so few people ever mention the national rise in test scores? In part, because liberals quit on low-income kids a good many years ago. The billionaire-financed anti-union crowd keeps pushing the idea that test scores are in the dumpster. This creates a good excuse to fire experienced teachers and replace them with non-union kids from the finer schools; such children are willing to work for low wages and for the chance to praise their own greatness. In a rational world, it would fall to liberals, progressives and pro-union people to spread the good news about national test scores. Rather plainly, this hasnt occurred. Liberals quit on low-income kids (and on their proletarian teachers) a very long time ago. In part for that reason, its almost impossible to hear accurate statements about American test scores. A few weeks ago, we were amazed when Richard Rothstein cited those score gains on the NAEP as a rebuttal to Bill Gates typically bogus claims (click here). It is very rare to see anyone offer this path to the reality-based world. Just a guess: Very few teachers have ever heard about the gains which have occurred on their watch! Almost every factual claim you hear about test scores is false. The discussion is driven by the billionaire-funded anti-union crowdand we progressives dont bother responding. Instead, we honor Ravitch for pimping more of this bum information. Apparently, we would rather criticize Bush than traffic in actual facts. Could the rise in NAEP scores reflect some kind of cheating or teaching to the test? Until recently, no one really had an incentive to cheat on the NAEP, which has been in operation for forty years. In the past decade, state superintendents have started to come under fire based upon statewide NAEP results; some politicians have started claiming credit based upon statewide score gains. Could a state superintendent put her thumb on the scale in the course of selecting the NAEPs sample group for her state? We dont know. But if its possible, you can bet that someone has done it! Florida is another state which has shown strong gain in NAEP scores. Last fall, Columbias Madhabi Chatterji suggested these score gains may reflect the institution of stricter grade-retention policies; if more kids are forced to repeat third grade, this means theyre one year older, and one year smarter, when they take the fourth-grade NAEP. Could that be driving Floridas gains? You will see such topics discussed when Mars begins to circle the earth. At present, NAEP scores are used in the mainstream press for exactly one reasonto drive highly partisan, fact-challenged claims, as Ravitch did last week. To review Chatterjis report, click here. For a criticism of his report, just click this. If Wisconsin underperforms a bit on the NAEP, why does it seem to have good scores on the SAT and the ACT? On the NAEP, Wisconsins white and Hispanic kids tend to score around the national average for their groups. Wisconsins black kids tend to score well below the nationwide average for black kids. (There may be reasons for that.) Why then do Wisconsin students seem to score fairly high on the ACT, an SAT equivalent? We thought Politifact did a rather poor job with this topic (click here). But Politifact noted that Wisconsin students ranked 13th nationally on the ACT in 2009, even though a fairly high percentage of the states students took the fiendish test. If Wisconsin is average at best on the NAEP, why does it seem to score well on the ACT? Presumably, that happens because Wisconsin is relatively middle-class and white, and those ACT average scores arent disaggregatedarent broken down by demographic groups. Lets compare Wisconsins demographics with those of Texas. In what follows, well compare the two states eighth-grade student populations, as tested by the NAEP in math in 2009: Wisconsin had many fewer low-income kids. In 2009, 31 percent were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, as compared to 53 percent in Texas. (National figure: 43 percent. This is not a measure of poverty.) Wisconsin also had many fewer minority kids. In 2009, only seven percent were Hispanic, compared to 46 percent in Texas. Ten percent were black, compared to 14 percent in Texas. Given the way our American history works, white kids still outscore minority kids on such tests, although the gaps have narrowed in the past forty years. In 2009, Wisconsin was 79 percent white, compared to just 32 percent in Texas. Texas schools face larger demographic challenges; Wisconsin is relatively white and middle-class. Presumably, that helps explain Wisconsins relatively good average score on the ACT. But when we break NAEP scores into demographic groups, Texas outscores Wisconsin across the board, often by large margins. Isnt it time we tried to learn why such patterns exist? Isnt it time we stopped the disinformation campaigns, and instead told people the truth about our (improving) NAEP scores? On a national basis, NAEP score are substantially up in the past twenty years. Why is thator doesnt anyone care? Why isnt the public being told about those gains on the NAEP? Do we simply prefer to bash Bush?
Final question: Are we willing to let Bill Gates keep spreading bullroar about our children? Frankly, the answer seems to be yes. After all, hes a billionaire!
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