U Minnesota makes a play to improve its PA scores!!!

[interestingguy]

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I have a friend in Seoul, South Korea…been friends for decades…its not a racial slur.

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<p>How does this excuse your post (#13)???</p>

[midmo]

<p>The problem with the phenomenon described in the article at the head of this thread is not simply that a university program is engaging in indoctrination, but that the indoctrination is spread directly into the K-12 schools.</p>

<p>There are a lot of reasons I am in favor of school choice options. One of them is to limit the influence of ed schools and the proselytizers that have filled up their faculties.</p>

[bclintonk]

<p>Oh, please! Hawkette’s “play for PA scores” comment is as absurdly and breathlessly over-the-top as the bizarre polemic against the University of Minnesota’s Ed School by the cranky right-wing columnist whom hawkette so misleadingly quotes. </p>

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@hawkette

the U Minnesota is recommending that “aspiring teachers must repudiate the notion of “the American Dream” in order to obtain the recommendation for licensure required by the Minnesota Board of Teaching. Instead, teacher candidates must embrace – and be prepared to teach our state’s kids – the task force’s own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic.”

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<p>Problem is, no one at the University of Minnesota ever said that or anything like it. That’s the political spin placed by a newspaper columnist on an internal discussion document circulating within part of the Ed School, clearly labeled “DRAFT: NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION. For discussion uses within the College of Education and Human Development TERI Project only,” posted on a University website with the further disclaimer that “these task group reports are not policy, but a set of working ideas brought forward by these groups for discussion.” The document in question—one of seven discussion papers on various aspects of teacher training—does not advocate “repudiating the American Dream” or teaching a “vision of America as oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist, and homophobic.” That language is entirely the characterization–or mischaracterization—of newspaper columnist Katherine Kersten. The document is clearly not the policy of, nor a recommendation by, the University of Minnesota. It contains some ideas being kicked around for discussion by a group that has no authority to speak or act on behalf of the University. To state that “the U Minnesota is recommending” these things (hawkette’s words) is at best misleading, perhaps deliberately so—and if so, just a flagrant lie.</p>

<p>Most of the discussion documents produced by the TERI project go to important but relatively uncontroversial proposals like improving special education, making teachers more aware of developments in learning psychology, better integrating technology into the classroom, and improving the teaching of English as a second language. The particular discussion document that came under attack by Kersten is trying to get at ways that teachers might become more sensitive to the rapidly growing cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity of the schools in what was until fairly recently an overwhelmingly white and predominantly German/Nordic state, and the gaps in academic performance among various groups that are now emerging in those schools. Most of the recommendations go to ways to recruit and more effectively train teachers of color. A few go to heightening the sensitivity of all teachers to cultural differences within the schools. This is bound to be controversial. Some, like Katherine Kersten, would have us wish cultural diversity away and pretend there are no culturally or socioeconomically based performance gaps. Others, like the authors of the discussion document in question, would have education schools tackle those issues head-on in teacher training programs. Kersten sees this as a political agenda, and evidence of Political Correctness. It seems to me, though, that wherever you stand on the substance of these issues, they’re important questions that need to be fully aired, not least within our colleges and universities. By trying to smack down any discussion of these topics by mischaracterizing an internal discussion document within the Ed School as some kind of subversive agenda to force Maoist political reeducation down our throats, Kersten is the one coming on like the Thought Police and trying to enforce her own version of Political Correctness in which even discussing these topics is taboo.</p>

<p>Read it for yourself, and see if you don’t agree that Kersten’s characterization is wildly over-the-top:</p>

<p>[TERI:</a> Teacher Education Redesign Initiative: Teacher Education Redesign Initiative](<a href=“http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cehd/teri/task-group-reports/]TERI:”>http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cehd/teri/task-group-reports/)</p>

<p>What any of this has to do with PA scores, I’ll never know. That’s just looney tunes. The University of Minnesota didn’t say or do anything here as an institution, except to provide a forum for people to discuss possibly controversial ideas within the walls of the institution. But after all, isn’t that one of the principal functions of a university? hawkette, your paranoia is getting the better of you.</p>

[interestingguy]

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What any of this has to do with PA scores, I’ll never know.

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<p>OP /= PA (10 char)</p>

[rjkofnovi]

<p>“hawkette, your paranoia is getting the better of you.”</p>

<p>It’s not paranoia in hawkette’s case.</p>

[IBclass06]

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@noimagination

I think that your connection to PA scores is rather tenuous and not very credible.

LOL. You completely missed the underlying reason. Hawkette simply knows that mentioning peer assessment in a thread title – especially one written by her – will draw posters faster than a vat of blood in a shark pen. </p>

<p>Amusingly, it worked.</p>

[interestingguy]

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@midmo

^^^Oh, look, its my fan club! Who said anything about Vanderbilt? It is highly ranked for its GRADUATE program; it doesn’t even offer a standard undergraduate education degree*.

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@midmo

You do know the difference between undergraduate and graduate programs, I assume?

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<p>[Vanderbilt</a> University’s Peabody College of education, psychology, policy – Graduate school Nashville, TN](<a href=“http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/Admissions_and_Programs/Undergraduate_Majors.xml]Vanderbilt”>http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/Admissions_and_Programs/Undergraduate_Majors.xml)</p>

<p>Click the “Admissions & Programs” link. Then click the “Undergraduate Programs” link. Finally, click “View the list of Peabody’s undergraduate majors” link.</p>

[interestingguy]

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@ghostbuster

Don’t you have something better to do than come on CC and bash American schools?

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<p>Huh???</p>

<p>I am an American citizen. I attended high school in NYC and currently attend an HYPSM university.</p>

<p>Just because I call out posters who promote second-class schools as first-rate universities doesn’t mean I disrespect American schools. On the contrary, the American system of higher education is bar none the best in the world, IMHO.</p>

<p>FWIW, I have visited Fordham’s campuses at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center where it plays second fiddle to Julliard. (pun intended) I also know people who go there (although mostly for Fordham Law). Even they’d admit that Fordham is not nearly the “elite” school that you make it out to be. Fordham wasn’t even in my radar until you kept bringing it up in repeated posts. I felt the need to correct your mis-perception for the sake of prospective students. (Remember when you mis-stated that 98% of Fordham undergraduates received financial aid?)</p>

[bluebayou]

<p>hawkette:</p>

<p>I’ve only had one cappa joe today, so please help me understand the connection between an Educ school and PA…for all we know, Cal-Berkeley’s PA is brought DOWN by its Ed school; even highly ranked Ed schools are note considered the most rigorous nor academic.</p>

<p>Off to put on my flame-retardent suit.</p>

[hawkette]

<p>Ib,
Very insightful observation. </p>

<p>It’s frequently amusing to tweak the libs and see them go hog-wild. :)</p>

<p>Blue,
You may be correct that high PA scores are negatively correlated with excellent education programs (look at Vanderbilt). Who knows what is really behind (L) PA scoring anyway???</p>

<p>I originally set this thread up on a lark as I enjoy taking on liberal academia and the corrupt PA scoring process and so this seemed like a twofer. I didn’t expect much reaction, but after a few of the responses, I did some more digging and found a lot of stuff on the web, including this follow-up column on this topic:</p>

<p>[Katherine</a> Kersten: Battle lines drawn against U initiative | StarTribune.com](<a href=“http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/79092107.html]Katherine”>http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/79092107.html)</p>

<p>I don’t know if liberal academia doesn’t get what conservatives are upset about. But whether they do or they don’t, I don’t think that they care that they don’t get it. Tolerance and sensitivity to opposing conservative viewpoints is not the right kind of diversity and thus does not fit into their orthodoxy. </p>

<p>As a result of FIRE’s efforts and Ms. Kersten’s columns, my expectation is that the school’s future response will be worded quite carefully. But does anyone really expect the outcome to be anything different than the one that the libs proselytize is the only acceptable path? Ahh, the tolerance of liberal academia….</p>

<p>Opinions that follow the story run about 60/40 in favor of the author. Not surprising in a very liberal state like Minnehaha that 40% would make the effort to defend the re-education efforts. </p>

<p>To help bc understand that there are a lot of folks who don’t agree with him, here are some comments from posters on the Minneapolis Star Tribune:</p>

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The silly teacher education courses I had to take in 1963-66 pale in comparison to those about to be commanded from on high. Know your subject, know your subject, know your subject, if you want to teach in Jr. or Sr. high. Know how to teach reading, phonics please no more whole language. Be able to spell and teach that and grammar. In my 37 years of teaching, far too many teachers couldn’t spell, punctuate or explain their subjects in more than one way. Letters to parents were abysmal. How about we concentrate on the BASICS of reading and math for elementary teachers and the SUBJECT MATTER for the rest.

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KK—YOU GO GIRL!!!

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Just what do you use your brain for? You folks get yourselves wrapped around the PC axle and never think straight again. It’s a pity, really. That’s where we get school administrators like the one here in Burnsville who wanted to repress the phrase “Merry Christmas” and instead dictate the use of the phrase “Nature’s Seasons”. Lord, please save us all from a death like this, on the reef of Norman’s Woe.

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If ever you want a perfect example of ‘Political Correctness’ running amok, this U of M attempt at being the ‘thought police’ is it. Good for FIRE for standing up to such educational fascism.

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All colleges and universities are for diversity. The difference is that some only tolerate the “right” kind of diversity. Like Nick Coleman- your facts are correct only if they agree with him. It is a little like stereotypes. As long as they are the right kind- they are OK.

Just because KK says it, does not mean it is wrong. The beef here is the document: Race, Class, Culture… People really ought to read this remarkable document. It proposes that ALL teacher education courses to discuss issues of race, class, culture and gender. Students who DON’T meet the cultural competency guidelines, the plan calls for CEHD to develop remedial steps to teach students the material. As Adam Kissel of FIRE - the new boogeyman apparently - put it: “To learn about other cultures and cultural differences is one thing, but to say you’re not going to be considered an acceptable teacher if you don’t have these values and beliefs is unacceptable” and “As much as possible, we do want to defer to experts in the field to promote the views and values they feel are right,” he said. “But they cross the line when they say everyone should hold those views, especially when it’s an issue of genuine controversy.” Come on folks, it is not just the conservatives who are against this.

If you haven’t read the document in question for yourself, you should. The interim dean of the teaching college and the university spokesman who’ve publicly commented have been deeply dishonest about it. It is breathtaking in its anti-Americanism, its hard-left radicalism, and its explicit racialist hatred.

The Iranian college campus model is not one we should employ in the United States Of America. Because you’re ashamed of your race and heritage is no reason for you to teach my children to be ashamed of theirs.

It is wrong to tear down a child of minority, tell them their evil, shame their accestry and treat them as 2nd class. Why is it OK to do it to a White child.

If you tell a kid he doesn’t have a chance, that the world is rigged against him, and tests are unfair, he will be less likely to succeed. The people who promote all this liberal claptrap know it too, but they are cynically promoting an ideology that condemns a large slice of our underclass to poverty. This has been going on for decades and yet they are seldom called out for being hypocrites. Look at the Minneapolis schools, they’ve been run by liberals since the 60’s and things have steadily gotten worse and worse. White privilege, more like leftist exploitation of the poor for their selfish gain. Where does Mayor Rybeck send his kid to school anyway?

"Under the group’s proposed plan, future teachers would be required to pass an ideological litmus test – denouncing “white privilege,” “hegemonic masculinity” and “heteronormativity,” and proving their determination to “fight” for “social justice.” This would be funny were it not so reminiscent of dictatorship re-education camps. What on earth IS this horror? And what is “social justice,” anyway, to the people who dream up these experiments that always find a home in education circles? What education departments need are high standards in universities for those who plan to become teachers. They need solid academic foundations in their subject areas. That is job one. Schools have no business indoctrinating students in views that are at best false,and at worst dangerous and destructive. This hate-filled plan has no place in schools — or anywhere else short of underground meetings of drugged-up people or in Rev. Wright’s church – which his congregation should boycott. At the end of years of this kind of brainwashing, the children in MN will be capable only of rioting and looting, not of living sensible, civil lives. Can this plan possibly be for real?

If it were not for people like Katherine Kersten, we would be even further down the leftist toilet in Minnesota…she’s the best thing the Strib has going for it.

Why is it that the liberals never argue with Katherine’s logic? They just call her stupid or make other dismissive comments. The only argument a liberal has made so far apparently is that whites cannot possible teach Afro-Americans or other minorities without this type of brainwashing. Let me see if I have this straight, Afro-Americans and White-Americans need to have different teaching methods applied in order to spell c-a-t and to add 2 + 2? If the University is having budget problems, I think I have found a department worth cutting.

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Ahhh, the tolerant left. Can’t argue facts, so they make up lies to slander conservative-Americans. And we get anti-Catholic bigotry thrown in.

So the U of M is monolithic in its thought - what’s new? It’s a third-tier urban UW Madison wannabe. Enroll somewhere else.

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