tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post8709312043845218663..comments2024-03-26T11:07:03.496-04:00Comments on Ed Notes Online: When Davids Boo Goliaths Do They Lack Civility?ed notes onlinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15018047869059226777noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-74294043683723853192013-05-10T01:42:29.141-04:002013-05-10T01:42:29.141-04:00comment from edweek site:
"As a former eduw...comment from edweek site: <br /><br />"As a former eduwonkette reader, I'm disappointed.<br /><br />First off, it's worth noting that the author received an IES dissertation fellowship in 2007, and a $1.5 million dollar IES grant (as co-PI) in 2011 for a study titled: "Developing More Effective Test-Based Accountability By Improving Validity Under High-Stakes Conditions" (R305A110420, 2011-15: $1,564,713). Aren't these worth disclosing when one is 'publicly apologizing' to the Secretary of Education, chastising one's dissenting colleagues, and espousing a 'sacred responsibility as researcher'? While the author may have "no senior standing, official office, or public mandate with which to offer this apology," she does have things in hand... and they are not disconnected from circles of power or from specific arguments (including the need to improve standardized tests) Duncan made at AERA that day.<br /><br />Even if we place these conflicts to the side, the comment above is still embarrassing... for the author. It's laced with arrogance and sanctimony... It appears wholly unaware of the lengths that those opposed to Duncan-backed policies have HAD to go to in order to speak out against intimidation, systemic silencing, even attempted eradication (closures anyone?). It takes to task colleagues for violating (the author's own and arguable) notion of researchers' "sacred responsibility ... commitment to ideas, to data, to truth, to real debate..." If the 'one lesson' that the author takes from AERA is the one she cites - supposedly so well taught by Duncan, who faced some signage and audible dissent in the hall, plus some picketing outside, in response to his regular refusal to engage in 'meaningful debate' with those holding views (and research findings!) that differ from his own positions (shared with elites and private interests) - then we are in trouble indeed...<br /><br />I take at least one (depressing/sobering) 'lesson' from the author - namely, that some of us are so in-deep that we can't seem to see which end is up. I'm not sure what prompted the author - someone who took such pains to deconstruct and correct faulty NYCDOE claims, for example - to offer this apology... or to think that it's her place to do so? What does it do except cull favor with people in high places, while further marginalizing voices of dissent ? There are so many other good questions for someone with the author's position of privilege to ask... including why her own organization identified Duncan as an educational researcher when he is not one, why it moved forward with the particular approach to discussion that it did, who was picked (and how) to ask questions, how and why those asking questions used the space they were given, what Duncan offered in response, etc.<br /><br />All this to say, if the road to tenure is paved with the kind of "sacred responsibility... commitment to ideas, to data, to truth, to real debate..." embodied by this apology, a bit of boo-ing is the least of our problems... and a healthy dose of dissent seems much needed."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-64234798077156733652013-05-09T14:47:07.971-04:002013-05-09T14:47:07.971-04:00Here's the comment I left re: Jennifer Jenning...Here's the comment I left re: Jennifer Jennings' apology to Duncan (I particularly wanted to respond when I saw that she is an Asst Prof of Sociology at NYU, where I got my own degree many years ago):<br /><br />Nancy<br />><br />> 12:01 PM on May 8, 2013<br />><br />> Jennifer, I do not know you nor was I at AERA, but I have read a lot about both. While I respect your personal opinion about the booing of Arne Duncan, it's rather presumptuous for you to publicly apologize on behalf of others. I am disappointed to see a fellow sociologist (I got my doctorate from NYU some time ago) say: "It is another thing entirely to abdicate our most sacred responsibility as researchers—a commitment to ideas, to data, to truth, to real debate—at the altar of one-upmanship." Sociology should die as a discipline if in 2013 its researchers still make claims to revealing "truth," implicitly through "value-neutral" research.<br />><br />> When researchers boo a high-profile speaker at a conference, surely this suggests something is awry – researchers are not typically rowdy, rude conference attendees! When staid researchers and policy analysts such as myself take to the streets as public school parents, it suggests something extreme is happening. As many of the commenters here have stated, the booing of Arne Duncan was clearly an expression of feelings of frustration and powerlessness. Surely, as a sociologist and critic of current education policy, you understand that. So why the Habermasian plea for "rational critical discourse" when educators (whether researchers and/or practitioners) and public school parents with opposing views have been banned from the table? <br />><br />> We are angry as we watch our children's education be ruined by experimental policies promoted by billionaires and enacted by Democratic politicians who should know better. We are tired of being ignored, so we will do things that we don't typically do until our voices are heard! If I'd been there, I would have booed Arne Duncan.Nancynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-64849754027892664402013-05-09T14:45:53.987-04:002013-05-09T14:45:53.987-04:00Great job summarizing the issue and responses. I p...Great job summarizing the issue and responses. I posted it on Facebook, all three pages (mine, ReclaimAERA, and Edu4).<br />We were not among the boo-ing---but maybe that's because we felt the strength of our numbers? Maybe solidarity breeds "civility." With you folks, and my other comrades, and strategies for opposition, I/we feel less powerless.Ruthnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-33958209343550511912013-05-09T13:57:33.201-04:002013-05-09T13:57:33.201-04:00I love the comment by the progressive activist, Ji...I love the comment by the progressive activist, Jim Hightower: There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos. I prefer not to be a dead armadillo myself.Leonie Haimsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17317355552298136811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33431390.post-3379357051830891752013-05-09T11:18:55.842-04:002013-05-09T11:18:55.842-04:00"Civility" is the feces-drenched ball-ga..."Civility" is the feces-drenched ball-gag the powerful shove into the discourse of their "inferiors" to deprive them of their only remaining weapon: their rage.<br />The attendees who booed Duncan would have no other possible opportunity or means by which so immediately and directly to express their revulsion and disgust with the CorpoRat factotum and all he represented. I'm actually disappointed that nobody made a big production of GETTING UP AND CONSPICUOUSLY LEAVING.Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!)https://www.blogger.com/profile/09205896988142798901noreply@blogger.com