She's one
of the black faces whose job it is to sell us just enough of the
nonsense to get us all to the polls in 2016 for a pro-privatization
Democrat instead of the pro-privatization Republican. This is why
leading Democratic contenders bestow the traditional recognition upon
the various flavors of BlackLivesMatter.
...... Bruce A. Dixon, managing editor at Black Agenda Report:
TFA/BlackLivesMatter/CampaignZero Activist Brittney Packnett (Almost) Tries to Defend the Indefensible
By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
Stung
by growing public recognition of Teach For America's heinous role in
destabilizing communites and destroying public education,
CampaignZero/BlackLivesMatter activist & TFA's Brittney Packnett
took to Huffington Post last week to defend herself and TFA's mission.
But school privatization is so unpopular she had to resort to
misdirection and mumbling about her St. Louis orgins and supposed
conspiracy theories against her instead.
TFA/BlackLivesMatter/CampaignZero Activist Brittney Packnett (Almost) Tries to Defend the Indefensible
As
the pivotal role of Teach For America in the elite bipartisan drive to
privatize public education comes more sharply into public view, it's
natural that TFA operatives and apologists will try to defend their
missions and careers. That's what Brittney Packnett's sad and
disingenuous “Let's Get Back To Work” piece in Huffington Post last week was about.
Packnett's
problem however, and Teach For America's too is that their mission so
clearly indefensible that they can't really talk about what Teach For
America actually does, and why it does those things.
TFA,
whose St. Louis director is Ms. Packnett, cannot just come out and say
they spend hundreds of millions a year in corporate and government funds
replacing experienced, qualified, mostly black public school teachers
with undertrained and mostly white temps to facilitate the policy goal
of their corporate funders, which is the privatization of public
education.
-
it
removed from many school workplaces an entire layer of experienced
educators with institutional knowledge and local ties -- teachers and
administrators accustomed to working together who know how to run their
classrooms and their school without their new “run-the-school-like-a-business” bosses;
-
it
lowered the quality of engagement and instruction with students in the
schools where TFA recruits replaced experienced teachers, making the
school less safe and attractive for those parents who could exercise the
option to leave;
-
it
facilitated school management by instability and fear, and with the
closing and privatizing of thousands of schools nationwide already a
fact, it contributed to a culture of rootless classroom short-timers on
their way somewhere else;
These
are all indisputable outcomes of Teach For America's practices in
African American communities around the country, and Brittney Packnett
touches none of them, because she quite simply can't. School
privatization, the ultimate goal of TFA's funders, is so indefensible
and wildly unpopular that even privatizing politicians dare not utter
the word aloud.
Instead
Packnett drops a meaningless stat about how many TFA grads stay in
education, without telling us that a huge share of these end up not in
the classroom but as the six figure a year administrators who do the
actual firing of existing teachers, the Department of Education
officials who award school funding based on how many teachers are fired
and how many schools are privatized, or working for the think tanks the
Obama administration allowed to write Race To The Top, its signature
education program.
So
the only defenses Packnett and those like her can mount are
distractions and misdirections, and not even very good ones. Her
Huffington Post piece talks about simple minded “conspiracy theories”
against her. It reminds us that she lived only a short distance from
Michael Brown was shot, and claims she's in it for the kids and the
families and all the right reasons. Sure.
Packnett says “It is easy to portray me as the evil Trojan Horse.” She's right. It IS easy to hang that on her and Deray McKesson
and the rest of the TFA herd because quite simply it's true. She's one
of the black faces whose job it is to sell us just enough of the
nonsense to get us all to the polls in 2016 for a pro-privatization
Democrat instead of the pro-privatization Republican. This is why
leading Democratic contenders bestow the traditional recognition upon
the various flavors of BlackLivesMatter.
To be sure, Teach For America is only a part of the privatization juggernaut. Some other parts of the machine include the standardized testing industry, the private firms that certify school districts, and the diploma mills which certify “run-the-school-like-a-business”
principals and administrators. Former Chicago Public Schools chief
Barbara Byrd Bennett is pleading guilty to a kickback scheme involving
one such “academy” and in the current session of Congress eight members of the Congressional Black Caucus
“abstained” from voting on a bill that would have directed the
Department of Education to investigate crooks and conflicts of interest
in the charter school industry... Packnett's colleagues and sponsors
among them. Some of these black congressional reps were doubtless among
the boosters of her “braintrust” gathering at the Congressional Black
Caucus's annual meeting in DC this September.
And
lest one imagine there's a great deal of difference between the two
branches of BlackLivesMatter, CBC at the same time was also courting the
"official" BlackLivesMatter "co-creators" as well.
The
one piece of Packnett's Huffington Post piece that seems absolutely
sincere was its “Let's Get Back To Work” title. Certainly Packnett and
TFA would like a lot less attention paid to what they actually are, and
what TFA actually does, so they can get back to work. But they ain't workin' for us.
Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report,
and a member of the state committee of the Ga Green Party. He lives and
works near Marietta GA and can be reached via email at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com.
Yup. These two are quite amazing. They don't care if their Moms, Dads, Aunts, or Uncles got fired by TFA, as long as they themselves got a job with a title. And, who cares if TFA's own research says the kids learned better from the teachers that TFA fired? I mean, that's just some silly trivia that needs to be "messaged," right?
ReplyDeleteLesson of the Day" Hypocrites and liars who wish to promote their own self interests come in all different colors. Roseanne McCosh PS 8x
ReplyDeleteFunny how she expresses so much solidarity with Mike Brown. Yet, even the pro charter St. Louis Post Dispatch says the influx of TFA teachers was instrumental in destroying Normandy High School (Mike's Alma Mater). Normandy is now re-hiring some of those they pushed out years ago b/c the TFA'rs were completely unable to connect and deliver.
ReplyDeleteThe new Sup of Normandy is a real educator; someone from whom Deray and Packnett could learn a lot. He's turned around other districts and will do the same at Normandy. Deray and Packnett are great protestors. But, when it comes down to doing the hard work, best to leave it to the grown-ups. Deray and Packnett did a lot to amplify the voices of BLM. Kudos. But, they've shown they are completely unable to deliver as educators. I hope they find positions for which they are well-suited. They are dynamic and motivated.