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A Nazi Plot to Undermine Our State's Schools
March 12, 2004
The news is upbeat, following passage earlier this week of charter school legislation for Washington State. This editorial, too. So I almost hate to do this, but it can't go unreported. A suburban Seattle teachers union leader has written that Washington State charter school backers are on the same page as the Nazi Party. The article is titled, "The Forces Fighting For Charter Schools Won't Give Up." It's in "Update," a newsletter published earlier this month by The Federal Way Education Association. Federal Way is the state's seventh-largest district, just a bit south of Seattle. FWEA President Michael Comstock has the byline, and he writes: The forces for destruction of our public schools as we know them are on the march and we, as public educators, must form the first wall of defense...we must educate our parents, our legislators, our neighbors...To paraphrase what Joseph Gerbles (sic), the Nazi propaganda minister said, 'Repeat anything enough times loudly enough, no matter how untrue it is, and people will begin to believe it.' That is what we are beginning to see now. I verified with the FWEA's office the newsletter and contents were for real. My message for Comstock was returned by Charlie Haase, President of the Washington Education Association, who called Comstock's Nazi analogy "inappropriate" and "not helpful." Comstock also mistakenly wrote in the article that: There is now a bill before Congress that will allow anyone off the street to declare they are highly qualified to teach a subject even if they haven't graduated from high school....(by taking)...a fill-in-the-circles test... Not true, said Haase; there is no such bill before Congress. The federal Department of Education has been promoting initiatives on alternative teacher certification, but they "don't envision it for someone without a degree," Haase said. Some states are exploring such options, as well. I'm also a bit surprised that as a teacher, Comstock misspells Goebbels (his contribution to history was pretty significant) and the name of charter backer Chris Whittle ("Widdle"). Perhaps most revealing in Comstock's page-and-a-half screed, though, is this: this is about money to be made by getting the last big government-run monopoly that can be privatized out of the government's hands and replacing them with privatized schools nationwide. Everyone knows how effective government-run monopolies are. Turns out Washington charter schools will be public schools, as elsewhere. There's a pretty wide gulf between Comstock and his school board and superintendent, who supported charters with a resolution and legislative committee testimony this year. And the Federal Way School District already runs what may be the closest thing to a public charter school in Washington state, the rigorous college-prep Federal Way Public Academy. There's a lottery to get in every year. Guess all those parents and kids don't know it's part of Nazi plot. Posted by Matt Rosenberg at March 12, 2004 03:26 PM Trackback Pings TrackBack URL for this entry: Listed below are links to weblogs that reference A Nazi Plot to Undermine Our State's Schools:
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» anime rape from Tracked on August 20, 2005 06:32 PM Comments:
Privatization and vouchers are the answer to the education crisis we have in this country, not Charter schools. However, the fear that the teacher unions have Charter schools is not only humorous, but proof that they are afraid of losing any power/money/influence. It is simply amazing how Comstock, with all his spelling errors, tactless comparison of his of enemies to Nazis (really an insult to the victims of the Nazi regime), and ignorance of congressional education bills shows he is a prime example of how big of a failure our public schools are. Posted by: Naarski at March 13, 2004 03:58 PMThanks for exposing bumblers like Comstock. His self-fisking article simply bolsters the case FOR charter schools. Posted by: Scott at March 13, 2004 06:31 PM"Joseph Gerbles"? That idiot is a poster child for why there should be not only charter schools but vouchers. I'd say he has the brain of a gerbil, but I'd hate to insult small furry rodents. Posted by: Barbara Skolaut at March 15, 2004 06:06 PMdo you have a link to "The Forces Fighting For Charter Schools Won't Give Up," or is it an offline letter? Posted by: unkonwn at March 15, 2004 07:30 PMI'm sorry to say I'm a graduate of the Federal Way School District ('93). I seem to recall this moron's name, and if I'm right his current stupidity is nothing new. While I feel I had a decent education, as well as any in an American public school, there were some major problems (with faculty and administrative policies) even then, and it sounds like things have only gone downhill. What a shame and an embarassment. Posted by: juliebjorn at March 16, 2004 10:55 AMPost a comment
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