Education Secretary Duncan’s new reform proposal: Hurricanes!
File under: Can you imagine if a Republican Education Secretary said this?
Via the Washington Post, Education Secretary Arne Duncan makes a clumsy attempt at pointing out that there was an educational silver lining to the catastrophic hurricane that devastated New Orleans.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan called Hurricane Katrina “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans” because it forced the community to take steps to improve low-performing public schools, according to excerpts from a television interview made public Friday.
Duncan’s interview on “Washington Watch With Roland Martin” was scheduled to air Sunday on TV One.
The excerpts quoted an exchange between Duncan and Martin about the effect of the 2005 hurricane on the city’s schools.
Martin was quoted as saying: “What’s amazing is New Orleans was devastated because of Hurricane Katrina, but because everything was wiped out, in essence, you are building from ground zero to change the dynamics of education in that city.”
Duncan was quoted as replying: “It’s a fascinating one. I spent a lot of time in New Orleans, and this is a tough thing to say, but let me be really honest. I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina.
Gee, if only the rotten Chicago schools that Duncan left behind could have such “good” fortune, eh?
***
Related:
*States to federal education bureacrats: Bug off.
*Team Obama rearranges deck chairs on education Titanic.
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Categories: Education
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Is the entire administration made up of crooks and insane people?
Education Secretary Duncan is most certainly a man of the Left-Progressive from the bone out. Human misery, the death of thousands-ten of thousands, means nothing if it serves the good of the collective. Man is to be perfected through the power of the all knowing state regardless of how many of the unperfect have to be sacrificed.
But a society that can tolerate the murder of millions of the innocent unborn hardens it’s heart. Education Secretary Duncan is a man of that hardened heart. As with the Baal worshipers of old they have no true compassion.
Though he tried to couch it with delicacy, it still amounts to a poor choice of words and creates a terrible vision of how to make schools better.
What a goddamned fool.
So, a benefit of the concentrations camps in WWII was that only the strongest survived?
Guess one could arguably consider him a goddamned evil fool.
These opposite-worldview holders never get it…and never will.
JEEZ that sounds familiar!!! How about, “NEVER LET A CRISIS GO TO WASTE”??? How do these BOZOS maintain any degree of INTEGRITY???
It’s Bush’s fault the schools improved. How interesting.
Actually, I agree with him. Devastation is the greatest equalizer, and forcing a community to rebuild can bring people together.
I spent several weeks in Mississippi after Katrina, helping the community and being a part of it at the same time.
Poor choice of words? Perhaps, but his sentiments are not insane.
What else can you expect from people who think the best thing that can happen to an unexpected child is an abortion?
INTEGRITY???
When you realize these Leftist sense of integrity is “what ever advances the collective is the truth” then I would have to say No, not as honest people understand integrity.
To understand the mind set of these people go to their original source: Plato’s Republic and his Philosopher Kings. Woodrow Wilson, both Roosevelts, Thomas Dewey and all the Progressives thought they were such Enlightened Beings subject to no rules or laws but their own good intentions. That is why they hate our Constitution-it restricts their power.
INTEGRITY??? I imagine Stalin, Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot all considered themselves men of integrity as they murdered millions for the advancement of the collective. President Obama’s friend William Ayres proposed such murder in this country and still does.
Do not go quietly in the night.
So is it okay if I wish for a giant tornado to whip through the halls of Congress and 1600 Penn Ave so we can start all over?
I agree with this.
And Katrina happened, can’t change that.
I too volunteered in Mississippi but flew into New Orleans. Driving east from the airport, one couldn’t help but think that someday hopefully, that blighted area would become a better place to live.
I’m glad this Duncan spoke candidly but yes, if a Repub had said the same words…big time blasted.
Short answer: Yes.
On January 30th, 2010 at 11:53 am, happy_mama said:
So is it okay if I wish for a giant tornado to whip through the halls of Congress and 1600 Penn Ave so we can start all over?
Dream big dreams……………….
That may be our only way out.
Tobacco Road. Blow it up, start all over again.
Impolitic of him to say so, and makes him appear indifferent to the tremendous destruction and human loss caused by the landfall of that storm. What kind of a clod could make such a statement?
Yes Arne, because we all know that Hurricanes somehow, magically, make kids want to go to school right?
The exodus out of New Orleans sure as hell didn’t help the school systems in Houston or Dallas much. Gang violence went up, street crime…etc. etc.
Have Houston and Dallas gotten things under control by now? I would think that ‘diluting the problem’ could have had a positive effect overall.
Social engineering wise…..
I think that what he was trying to say is that some schools can benefit from a wrecking ball to put them out of their misery. However, if the same subpar teachers and feckless administrators are rehired to run the replacements, where is the gain?
Great point. Maybe for the kids’ sake, they did end up in Texas!
We have our hurricanes, Haiti has its earthquake…another cow kicking over a lantern in Chicago maybe?
But the standard of education in this city will not change. Some things never change, and this is one of them.
Maybe “the big one” would fix our problems out here too. I’m prepared.
Phil – you folks out there in Kaliforni have been getting the “big hard one” for decades, and I’ve seen scant change. Anything a liberal touches turns to $h!t quickly. You have my sympathy.
Here’s an analogy: take a pack of wild dogs and put them in a pen with a different pack of wild dogs and see what happens. No positive outcome.
Maybe.
Lets see
The roof fell in, thats great
Work hard and improve your life, thats bad
Students pregnant and in gangs, thats great
Study hard and leave this life behind you, thats bad
I think I got it now
I wonder how it feels to hold a position that in and of itself is unconstitutional.
The best thing that could happen for education in America is for people to take their children out of state-run schools.
Hello all,
This figures in with the rest of this administrations mentality of never let a good disaster go to waste.
I just read Ms Pamela Geller’s article on their intentions for NASA to divert the majority of its’ assets toward ‘global warming’ studies.
The entire administration if full of loons that could not survive on their own. Their incompetence is shielded by the ignorance of those around them. A socialist ego-system where reality, physics and fact can rarely be found.
I linked the article here http://wp.me/pLGBN-1J
Hmmmm, how about Hurricane “Tea Party” to clean up our Capital?
Germany and Japan benifitted after WWII because we built them all new, efficient factories (much better than our own at the time). So, using Duncan’s phylosophy, WWII was the best thing to happen to Germany and Japan. (In some respects that’s actually true although not for the same reasons.)
“Washington Watch With Rowan & Martin”?
Education Secretary Arne Duncan seems to be confusing school buildings with schools. Great teachers make great schools – the building is only incidental…
Actually, one did happen once, back in the War of 1812, when the British took D.C.. It drove them out. Don’t know if it could work against liberals though. All I know is that Isabelle didn’t improve the Virginia schools; snowstorm today, won’t either.
By his logic, Haiti ought to become a paradise soon. The fact that 200,000 people had to die is a small price to pay in the minds of these ivory tower progressives – after all evolution is all about the struggle to survive, isn’t it?
I live in LA and so know what has happened to the schools. First, a large number of underachieveres were shipped off to other districts. Try looking at the preformance scores in Texas. Then a number of the teachers were also lost. And finally, vouchers. The system was allowed to go to a voucher system and suddenly things started to improve.
Just think…3 more years of this crap before America has a substantial chance for survival.
I guess we best laugh so we don’t cry.
“Washington Watch With Rowan & Martin”?
And here’s to whom the news wouldn’t be the news without the news…….here’s……Dickie.
We spent 35 million dollars on the space program. Now some people said that we should of given it to the poor. Davy Jones: Now what do the poor know about running a space program?
Mickey Dolenz
I agree with the premise limited to the school system. No human could have accomplished such a complete overall to the system without Jackson, Sharpton and the like bringing out the tired rhetoric they live by: RACIST, et al.
They can’t apply it to a storm so the charges were levied against the national leaders.
Many people don’t realize that what we accept as ordinary today, example pcs, came from the space program. We have some much to be thankful for, because of NASA, yet the President knows that there is no socialism in space or poor people out there…yet.
The prisons
Some very solid folks in space exploration were not for going back to the moon. They were for going to Mars. The spinoff technology from going to Mars would be huge and no way to tell how we would benefit. My dad was part of the space administration and race to the moon. I grew up in part on Merritt Island the south end of Cape Kennedy. No its not Cape Kennedy now. I understand. The list of unintended spinoff benefits from the race to the moon is probably endless. We’d see the same thing going to Mars.
Its not stop exploration in space. Its go to MARS Mr. President.
Very true. Right now, it’s technology that is stopping us. Sending a crew, feeding them, and all the other needs is a major problem. BTW, I had some good friends, years ago, JSM, on Merritt Island…Lt. Col. Martin (Tony, Judy, Terry). Still, a moonbase, would have been a stepping-stone there.
Yea…and Cheney could send Haliburton there to drill for oil!
No, but there’s a lot of room for Valerie to set up slums.
The President has a lot of global warming chronies at NASA, hense the change of venue.
I could not agree more.
Dear Mr. President
You should go to Mars immediately, and please take Bozo Biden, Holder, Napolitano, Hillary and if possible the Democrat Congressional Caucus with you. You’ll need a jacket as the average surface temperature there is -63 degrees. Also, the atmosphere is 95% Carbon Dioxide so bring something to breath. With this massive ammount of greenhouse gas, you and the Congress could easily pass a Cap & Tax bill to help the Martians deal with this crisis.
The Martians are a friendly lot, so no worries.
Bon Voyage Mr. President! Take your time and please forget to write.
No, Jangar. This is what really happened. Obama originally, went along with a moonbase; however, he had certain restrictions. All scientists, doctors and such, had to turn over all additional money that they earned, to the cooks, janitors and such, that were also working there, to balance each person’s income. He also insisted on a community organizer too. All healthcare was to be approved by one of his czars. Also, he insisted on a climate change team to assess any change to the moon, because of CO2 exhale from the astronauts. All animals were banned because of methane pollution. NASA couldn’t accept it.
Is he really that STUPID?
Yes, he is….
He’s a PROGRESSIVE (a.k.a. Communist)
It takes a special kind of stupidity to be a Communist in the most capitalist country in the world.
Since you bring up the snowstorm: what’s the deal with the vast inability of Southerners to drive in the snow and their propensity to do so?
You forgot someone with a distinct Negro dialect.
Send_me, I’m from New England, originally. I don’t know what’s the deal. I’m staying home, watching the 24 hours at Daytona, with the fireplace going, popcorn and fresh coffee. I did everything yesterday. No way I want to be out driving; it’s the other guy that scares me.
I just finished giving the driveway and sidewalks a once over. My small snowblower wasn’t made for all night storms
Here is a little better than NC. When I lived in NC we had a major snowstorm of 22″. My neighbors, two older ladies, called and asked me come and rescue them. They were out in their station wagon with bald tires. When I asked them why they were out, they responded ‘the snow was so beautiful, we were out video taping it.’
On a different note. I was the only one in my neighborhood that even owned a snow shovel, much less snow gear
People are people
Idiotic thing to say about the education but Katrina was the best thing to happen to the entire city.If you ever went to New Orleans outside of the French Quarter you know what I’m talking about.The bad part is Houston got most of the population and all that went with it.
So after decades of corrupt and inept leaders, the best way to solve the problem is to have a natural disaster? Wow! I’m impressed! Let’s get to work getting that “global warming” thing to kick in and make more natural disasters.
This has to be the most dumb administration of all time! Does anybody even have a solution to a problem? Bho only wants the ideas which will advance his progressive, dictatorial agenda. Conservative ideas need not be mentioned.
Just think of how much better off the Haitians are now. What a maroon!
Is this a real question?
If the secretary really wants to help the education system here’s a couple of things he can do:
1. Return control of schools to the local level.
2. Remove illegal aliens from them.
How about eliminating the US Dept of Education? Seems to me, that should clear up a good part of it.
I have seen Leftist commentary to this effect. “What’s the big deal about 3,ooo people dying in NY on 9/11? It’s a small price to pay….” They really believe this stuff, except when they can use the tradgedy to bludgeon conservatives. Traitor collaborators…
Just think, pretty soon he could have said the same thing about NYC after the KSM trial.
It’s Bastiat’s Broken Window thesis writ large.
Based on Duncan’s theory, we should nuke every poor performing schools system in the country so hey can rise from the ashes.
Call it the Phoenix Project…
Haven’t done anything yet, outside. We had 1200 accidents in SE Virginia yesterday, with 600 disabled vehicles. Car is safe outside the front door.
The is reminiscent of Marion Barry’s famous quote when he was Washinton D.C.’s mayor.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s track record in Chicago should have been a red flag. If the nation’s school superintendent’s were students in a school, Duncan would be relegated to special ed.
Arne Duncan – Department of Progressive Education (DOPE)
One of the theories out in LibLand was that Katrina was Bush’s fault. You know – Bush denies GW – Causes excess heat in tropics – causes Katrina – And in a stroke of evil genius aims it at New Orleans because he doesn’t like dark skinned African Americans with negro dialect. Or something.
So if we apply Duncan’s logic to this theory, Anthropogenic Global Warming can be a valuable tool to improve public education! D’OH.
* Never could figure out the inherant contradiction in BDS:
1. Bush is as dumb as a rock.
2. Bush is an evil genius who pulled off 9/11 and can manipulate the weather to achieve his evil ends!
Public school systems have been buried in stupid mandates and poor curricula. The only way to really improve the system might be to throw the whole system out and replace it with a system which focuses on actual learning as opposed to the twisted, cerebral thinking of the current educators. Duncan would replace the system with a better propaganda machine.
Well, I am going to say it one more time.
We could stop this nonsense TOMORROW if conservatives took their kids out of public school and put them in private schools or home schooled.
If you want to make a “seismic impact” on the utterly failed system, that would do it.
Can you imagine what they would do next week if 35% to 45% of all parents came down and removed their kids from these little Marxist institutes?
If you want to change America, start with your own kids! State run schools are no place for them!
Duncan did tell an inconvenient truth. Had a Republican told the same truth we all know what would have happened.
So maybe that would be the do over we’ve all prayed for. Not so bad eh?
Yet another dim bulb cabinet secretary who should be off the taxpayer’s dime and looking for a job in the Obama economy.
does this mean that barry hussien was the hurricane for the conservatives in this country? I’ve always believed that bad things have to happen to make people wake the frick up. Now *we* gotta be the hurricane that sweeps out washington.
How do the “dynamics” change when you replace a failed system with itself?
Sorry, y’all, but he’s completely correct.
Without the ground-up disaster, the unions, corruptocrats, nepotism, theft, graft and slime would have gone on in N.O. schools as it has since the Earth began to cool.
It took complete and utter destruction to move the deadwood, parasites and leeches on to greener pastures, and, with some strong prodding by the remaining families, an entirely new system has a chance to grow.
He really should slapped some of that there ‘nuance’ on his statement tho…
Look for a tornado in early November this year. Then Hurricane Voter in 2012 should finish the job.
Praying hard!
It may not have been PC to say but it is the truth.