Strange interview with Michelle Rhee in the NYT. Odd questions.

[madfloridian]

This is part of an interview the New York Times did with Michelle Rhee as part of her massive PR for the release of her new book.

She's also on ABC's This Week on Sunday.

This has been edited from the original, so of course that makes me wonder what was in the original. It is such a strange interview with such odd questions.

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/magazine/michelle-rhee-gets-an-education.html?_r=0">Michelle Rhee Gets an Education

Questions in bold:

In your new book, “Radical,” you recount that while growing up in a Korean-American household in Toledo, if your brother brought home a bad grade, your mother would ground you, not him. Can you explain her thinking?

My mother is a very traditional Korean mom. I grew up with clear roles as the girl of the family, and one of them was being responsible for my brothers and specifically to make sure my younger brother was doing well in school. Korean culture is very lenient on boys.

You write that you were offended by a sign in a Washington public school that read, “Teachers cannot make up for what parents and students will not do.” That didn’t make sense to you?

As educators, we have to approach our job believing that anything is possible. It is incredibly important that we constantly communicate to kids that they can accomplish anything when they put their minds to it.

She failed to address that 2nd question. It's a very serious issue.

“Teachers cannot make up for what parents and students will not do.”

That is completely unequivocally true. I used that statement in parent conferences often. I never had a parent take issue with it or disagree. It is the simple truth.

The new education reforms only demand from the teachers. If standardized test scores are not good, the blame is only on the teacher. They will close schools and fire teachers based on those scores. But there are no consequences for parent or student.

They are free to go to other schools feeling they have not failed, only the teachers and the school.

It would be so simple to counteract the damage Rhee has done to teachers and public schools. Arne Duncan's voice would help defray some of the harm done, but there is not a word from him.

The biggest puffy question she was asked was if she had ever been fired. Her answer was because she made neat sundaes when the management wanted sloppy ones.

Once. I worked at an ice-cream parlor in college, and they were famous for making sundaes sloppily and having the hot fudge rolling over the sides. I liked to make my sundaes neat so that all the ice cream stayed in the bowl and whatnot. They didn’t like that.

Crossposted at DU3

[No Elephants]

1. Could it possibly be that she is saying that you never give up on a kid, no matter what?

From everything I know of her, that seems very unlikely, but that is how it came across to me.

[Enthusiast]

2. Those are some weird assed questions.

And she is a weirdo!

I liked to make my sundaes neat? Are you fucking kidding me? I can picture her taking 15 minutes making a sundae that should have taken only one minute.

This kind of thing is what happens when a new employee goes through their entire life without scrutiny and criticism of any kind. I suspect she's like a chickenhawk of jobs and employment. She doesn't know what it is like to be under fire. That would be perfectly alright if our education wasn't in jeopardy through her efforts.