This article appeared in TIME magazine in November 2008...how would you deal with this person as your boss/colleague? Do you think what she is doing is for the common good? Read the article and post your interpretation.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862444,00.html
Proactive Pathways for Engagement
20 hours ago
If this person was my boss or colleague, I would "get on board" or get out of the way. My decision would depend on what she thinks of me as a teacher. In the current social climate I think anybody who is trying to weed out incompetence and redundant bureaucracy is working towards the common good. This brand of Iconoclasm will not always be required, but it definitely has a place depending on the social context.
ReplyDeleteIf we can identify teachers and bureaucrats who are poor performers, then why should they not be removed from their positions? They might be happier doing something they're good at?
Wow, this is a tough one. I can see that she is getting the job done, however, we have to remember that the "big wheel" she is turing, is a people oriented one. When the article talks about her not looking people in the eye, as she types away on her blackberry, I can see people getting very fed up with this type of attitude. One the one hand, yes she is making changes, but at the expense of what, or who? Will her changes be viewed as a good thing for a few yrs and then her attitude take over peoples views of all the good she is doing? Hmmm, im not too sure I would want to work for a person like this. Yes she will make changes, but what happens when life gets in the way? Would it be a one shot deal when it came to my job??
ReplyDeleteIf this person was my boss, I would “get on board”. I would like to know what opinion she has about me. I love to take constructive criticism.
ReplyDeleteSometime, we as educators know that traditional instructions don’t work in today’s classroom but, we want to practise these methods. As a result, graduation rate falls dramatically. I know it is difficult to make changes in our teaching methods. If a teacher is passionate about her job, she will always try new things to acknowledge the needs of diverse community. Teachers’ main objective should be students’ learning and if they can not achieve this goal, they should be removed from their positions.
After reading the Time Magazine article about Michelle Rhee and her challenges, she strikes me as a very caring person. Unlike the Freirean approach, Rhee was not pressured by parents, community organizations, or educational reform associations to change the school system. She recognized the educational and social injustice that was brought to her attention by a grade eleven student, Allante Rhodes, who wanted nothing more than the opportunity to practice MS Word on a computer to enhance his educational opportunities to attend college. I think Rhodes pleading message triggered her determination and dedication to reform the educational system.
ReplyDeleteShortly after her parents immigrated to the U. S., Rhee’s father took the time to re-educate himself as a specialist in the health sciences and her mother started a small business. The steps taken by her parents to assimilate themselves in their new country are consistent with Ogbu’s research that would define them as Immigrant Minorities. The Rhee family came to the U.S. knowing the differences and challenges ahead of them, but as a married couple they did the best they could to improve their economic, political, and or social opportunities.
Rhee attended a private school and benefitted from what Anyon’s research would be indicated as an affluent school system. She was exposed to a teaching environment where critical thinking, analysis, and reasoning were part of the curriculum instead of just memorizing facts to ‘pass the test’. Her domestic and educational upbringing helped to shape her character and value system so she in turn shared the same values as her parents and probably with a stronger conviction because she became an educator after graduation. I also believe that Rhee had a double exposure of reconstructivism in terms of a philosophy of education from both her parents and the private school her parents registered her to study at. I would even suggest that her liberating education made her into a transforming intellectual. According to Aronowitz and Giroux, a transforming intellectual is defined as one who is self-consciously critical of inequities in our society. As I read this article, I see many descriptors that fit this definition very well.
In summary, this young superintendent is a unique, strong-willed, unwavering, highly focused, determined, self-motivated, tough-skinned, conscious driven, righteous, devoted, justice minded individual. I strongly believe she sees the current educational system unjust and that is why she is vigorously trying to reform it since she has been given the power to do so. We are unique animals that have the potential to learn, to think, to reason, to invent, to evolve, and to communicate orally, pictorially, and in writing. Why not test our limits? Why not let the learning process lead us down a path of self-discovery and deepen our appreciation just how special we are? It is a shame to waste human potential and to let the current educational system steer students to mature absent of meaning. Rhee is heading in the right direction. It will take a long time for the new system to adjust and function well. Hopefully, the system will last long enough for bitter feelings to wane as the results show how successful her plan had become. In my opinion, she should be given a medal by the President of the United States in praise and recognition of her contribution and relentless effort. I admire and support her commitment.
What jumped out most to me reading this article was that Rhee actually met with a student who had contacted her. An administrator who is engaging at the street level. Who better to uncover the problems within schools than students themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe article mentioned the student, Rhodes speaking about Rhee to his classmates and the students writing an agenda for a meeting. These are students at an 'at-risk' school. When given the opportunity to be heard, these students pulled together.
Rhee not being from Washington may be viewed as problematic, but perhaps it is more of a help than a hinderance. If she realizes that she is unfamiliar with the problems of this particular area maybe she will be more likely to learn about all of the issues, to discover the problems with an outside perspective.
The problem with so many people in positions of power is that they do not know that there are many things that they don't know. When this is the case, serious problems begin to arise.
An outsider may bring a fresh perspective, an awareness that they have no idea what is going, and thus they must educate themselves about the issues.
If I had to deal with an administrator like this, I think I would jump on board. I feel what she is doing is right. However, one area that I did not like was how some of the teachers’ success rates were based on the test scores of their students. I feel that this makes the teacher teach to the test to keep their job and is not this what we are trying to get away from. Therefore, in that perspective it would be hard for me to get on board of her big plan.
ReplyDeleteStaying with your students for two years was something that I would like. I would like to see them succeed. This reminds me of freedom writers (I know we have not watch it yet on our class) how she fights to stay with her students for their senior year.
Taking a low-level school and turning it into an upper level, successful school, I something I would definitely be on board with. My overall goal as a teacher is the success of my students.
Wow, I am not impressed. I do agree that the education system needs to be treated with less "touchy feeling" approaches however, I do not agree with an administrator walking into schools and disrespecting individuals. If you want respect you need to earn it. She is a considered to be a professional and should act accordingly. When you are a good boss, people want to work for you and do their best. You are their as a support but as a teacher to guide them and show them ways to improve. The one teacher, who was fired but had good intentions, do you not think this person may have been better of to be coached and counseled first? If she was good hearted and wanted to do a good job, do you not think she would have been open to changing her methods?? Why do you think that unions where created in the first place? To protect people from poisoned working environments. People should not be scared to go to work!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I must make my self clear I do agree if someone is not doing their job, especially when it involves children some form of consequences should be imposed! I am just completely against the way Ms Rhee composes herself, as it is completely unprofessional!
I am really unsure how I would deal with someone like this. As a future teacher my job is to educate and prepare students for their futures. So if Ms. Rhee had some new ideas that would benefit my students I would definitely like to try them out- However if she was bluntly disrespectful, I would have a hard time with this. I am just not sure.
I am on the fence with this article. Although I think it is necessary to focus on a district in which students are suffering I think Ms. Rhee assumed teachers were to blame for the lack of a student's education. She steered away from the lack of tools and sources teachers had and directed her attention to the poor quality of teaching from teachers. I understand if a teacher is not doing the best they can to ensure a student is benefitting from their learning there has to be something that is done but there are always two sides to the story. This situation would have been completely different if a teacher would have e-mailed Ms. Rhee. I think that if implementing change is something Ms. Rhee felt appropriate she seemed to be doing a good job but I wish she would have done her research on the background history of the district. By the way she was from Ohio which can spark another issue to be addressed. I am glad she actually addressed the issue of a student which seems to be a rarity but she is not from this area which makes it funny to believe she would address a student in a district half way across the country.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I can't even believe that Rhee was given the position to run the school district with NO experience. How does that even happen? and especially placing her in a school that has such poor statistics. However, what she did once there was completely awful. She downright blamed the teachers for the lack of education. The numbers she fired was astonishing and quite frankly unbelievable. She removed what she believed to be the 'weakest teachers' however she only sat in on the class for a mere minute or two. Then, to top it off, she even makes comments about decisions she made she realizes may have been compeltely wrong. So far, I am definately not supportive of or in tune with anything she has done or says. I do not think she is doing any of this for the common good because she does not even give teachers a change. Instead, she blames students lack of education on the teachers. She needs to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and realize there is a larger underling problem than the teachers. When it comes to dealing with her as a colleague or boss, I am not sure what i would do. I think it takes a strong type of person to stand up to her, especially a teacher who would have their job on the line. Basically, I think I would just teach to the best of my ability and if I got fired for that I would go somewhere else where I would feel more accepted. Overall, I hope this situation does not occur again in the field of education for the sake of present and students.
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