It is a sorry state of affairs but American media always shows one side of the story. It never gives you both sides.  Case in point.  NBC’s Education Summit taking place this October.  This is like the Economic Summit in Geneva which gathers a lot of players together to determine the nature of the worlds economy on a global scale. This educational summit is supposed to do that for the American educational system. Except it doesn’t.

It is like playing craps with loaded dice.

Here is the list of all those attending….

Let us categorize it for you.
Think Tank Floosies and Paid Consultants:
Sara Martinez Tucker  CEO, National Math + Science Initiative
Melody Barnes Chair, Forum for Community Solutions & CEO, Melody Barnes Solutions, LLC
David Coleman  President and Chief Executive Officer, The College Board
Jonah Edelman  Co-Founder and CEO, Stand for Children
Anne T. Henderson   Author, Beyond the Bake Sale and Senior Consultant, Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Jon Schnur  Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, America Achieves
Joel Rose  Co-Founder and CEO, New Classrooms Innovation Partners
Paul Pastorek  Former Louisiana State Superintendent of Education and Member Emeritus, Chiefs for Change
Robert Wrubel   Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Vice President, Apollo Group

Corporate Buy In’s
Timothy M. Armstrong Chairman and CEO, AOL
Ben Kaufman  Founder and CEO, Quirky
Joel Klein  CEO, Amplify
Jose Ferreira  Founder and CEO, Knewton

Olympic Gold Medalist
Allyson Felix   Olympic Gold Medalist

University Personnel
Deborah Loewenberg Ball   Dean, School of Education, University of Michigan
Dr. Phil Fisher  Psychologist and Professor, University of Oregon
Freeman A. Hrabowski, III  President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Caroline Hoxby  Scott and Donya Bommer Professor in Economics, Stanford University
David Kirp  Author, Improbable Scholars and Professor of Public Policy, UC-Berkeley
Paul J. LeBlanc  President, Southern New Hampshire University
Dr. Andre Perry  Founding Dean of Urban Education, Davenport University
Dr. Daniel R. Porterfield   President, Franklin & Marshall College
Dr. William Schmidt  University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University

Charter School Investors

Diane Tavenner  Founder and CEO, Summit Public Schools

Educational Non Profits For Hire
Susan Benedetto  Co-Founder and Board President, Exploring the Arts
Tony Bennett Singer and Co-Founder and Board Member, Exploring the Arts
Dr. Pamela Cantor Founder, President and CEO, Turnaround for Children, Inc.
Marian Wright Edelman  Founder and President, The Children’s Defense Fund
Goldie Hawn  Actress and Founder and Board Chair, The Hawn Foundation
David Shapiro  President and CEO, National Mentoring Partnership
Dr. Dana L. Suskind  Director and Founder, Thirty Million Words Program
Dennis Van Roekel  President, National Education Association
Randi Weingarten  President, American Federation of Teachers
Anant Agarwal President, edX
Debra Eschmeyer  Co-Founder and VP of External Affairs, FoodCorps
Dr. Irwin Redlener  President and Co-Founder, Children’s Health Fund

Governors and Future and Former Governors:
Steve Beshear  Governor of Kentucky
Michael Bloomberg  Mayor of New York City
Jeb Bush Former Governor of Florida
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.  President, Purdue University
Bobby Jindal   Governor of Louisiana
Svante Myrick  Mayor of Ithaca
Jack Markell  Governor of Delaware
Deval Patrick Governor of Massachusetts
Mike Pence  Governor of Indiana

Investment Houses of Wall Street
Lloyd Blankfein  CEO and Chairman, Goldman Sachs
Ron Conway  Angel Investor
Deborah Quazzo   Founder and Managing Partner, GSV Advisors

People Who Actually Teach For A Career
Michele Brooks  Assistant Superintendent, Family and Student Engagement, Boston Public Schools
Syrena Burnam Science Teacher, North Star Academy (Charter)
Dr. Peter DeWitt  Principal, Poestenkill Elementary School
Tanisha Kwaaning   Teacher and OneGoal Program Director, Christian Fenger Academy High School

Superintendents
Dr. Meria Joel Carstarphen Superintendent, Austin Independent School District
Dr. John E. Deasy  Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District
Dr. William R. Hite, Jr.  Superintendent, School District of Philadelphia
Dr. Joshua P. Starr  Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools

Authors
Amanda Ripley  Author, The Smartest Kids in the World and TIME Investigative Journalist
M. Night Shyamalan  Screenwriter, Director and Producer; Author, I Got Schooled

Educational Bureaucrats:
Harriet Dichter  Executive Director, Delaware Office of Early Learning
Arne Duncan  U.S. Secretary of Education
Dr. Anthony Marx  President and CEO, The New York Public Library
Evelyne Santiago  City Year Corps Member
Brenda Van Gorder  Director of Preschool Services, Granite School District
Dennis Walcott   Chancellor, New York City Department of Education
Sean P. “Jack” Buckley  Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics

Parent
Jay Jefferson  Parent and PTA  President, Coral Gables, FL

That about does it.

This is almost as one sided as one could get.

  • Is there anyone who supports the Finnish Method Educational system?  No.
  • Is there anyone who supports giving  public teachers more tools to work with, yes it costs money?  No.
  • Is there anyone who thinks charters have ruined Public Schoolsby taking funds away from them?  No.
  • Is there anyone who thinks  that poverty is the root cause of our low scores? No.
  • Is there anyone who thinks that holding teachers accountable to a standardized test is silly?  No.
  • Is there anyone who thinks that  there is no current crises in education?  No.
  • Is there anyone who does not stand to profit financially from the continuation of throwning massive amounts of money towards Common Core?  No.

This is similar to forming a committee to choose the best NFL rookie coach and  making sure all its members are tied to the Philadelphia Eagles.

This is similar to forming a committee to choose Miss America and making sure all its judges come from the great state of Wyoming.

This is similar to forming a committee to choose the Oscars, and making sure all its voters have been affiliated with Peter Jackson films.

This is similar to forming a committee to choose the AVA, and making sure all its voters are under the age of 14, and,…  are girls.

NBC has lost all credibility in their attempt to pull this off.  The only reason they could get away with it and not be pilloried as they should be if they had tried the same with either football, beauty pageants, movies, or musical videos,… is that most Americans have no clue who these people are.

They are people who could care less about children.  Children to them, are things that they should get paid for.

Let me end with a question.  How can any news organization,  tasked with providing the American Public the breadth of all options in order to balance the propaganda that will always be spewed from those in power, capitulate so thoroughly to the “official line”  of those they are supposed to watch ?

The fight to get both sides of the issue before the American Public…. continues…