How Michelle Rhee recruits new “members”
Written by Diane Ravitch for her blog. Read the entire post here.
“A friend told me she signed an online petition on Change.org for some cause to make the world a better place, and promptly received an email from Michelle Rhee of Students First thanking her for joining. She was astonished to discover that she was a member of Students First, because she never signed anything that identified the group. This is apparently standard practice for Rhee’s group, as demonstrated by this blog by a teacher who also found herself to be a “member” of a group she had not joined.
When Rhee arrives in a state to demand an end to teachers’ job protections, she says that she has thousands and thousands of members in that state. That supposedly gives her more political clout, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars she can spend to elect candidates who want to crack down hard on teachers. Apparently a significant part of her “membership” consists of people who unwittingly signed up by agreeing to support something completely unrelated to Rhee and her cause of turning teachers into employees with no job protections.
Even more disturbing than the deceptive way that she garners members, however, is the deceptive message that she sends to her new “members.”… .Rhee should tell her “members” about the genuinely desperate
“A friend told me she signed an online petition on Change.org for some cause to make the world a better place, and promptly received an email from Michelle Rhee of Students First thanking her for joining. She was astonished to discover that she was a member of Students First, because she never signed anything that identified the group. This is apparently standard practice for Rhee’s group, as demonstrated by this blog by a teacher who also found herself to be a “member” of a group she had not joined.
When Rhee arrives in a state to demand an end to teachers’ job protections, she says that she has thousands and thousands of members in that state. That supposedly gives her more political clout, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars she can spend to elect candidates who want to crack down hard on teachers. Apparently a significant part of her “membership” consists of people who unwittingly signed up by agreeing to support something completely unrelated to Rhee and her cause of turning teachers into employees with no job protections.
Even more disturbing than the deceptive way that she garners members, however, is the deceptive message that she sends to her new “members.”… .Rhee should tell her “members” about the genuinely desperate
Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers
Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER
Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers
Just Like Michelle Rhee's
Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)
Other Astroturf lobbying groups
Just Like Michelle Rhee's
Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)
