Bad O-PR-ah
Yesterday I watched, for the first time, an episode of Oprah’s new reality show ‘Blackboard Wars.’ The show chronicles a first year ‘turnaround’ high school in New Orleans which has been taken over by a charter company. New Orleans is ‘ground zero’ for the corporate reform model with a TFAer as state education commissioner and the Recovery School District which is mostly charters, often run and staffed by TFAers.
I had not planned to watch this show and avoided the first two episodes. I know that a lot of reality shows can be manipulated in the editing room, and I thought that this show would be one that exaggerates the minor successes that this school might have while conveniently ignoring their problems. Then I started hearing that the show was, at least for the beginning episodes, portraying the school as a complete mess.
So I watched the third episode which centered on the character Ms. Cobb who is, though they conceal this from
I had not planned to watch this show and avoided the first two episodes. I know that a lot of reality shows can be manipulated in the editing room, and I thought that this show would be one that exaggerates the minor successes that this school might have while conveniently ignoring their problems. Then I started hearing that the show was, at least for the beginning episodes, portraying the school as a complete mess.
So I watched the third episode which centered on the character Ms. Cobb who is, though they conceal this from