WHY TRUMPLANDIA ALTERNATIVE FACTS ARE BETTER THAN THE TRUTH (A SCIENTIFIC COMPARISON)

WHY TRUMPLANDIA ALTERNATIVE FACTS  ARE BETTER THAN THE TRUTH (A SCIENTIFIC COMPARISON)

I. Credibility 
All ALTERNATIVE FACTS are designed to seem true. The expert liar carefully uses elements that seem probable and logical and are therefore easy to believe. On the other hand, The Truth is often illogical, wildly improbable and hard to explain.
ALTERNATIVE FACTS are more believable than The Truth. 

II. Reliability 
The Truth is spontaneous, accidental and unpredictable. ALTERNATIVE FACTS, however, can be planned in detail long in advance and are thus guaranteed to turn out as predicted. 
ALTERNATIVE FACTS are more dependable than The Truth. 

III. Economy 
To be The Truth, an account of a given event must be completely accurate. This requires painstaking resourcefulness, expensive research, time-consuming attention to detail, complex logistics and thoroughness. In spite of all that, some people will believe it and others will not. ALTERNATIVE FACTS will produce identical results without all the fuss and bother. 
ALTERNATIVE FACTS are simpler than Truth; ALTERNATIVE FACTS cost less than Truth in time, money and effort. 

IV. Value 
The Truth can be found anywhere; it belongs to anybody who finds it, absolutely free. ALTERNATIVE FACTS are custom-made! often by experts, and the best ones are highly polished works of art. 
ALTERNATIVE FACTS are worth more money than Truth. Have you ever heard of anybody
bribing a witness to tell The Truth? 

V. Respectability
A. Great fortunes have been made by selling ALTERNATIVE FACTS to the public. The people who sell these ALTERNATIVE FACTS are often grateful to the gullible consumers, so they endow libraries and universities and cultural centers.

B. Nobody ever made a fortune selling The Truth. First of all, as already stated, 
The Truth is free. The only people who will pay money for The Truth are people who are
being blackmailed-and they are only buying The Truth so they can hide it before anybody else sees it.  ALTERNATIVE FACTS lead to libraries and universities, while The Truth leads to black- mail. 

VI. Stability
A. Take one thousand parts Truth, add one part ALTERNATIVE FACTS. Result: ALTERNATIVE FACTS. 

B. Take one-thousandth part ALTERNATIVE FACTS, add one part Truth. Result: again,  ALTERNATIVE FACTS. 

C. Note that you can make  ALTERNATIVE FACTS out of The Truth, but you
can't make The Truth out of  ALTERNATIVE FACTS. 
ALTERNATIVE FACTS are stronger and last longer than The Truth. 

VII. Imagination 
In reporting The Truth, a person must research the precise facts and stick to them exactly as they occurred. The liar can report the same incident without doing any research, merely saying what ever comes to his mind and filling in "details" according to his fancy.  
ALTERNATIVE FACTS are more creative than Truth. 

VIII. Recognizability
People are accustomed to hearing ALTERNATIVE FACTS all the time. If you tell The Truth, people will think you are lying. If you convince them you are telling The Truth, they will become suspicious. Why is he suddenly telling The Truth? What's going on? 

IX. Supply and Demand 
A. In describing any given incident, only one version can possibly be The Truth, whereas the number of ALTERNATIVE FACTS possible is unlimited. Obviously ALTERNATIVE FACTS are in far greater supply than Truth. 
B. There is a great demand for ALTERNATIVE FACTS if they are flattering, if they build up one's hopes, if they help one escape reality or if they promise health, wealth, power or potency. Nobody is very anxious to hear The Truth. The only people who demand The Truth are those who are investigating something (lawyers, etc.)-and they only want The Truth to prove somebody is lying. 

ALTERNATIVE FACTS are the acceptable medium of exchange in our society. They are in good supply and the demand for them remains strong. The Truth is in extremely short supply, but even this tiny supply far exceeds the demand. Thus, in our society, Truth occupies a position identical to that of dinosaur shit. 

Conclusions:

ALTERNATIVE FACTS are superior to Truth in numerous ways. 
ALTERNATIVE FACTS are more ingenious; ALTERNATIVE FACTS make the world seem more pleasant; 

ALTERNATIVE FACTS are less embarrassing than Truth, and less frightening. Furthermore, in fields such as diplomacy, statesmanship, merchandising, advertising, public relations and bookeeping, The Truth is an out-and-out handicap. In friendship, Truth is harmful; in love, it is disastrous. 

My prediction is that The Truth will be phased out of our society, almost unnoticed, in less than a generation. It will become a curio like the two-dollar bill. Probably there will be museums where samples of The Truth will be displayed for the benefit of curious children who want to know what it was like. One can only hope that the curators of these Truth Museums will have the good taste not to fake the exhibits. 

The Truth is that The Truth has become old-fashioned. It's full of odd-shaped little nooks and crannies, like so many old fashioned things, some people find them fascinating, but most people find them a pain in the neck. For those who care, it is a wonderful feeling to hold The Truth in your possession, to keep it and cherish it, never to misuse it, then to pass it along freely to anyone who wants it, giving it to them undamaged, unpainted, un added to and unsubstracted from and every bit as glowingly alive as ever. To find all those joys in the handling of The Truth is a labor of love, but most of us in today's society have no time for such things. 


Excerpts from:

The Rape of the A*P*E* is a book by Allan Sherman, published in September 1973 by the Putnam Publishing Group,^[1] regarding sex and its historical repression and resurgence in the United States.^[2][3] The "A.P.E." on the title is a play on the words "ape" and the "American Puritan Ethic".

The book was the subject of much publicity, when it appeared, due to both its subject and author. Despite his ill health at the time, Sherman went on a two-week media tour to promote The Rape and appeared on many radio shows.^[3] He died on November 20, 1973, just two months after the book was published.

On Saturday four million in the streets made America great. | Fred Klonsky

On Saturday four million in the streets made America great. | Fred Klonsky:

On Saturday four million in the streets made America great.

“The Democratic Party has got to make it very clear that they are prepared to stand up to powerful special interests like the pharmaceutical industry and like Wall Street, and they’re not going to win elections and they’re not going to be doing the right thing for the American people unless they have the guts to do that,” said Sanders, the leader of outreach efforts for Senate Democrats. USA Today

.

Cleveland coach Greg Popovich on Trump and the Women’s March (low sound).

Continue Reading: On Saturday four million in the streets made America great. | Fred Klonsky:

Testing has elevated assessment above curriculum and pedagogy

Testing has elevated assessment above curriculum and pedagogy:

'Whether students take too many tests misses the point: testing has elevated assessment above pedagogy'

The quantitative amount of testing is not the issue; the point is the effect of testing on education: over-testing has bent teaching out of shape, writes one leading educationist

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s new chief inspector, says it is a myth that children in England are overtested, pointing to international comparative studies from Cambridge Assessment.

The same claim has been made by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Andreas Schleicher with reference to testing in the US.

In using the word "myth", both seek to rebut a "widely held but false idea".

However, the idea that we overtest our students cannot be rebutted simply by appeal to other children in other places, if they are being over-tested as well.

It may be that our students are no more tested than those in, say, the United States. But what help is that when the debate about testing is, if anything, even more heated there than in England?

Diane Ravitch has called standardised testing “the monster that ate American education”, and urges parents and states to boycott them.

Pasi Sahlberg is quite clear on the narrowing effects of standardised testing in the US. ED Hirsch – not exactly a cheerleader for progressive education – has shown how “invalid” tests have bent teaching and learning out of shape.

A better definition of "myth" is the more technical anthropological one of a "a traditional story, concerning the history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events."

Through this prism, the quantitative amount of testing is not the point; the point is the effect of the testing on education, which depends on context and on how the tests are perceived.

In England, the prevalence of high-stakes testing linked to school status, teacher accountability and Testing has elevated assessment above curriculum and pedagogy:

CURMUDGUCATION: The Most Troubling Lie

CURMUDGUCATION: The Most Troubling Lie:

The Most Troubling Lie

Sure, we know that Trump has a tendency to tell whoppers, stretch the facts, and just make shit up. But his insistence yesterday that his inauguration crowd was not smaller than Obama's 2009 inauguration crowd-- well, this one I find extra troubling. Here's why.

It's so transparent. It's not like you can look at the photos, squint, and say, yeah, I can see how if you're really a fan of Trump, you would interpret his crowd as larger. This lie is literally "Who are you going to believe. Me, or your own eyes?" The "they were slowed down by the security" lasted five minutes until the Secret Service said, "No, we weren't doing that."

It's unnecessary. Trump's crew could have spun this any number of ways. They could have said that of course, 2009 was a large crowd, because it was an historic occasion with the installation of the first black President ever. They could have plead weather-- on Friday, it sucked. They could have used any number of spins to explain away the difference in crowd sizes-- but, no. They could have just pulled out a picture from Obama's second inauguration, or either Bush. But no-- they had to just deny reality.

It's pointless. Sure, our leaders often lie to us, but generally it's in the service of some policy goal, because politicians often succumb to "the end justifies the means" logic. So they do things like tell CURMUDGUCATION: The Most Troubling Lie:

Big Education Ape: New White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Statement: Size Matters - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/01/new-white-house-press-secretary-sean.html

What Trump said when he signed the executive order on Betsy DeVos, his education nominee - The Washington Post

What Trump said when he signed the executive order on Betsy DeVos, his education nominee - The Washington Post:

What Trump said when he signed the executive order on Betsy DeVos, his education nominee

Shortly after Donald Trump took the oath of office and become the 45th president of the United States on Jan. 20, he signed a series of executive orders, many of them formal nominations for his Cabinet and other positions.

One after one, Trump signed nomination papers, frequently — thought not always — making a comment about the person he had tapped for a specific job.

For Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor tapped by Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, he said while signing, “I think Nikki is going to do a good job. A great job…”

For Rick Perry, the former Texas governor he picked to run the Energy Department, he said, “He did very well yesterday,” referring to Perry’s confirmation hearing before a Senate panel.

For Terry Branstad, a former Iowa governor who will serve as Trump’s ambassador to China, he said, among other things, “China loves him, and he loves China. Good man.” And he noted more than once that Branstad was the longest-serving governor in American history.

Trump said that Tom Price, a surgeon picked to head the Department of Health and Human Services, was going to do “a terrific job.”

For Betsy DeVos, the Michigan billionaire he chose for education secretary (who had a contentious hearing on Jan. 17 before the Senate education committee), he said, while looking around: “Ah, Betsy. Education. Right?”

[Six astonishing things Betsy DeVos said — and refused to say — at her confirmation hearing]

[Betsy DeVos apparently ‘confused’ about federal law protecting students with disabilities]

 What Trump said when he signed the executive order on Betsy DeVos, his education nominee - The Washington Post:

Valerie Strauss covers education and runs The Answer Sheet blog.

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CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Let's Not Talk About Trump Edition (1/22)

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Let's Not Talk About Trump Edition (1/22):

ICYMI: Let's Not Talk About Trump Edition (1/22)

The problem with living through big moments in history is that everybody has to talk about them constantly while they're happening. Remember when the interwebs were all about cute cat pictures? Boy, those were the days.

Meanwhile, remember to post and pass on things that speak to you. 

Reading Is Knowledge

Horatio Speaks offers some words about the importance of content in reading (as opposed to the reformy idea that reading is just some free-floating skills).

How Did the Department of Defense End up in My Child's Classroom

Another good big-picture look at the continuing push to digitize student information and machine-ify education.

The Fight- Falling in Love

This week I realized that Amy Tan was not on my blogroll (that list of blogs to the right that you should be checking out) and I'm happy to correct that oversight with this great piece about how to pick up and regain focus.

Don't Raise Teacher Pay (To Be Nice)

A great rebuttal to one of my favorite bad arguments in favor of teacher pay increases.

How the Pioneers of the MOOC Got It Wrong

I did write about this piece this week, but if you missed that, read this article about how the launchers of MOOCery screwed up some pretty basic fundamentals

Little Nesting Doll 

A new-to-me blog by an American mother raising four kids in Great Britain. Interesting and different perspective.

Building Bridges Beats Building Walls

Russ Walsh with some important reminders about what sort of structures best serve us all.

Democrats Reject Her But They Helped Pave the Road to Betsy DeVos

Valerie Strauss offers some perspective on why leading Democrats don't get to pretend that Betsy DeVos is a shocking departure from the proper educational path

Educational Justice in the Next Four Years

The Annenberg Institute offers a whole big series of interviews about how to approach the next four years of education with an eye on justice and equity. I found this because one of the interviewees is Jose Vilson, but there are a great thought-provoking bunch of pieces here.

 CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Let's Not Talk About Trump Edition (1/22):

Big Education Ape: Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: Meanwhile In Switzerland... + Confessions of a Trumpistan Teacher - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/01/catch-up-with-curmudgucation.html

Russ on Reading: No, Betsy, School Choice Is Not a Good Thing

Russ on Reading: No, Betsy, School Choice Is Not a Good Thing:

No, Betsy, School Choice Is Not a Good Thing

With choice champion, Betsy DeVos, under consideration for Secretary of Education, I thought it would be a good time to revisit what school choice really means. This post is adapted from my book, A Parent's Guide to Public Education in the 21st Century, published by Garn Press.

What could be more American than choice? The country was founded on the principle of freedom of choice in speech, in religion, in the press, in assembly. Corporate education reformers tap into this most American of values by stating that parents, who after all pay for their child’s education through taxes, should have choice in where they send their children to school. If a school is not performing well, and for the reformers this means the school is achieving low test scores, parents should have the right to choose a different school. As reformers are often heard to say, “zip code should not be destiny.” In other words, where you go to school and the quality of the school you go to should not be determined by where you live. 

For wealthy Americans, choice has always been available. Affluent parents have the option of sending their children to a private school of their choosing – a school that offers the type of curriculum and academic and social environment the parents find desirable. Less affluent middle-class families often exercise their choice by where they choose to live. I was once on a lengthy flight out of Newark, New Jersey’s Liberty Airport, seated next to an Indian-American man who lived in northern New Jersey. We got into a conversation where I learned that he had two young children and I happened to mention the school district I worked in. The man said, “Oh yes, I know the district well, my wife and I are saving to move there because we have heard the schools are so good.”

This story is repeated over and over throughout the country daily and real estate agents are sure to include the quality of the schools in their sales pitch when the schools have a good reputation. Of course, a reputation for high quality Russ on Reading: No, Betsy, School Choice Is Not a Good Thing:

Cartoons on Leaders | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Cartoons on Leaders | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Cartoons on Leaders

This month I hope you will enjoy a dozen or so ways of picturing leaders in and out of school. If they get you to smile, let me know.

 More Cartoons on Leaders Cartoons on Leaders | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Learn the Facts. Stop School Privatization. - Network For Public Education

Learn the Facts. Stop School Privatization. - Network For Public Education:

Learn the Facts. Stop School Privatization.

Help the Network for Public Education stop Betsy DeVos and her “School Choice” movement.

Letter Writing Campaign to Congress

We understand that “choice” is no more than a smokescreen to allow privatizers to takeover our public schools. That is why we’ve launched a letter writing campaign to Congress, asking them to support our democratically governed, neighborhood public schools. You’ll find that letter campaign here. Please contact your representatives, and share the action on Facebook, Twitter and email by posting this link:

http://networkforpubliceducation.org/2017/01/8611/

85% of our nation’s children attend their neighborhood public schools – it’s up to us to ensure those schools are not undermined by “school choice”.

NPE’s “School Choice Fact Check” Twitter Chats

This Wednesday, January 25th, from 7-8pm EST  join NPE’s School Choice Fact Check twitter chat with NPE President Diane Ravitch.

On Thursday, the 26th, from 7-8pm EST join Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig who will chat about Civil Rights and school takeover.

 Use the #ChoiceFactCheck hashtag to join in and learn why school choice is no choice at all. Get the Facts!

Tweet Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos and the HELP Committee: Stop the takeover of our public schools.

We’ll use the #ChoiceFactCheck hashtag all week to educate Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos and the HELP Committee about the real cost of  “School Choice.” You can send the tweets below with just a couple clicks – let them know that you support our public schools, and that you understand that the “school choice” movement’s purpose is to defund and close our neighborhood schools . We won’t be fooled!

@BetsyDeVos Choice is a smokescreen 4 privatization. #ChoiceFactCheck @HELPCmteDems @GOPHELP @realDonaldTrump https://ctt.ec/3Yiaj+

Click To Tweet

@BetsyDeVos Schools are 4 kids, not profit. #ChoiceFactCheck @HELPCmteDems @GOPHELP @realDonaldTrump https://ctt.ec/93fYH+

Click To Tweet

@BetsyDeVos may trust parents, but they don\’t trust her. #ChoiceFactCheck @HELPCmteDems @GOPHELP @realDonaldTrump https://ctt.ec/YwHdL+

Click To Tweet

@BetsyDeVos School choice is a scam. #ChoiceFactCheck @HELPCmteDems @GOPHELP @realDonaldTrump https://ctt.ec/a22Ff+

Click To Tweet

@BetsyDeVos Charters drain $$ from public schools. #ChoiceFactCheck @HELPCmteDems @GOPHELP @realDonaldTrump https://ctt.ec/5Nv1V+

Click To Tweet

@BetsyDeVos I support my school board, not a corporation. #ChoiceFactCheck @HELPCmteDems @GOPHELP @realDonaldTrump https://ctt.ec/jB39e+

Click To Tweet

@BetsyDeVos Choice takes voice from communities. #ChoiceFactCheck @HELPCmteDems @GOPHELP @realDonaldTrump https://ctt.ec/xqLGW+

Click To Tweet

Contact your mayor and tell them to celebrate Public Schools this week

Join this important  campaign sponsored by the BATs. You can find out how here.

 The Battle over Betsy DeVos Continues

Betsy DeVos, who is a major funder of  the “school choice” movement, had her vote in the HELP committee delayed until January 31. Keep the pressure up! Call members of the HELP committee–if you called before, call again.

Learn the Facts. Stop School Privatization. - Network For Public Education:

Betsy DeVos Offers No Guarantee That She Will Enforce Fed Ed Law– Or That She Even Knows the Law | deutsch29

Betsy DeVos Offers No Guarantee That She Will Enforce Fed Ed Law– Or That She Even Knows the Law | deutsch29:

Betsy DeVos Offers No Guarantee That She Will Enforce Fed Ed Law– Or That She Even Knows the Law

On Thursday, January 17, 2017, Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos had her first job interview– as US secretary of education.

DeVos, who turned 59 on January 08, 2017, has never held a job; however, given the current Republican majority in Congress, that doesn’t really matter; DeVos has a solid history as a Republican Party leader and financial booster.

Plus, she eats and breathes school choice, especially in the form of vouchers– school choice that takes public money from traditional public schools and hands it over to private schools.

President Donald Trump has indicated that he wants to voucherize American public education, and DeVos, though Trump’s second choice for US ed sec, is a perfect fit for the job of destroying the very public education system she is supposed to oversee.

“Portability of funding” is the technical name for such destruction, and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Chair, Lamar Alexander, is overjoyed that DeVos is willing to dole out the federal, “portability funding” vouchers to states that will undoubtedly follow the breadcrumbs of federal money for vouchers right into the trap of state-level public ed voucherization.

Thus, it should come as little surprise that DeVos apparently felt no need to prepare Betsy DeVos Offers No Guarantee That She Will Enforce Fed Ed Law– Or That She Even Knows the Law | deutsch29:

I Want Each Of You To Remember The People Who Taught You - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association: I Want Each Of You To Remember The People Who Taught You by Cheryl Gibbs Binkley:

I Want Each Of You To Remember The People Who Taught You

 by Cheryl Gibbs Binkley

Sorry, I just can't leave Trumps speech passages about our school system standing. First of all, I want each of you to remember the people who taught you, and the schools you went to.

Now, I want you to think about the people who teach your children or grandchildren, or your nieces and nephews. You know, that kindergarten teacher who waited with them the day they were sick and you were trying to get there from work. Or the music teacher who worked every night til 10 and was teased mercilessly by the older boys, but trained generations of musicians in a town that would not have had any music. That English teacher who helped them or you with your college essay, or resume for that job application. The teacher who gave up a career as a scientist to teach you or your children chemistry or physics? The one who bought pencils and paper for when your kid ran out, and gave them lunch money the day they forgot theirs, but works on the side to make ends meet because s/he's paid so little? Remember the books they read to you, that taught you your numbers, your letters, the solar system, the battles and wars, and to be kind and respect one another? The one who read The Raven so spookily at Halloween that it still give you the shivers? The Christmas and Hannukah songs of all those holiday concerts, and the football and baseball coach who taught you sportsmanship and nagged you when you let your grades drop?

And please think about the schools in your community-- the buildings and fields your hard earned tax dollars built and keep repaired for the kids in your neighborhood or town, with a gym and a library, and an auditorium/theatre, and computers. You built those schools, not the federal government, and not rich men like Trump who negotiate out of paying their property taxes.

OK-- See that in your mind? Those are the teachers Trump says are awash in money and the schools he says are terrible. Those are Your schools he is badmouthing. And the kids he claims know nothing? He's claiming YOU and Your Children know nothing.

He wants to take those schools and give them to venture capital companies, and billionaires like the Waltons (yes the Waltons are very into creating new schools) and they will manage them from New York, or Los Angeles or Chicago or maybe other smaller places only 200 or 300 miles away.

He wants to place teachers in your kids classes who, like his nominee the other night, don't know how old a Badass Teachers Association: I Want Each Of You To Remember The People Who Taught You by Cheryl Gibbs Binkley: