Latest News and Comment from Education

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Jonah Edelman apologizes to my blog readers. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Jonah Edelman apologizes to my blog readers. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Jonah Edelman apologizes to my blog readers.

Jonah Edelman writes:

Fred Klonsky blog readers:

After watching the fourteen minute excerpt and then viewing the whole video of the hour-long session, I want to very sincerely apologize.

My shorthand explanation in the excerpt of what brought about the passage of Senate Bill 7 had a slant and tone that doesn’t reflect the more complex and reality of what went into this legislation, nor does it reflect my heart and point of view in several ways:

–It left children mostly out of the equation when helping children succeed is my mission in life, as I know it is yours,
–It was very unfair to colleagues leading Illinois teachers’ unions, and,


Let’s get livid.

Mark writes:

Audrey’s outrage at being ‘snookered’ by the loonies is probably a distant second to her outrage at being exposed as complicit in the sellout of her members.

But it’s not her discomfort I care about…it’s the emotion of outrage that I want to highlight.
We need a membership that’s outraged. Maybe a theme song: Let’s Get Livid (to the tune of Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy(?)).

72% of the NEA need to get livid.

What’ll it take?

For Audrey, it took embarrassment. Her prestige and effectiveness took a hit. That’s selfish.
Selfishness can trigger outrage. Bigtime.

But here’s the problem. Teachers aren’t selfish, at least not as a group. In fact, they’re selfless to a fault. Growing new generations requires a near saintly selflessness.

That’s why teachers abide low pay, reduced pensions, etc. They are more concerned with their