When They Denounce You Today & Selectively Quote You Tomorrow
by Frederick M. Hess • Dec 7, 2011 at 7:59 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
 Print |  Send |  RSS |
ShareThe week before Thanksgiving, I penned "When Good Intentions Make Us Stupid." It garnered some heartening feedback from friends who found it useful. It was also quoted by many who selectively cited me in their ongoing efforts to vilify many folks whom I like and respect (as is routine when I'm critical of poorly conceived merit pay systems, federal overreach, or careless use of value-added metrics). In this case, the AFT-backed "RheeFirst" website (along with similar ventures) selectively quoted me in their ongoing war on Michelle Rhee and her StudentsFirst organization.
Now, my typical policy is not to worry about who quotes me or how they do so. I decided a long time ago, while still teaching at UVA, that it's not worth the time or energy to track who quotes me or imagine I can police how or why they do so. For one thing, since I'm not an elected official and don't claim to speak for any constituency
