Note to Lori Wheal: Teaching is its own Career Path

Lori Wheal, member of Asshats for Education (A4E), regaled us today with the sorrowful tale of why she is leaving the classroom. In typical Asshat style, she tells her tale of woe while informing us--repeatedly--what a wonderful teacher she is and what a shame it is to lose her. She tells us she is a great teacher "by all measures". She lumps herself in with the "irreplaceable" teachers the city loses every year. She talks about being in the Master Teacher program, and refers to herself as a Master Teacher at every conceivable opportunity. No, really. She uses the title on LinkedIn and on Twitter. She even got NY1 to refer to her that way.

I don't know Ms. Wheal at all, but I do know that people who feel the need to toot their own horns all the time are usually the weakest and most insecure teachers.

So what's causing Ms. Wheal to leave and put the entire NYC school system in jeopardy of imminent collapse? Well, she was (as you may have heard) a Master Teacher at a turnaround school, and now that position has been eliminated because those schools will not be closed. This has left poor Master Teacher Wheal hopeless, as her precious "career ladder" has been yanked out from under her. Clearly, she has no option but to leave the system, because despite her Master Teacher credentials, she no longer has any intention of teaching children and wants to turn to education policy.

Maybe there's a way to introduce Master Teacher Wheal to Ruben Brosbe, another Asshat who had no trouble telling everyone else how to teach but headed for the hills when there was real teaching to be done.

I've got news for the boo-hoo-ing Asshats like Master Teacher Wheal: Teaching is its own career path. If you have gone into teaching because you hope one day to run a school district, you are in the wrong profession. If telling other teachers how wonderful you are is more important to you than getting in front of kids and doing the day in, day out work of actually educating children, you are in the wrong profession.

I may not know as much as Master Teacher Wheal; after all, I have only been teaching for more than twice as long as she has. But I do know that getting a gig in a turnaround school with a nifty title doesn't make you a master teacher.

What makes you a master teacher is dedication to those children in the classroom. It's sticking it out even when the going gets tough. It's being dedicated to teaching as a career and not looking at it as a stepping stone to greater things for your own advancement. It's knowing that every year in the classroom teaches you something you can use the next year, and the next.

If you go into education with the view that being a classroom teacher is the bottom rung of the ladder, you are a disgrace to the profession and you should leave.

That means you, Master Teacher Wheal.

Don't let the door hit you on the asshat on the way out.

Pity the Poor Asshats

A commenter called "ms. v" (sic) on GothamSchools has taken to defending Ruben Brosbe, Head Chapeau of Asshats4Education. According to her, some commenters there are picking on the poor boy. I was actually going to stay out of it this time, but her assertion that Ruben is being picked on pissed me off. I'm going to post my comment below, just in case it gets removed by GS. If you want to follow the original thread, you can go here.

No one has reason to "pick on" you. No one is picking of Ruben, either. He accepted this position as a blogger in GS and ever since has been guilty of lies of omission, at the very least. If he intends in any way to be considered a journalist or commentator on education, he must at minimum be honest. He has not been.

He was not honest about his membership in A4E until he was outed by another blogger. He said he would discuss his tenure and he has not. He told the world that he wants TDRs public and yet he scurried off the 3rd grade knowing he would not get a TDR there. He posted to EduSolidarity, knowing full well that he and his union-busting opinions were not welcome there. His behavior has been underhanded.

You think we're bullying him because we call him on his dishonesty and deceit? If he chooses to prevaricate in a public forum he should expect not to be believed or respected.

If you want to talk about bullying, let's talk about A4E. A bunch of non-educators take money from billionaires to try to bust the union and steal the jobs and future pensions of hard working, dedicated teachers. They spend millions of dollars on glossy mailers and TV ads trying to poison the public's mind against public education. The vast majority of teachers see through their BS, but there are a few teachers who side with them. Some side with A4E because they are too gullible to understand the implications of A4E's positions. Some side with them in the hopes of getting a nice, cushy job like Sydney and Evan have. I'm not sure whether Ruben is gullible or conniving, but I know he does not have the interests of public education at heart. And yes, I do take that as a very personal thing. If Ruben wants to be the voice of A4E, he should man up and at least be honest about his intentions. He has about zero credibility here.

There are a lot of great teachers out there who would have been fired (not laid off, but fired) had Ruben and his A4E pals gotten their way. I most likely would have been one of them based upon my previous year's TDR. If he wants to come here and advocate that dedicated teachers like me should be fired so union busters like him can help clear the decks for the billionaires, then yes, he should expect some push back.

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An Asshat By Any Other Name

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the name Asshats4Education when discussing the scabs at E4E. I think Reality-Based Educator should be inducted into the Ed Bloggers Hall of Fame for coining it, and it has been my privilege to run with the name. It thrills me to no end to see them referred to as A$E all over the blogosphere. Still, there's something dissatisfying about the name.

It doesn't capture their essence. They are asshats, to be sure; I don't think anyone can deny that. But the phrase misses why they are so adroit at wearing their buttocks as head gear. Sure, they are greedy, pretentious bastards who want to take down the union, but it's more than that. I couldn't figure it out until I went back and reread some things from our old pals Ruben Brosbe and Michelle Costa, both proud wearers of fanny fedoras. That's when it hit me.

Read Ruben's post again (at your own risk; those with nervous issues and stomach problems should seek medical advice before reading). What struck me about it is that he spent much of the time whining about himself and his issues. It was all about him. "I suck! My data sucks! I'm being picked on! Me me ME!" Sure, he threw the obligatory "I must improve for the children!" gag at the end, but that was a personal pity party just like the one he shared with the New York Post when his TDR numbers bit the big one.

You might say that you can't blame ol' Rube for feeling a bit self-absorbed after discovering that he isn't the only one who thinks his teaching stinks on ice. Maybe. But what was really telling were the comments. Teachers--real teachers who do this job for decades and not as a farce or a resume filler--actually rallied to Ruben's aid. They offered him advice, consolations, and words of encouragement. That is what teachers--real teachers--do. That is NOT what Ruben is doing. Rather than support his fellow teachers he is happily throwing them under the bus. For Ruben, it's all about "ME".

Pivot over to Michelle Costa, a young lady who also sports a buttocks beret. Not only did she pen a rather facile article denouncing her fellow teachers, she helped craft the now infamous A$E layoff recommendations (I use the word craft advisedly, as in, "I have to go craft a dump"). Read her drivel, if you can stomach it. She also likes the word "I" a lot. She tells us that she didn't become a teacher for the money, or the vacations--she did it for the kids (as opposed to the rest of us hammock swinging, check collecting vermin). She then goes on to tell us how senior teachers should be laid off in favor of wonderful, idealistic souls like her. She says these things despite that fact that she comes from an F rated school, and there is zero evidence that she can teach.

And again, despite her self-infatuation, she was defended in the comments by a real teacher--a colleague who would most likely lose his own job due to his union activism should her plans ever be realized. For him, it's about US--the union. For Michelle, it's all about her.

That, in the final analysis, is what good teaching is about. We do it for the kids, not for ourselves. Sydney and Evan ran away from teaching as soon as a Gates funded opportunity to stab their colleagues in the back came along. How long will it be before Ruben and Michelle do the same?

These E4E people are all about themselves. They aren't in it for anything noble, such as public education, or equal opportunity, or anything else. They are in it for "ME".

Therefore, I proposed that we start calling them ME4ME. That would be a more accurate description of what these asshats are all about.


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Dealing with the Asshat4Educator Scab Wannabes

Scab is a pretty strong word. I come from a union family, and being a scab ranked slightly above being a pedophile, but only slightly.

So the question is, are the asshats at E4E, such as Sydney Morris, Evan Stone, and Ruben Brosbe actually scabs, or are they some slightly higher life form?

Technically speaking, we'd have to conclude that they are not scabs, because a scab is defined as someone who takes the job of a union member during a strike or lockout. However, the purpose of a scab is to bust the union and destroy the benefits of the union faithful, so Sydney, Evan, and Ruben certainly fit the bill on that account. I think we'd have to classify them as scab wannabes, which may, if you think about it, be worse that being an actual scab. Replacement workers are at least trying to put food on their own tables, whereas the E4E asshats generally dine at only the finest restaurants or have Mummy tell Cook to make them something.

So the question is, how do we deal with these scab wannabes?

My father was a union dock worker and, as a result, a pretty strong guy. If Sydney, Evan, and Ruben tried to take his job, he'd likely have crushed them into much smaller versions of themselves and shipped them off to Hong Kong in a steamer trunk.

Now, those were simpler times, when people weren't afraid of committing felonies against the scum of the earth. In these complex, fast-moving, Internet fueled times, violence is rarely the answer. We've all seen recently how loose talk of violence can get out of hand, so I'm not for a moment suggesting that we harm E4E scab wannabes. If you see one in your school, you should not spit in their hair, push them down a flight of stairs while laughing maniacally, or stuff them in a burlap bag while beating them with sticks. Those things would be wrong.

Besides, most teachers today aren't as rugged as the old dock workers. About the best we could hope for today is to beat those jackasses with stockings filled with chalk.

So what to do? At the very least, all right thinking teachers should shun these E4E scabs. After all, they are enjoying the benefits that the rest of us have spent decades fighting for, while simultaneously trying to take those rights away. They want to get you fired so they can have your job, destroy your pension, and collect the crumbs dropped by Bill Gates. If someone robbed your home, you'd feel justified in taking severe action against them. But you can replace items in your home--these E4Es want to take your license and profession away.

So if anyone in your school tells you they are a member of E4E, first try to reason with them. If that doesn't work, make sure to spread the word about their scabby behavior throughout the school, so they can be rightly shunned.

And then give me a call. I bet I can find that steamer trunk somewhere.

Ruben Brosbe, The Face of Asshats4Educators

Asshats everywhere rejoice! Ruben Brosbe has come to lead you!

Yes, just when you thought there were no more ed deform toads left to crawl out of the woodwork, out slithers Ruben, ass backwards, to lead us to new heights of idiocy.

In case you don't know Ruben, he is the newbie teacher who, despite his limited teaching experience and writing skills, has managed to get himself a platform on GothamSchools. Not only that, he managed to stick a knife in the back of his colleagues by writing a column for the completely unbiased New York Post in which he advocates releasing the Teacher Data Reports based on flawed test scores and an unscientific value added metric. Ruben was even kind enough to tell us that his score sucked, but he's willing to work hard to make it better, unlike those nasty senior teachers who only come into the schools for all the neat office supplies.

The problem is, Ruben may not get a chance to improve. His score sucked, even though he was judged against other newbies on his TDR, and not against the senior teachers he rails against. And today, "Chancellor" Cathie Black stated that she wanted to end "last in, first out" seniority rules and lay off teachers based on merit. Poor Ruben! With his awful scores and his lack of seniority, he may soon find himself out of a job. And that would be a shame, because he's willing to try to be better!

I guess that's why Ruben joined "Educators"4"Excellence", a group led by a couple of people who have even less experience than he does. In fact, as far as anyone knows, the founders of E4E don't even teach anymore. They've moved on to take tons of money from ed deform groups in the hopes of changing the status quo and improving the socioeconomic lot of many New Yorkers. Especially themselves.

Perhaps Ruben wants a job with E4E, especially given his tenuous position with the DOE, what with his shitty scores and low seniority and all. That is problematic, however. Ruben doesn't like being part of a group he doesn't agree with, like the UFT. Fortunately, even though until recently outed, he hid his membership with E4E, he is now on their Teacher Evaluation Policy Team. Isn't that terrific? I didn't even know E4E had one of those! Thanks E4E! Just what teachers needed--more evaluations from totally unqualified newbie teachers! I can't wait for the recommendations of the TEPT to come out, although I'm fairly sure UFT scab teachers with crappy TDR ratings will be allowed to keep their jobs.

I still think Ruben's talents are wasted with E4E. Given the trend of giving totally unqualified people like "Chancellor" Cathie Black positions of unbridled power, I think Ruben should aim higher. He should form his own organization and get it funded by Gates or Bloomberg or Broad or one of the other billionaires willing to scatter largesse to educators who have no qualms with sticking shivs in the collarbones of their colleagues. Reality Based Educator had a great idea for a name--Asshats4Educators! Here, as I see it, is the A4E platform:

• Teacher Data Reports shouldn't be counted for newer teachers, because they are really really trying.


• Senior teacher suck and should be fired.


• The UFT isn't doing everything we want in terms of helping its members get laid off, so we must make sure it dies.


• We should go around talking about how education is the civil rights issue of our time, especially when a billionaire is nearby.


• Committees are needed for everything, including the Teacher Evaluation Committee, the Using the Media as a Front for Hedge Fund Managers Committee, and the Committee to Wear Stupid Beards to Look as if We're Grown-up Enough to be Teachers Committee.

Yes, Ruben, the billionaires would love you even more then. You're just the kind of toad they want to help them take public education private.

I've mostly tried to avoid writing about Ruben, but he launched an attack on Ms. Eyre, one of my favorite bloggers and someone I can tell is an outstanding teacher. I've even had Ms. Eyre chastise me a few times here for being mean to ed deformers, like when I compared Joel Klein's head to a bowling ball. And she may have had a point. So I apologize in advance for my tone, but remember, Ruben is an asshat.

When dealing with an asshat, you can't turn the other cheek.

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