The Oklahoman Hates Journalism Almost As Much As They Hate Teachers

May 28 Editorial

This fall, Freshman Journalism Students will be given a lesson early on regarding "Who, What, When, Where, Why and How" which are the very basics of Journalism. In Thursday's editorial "Bright idea: Urban schools seek curriculum reform" the fine folks at The Oklahoman start out by telling us people working in education are currently focusing on innovation, as that is what will get them stimulus money.

They go on to state their opinions on what would be good for children, sort of a peer suggestion thing, and then go on to forget about the basics of Journalism, as always. They tell us of "Administrators in Tulsa and Oklahoma City" who were "..talking about curriculum reform before the stimulus money became a conversation." Then they go on to state "...They’ve described a partnership with two well-known education groups to keep what’s working and change what’s not."

Who, What, When, Where, Why and How?!?!? Can you give us ANY details on these super top secret Administrators and extra-super top secret education groups? I doubt this would be a problem for national security if they told us, however it might be a problem for people like Brandon Dutcher. Or better yet as Sarah Knopp writes in her fine essay Charter Schools and the Attack on Public Education "...The tendrils of Corporate America reach deep into our schools via nepotistic contracts--from the $3 billion testing industry accelerated under No Child Left Behind, to McGraw-Hill and its Reading First program pushed through by the Bush administration..." So, disclosure will be a big problem for those guys as well.

In short, do not trust The Oklahoma with your children.

More foot-stomping on vouchers

May 8 Editorial

It is no mystery that The Oklahoman's philosophy is quite aligned with Grover Norquist and his "..drown it in the bathtub" ideologies towards Government. Therefore, complete backing of a voucher system is not a surprise. This was shown in Friday's editorial "Rescue plan: Obama should bail out D.C. vouchers". The article is timely in that it comes out at a time when Governor Henry is set to decide on the contraversial SB834, a bill written by individuals who have moved on from voucher arguments to what they see as the next best thing.

Sarah Knopp wrote an excellent piece on the topic of how elites with strong neo-liberal economic tendenices have essentially given up on the voucher movement for now, and are focusing on Charter Schools. Read the article here, it is lengthy, but quite good with excellent annotations. Knopp details groups like The Montgomery Securities Group, Green Dot, and other players in the Educational Management Organization for-profit school operation fields. "Philanthroprenuers" such as Wal-Mart who give $50m+ per year to promote the end of public schools as we know them are detailed as well. Parlay these things with the $3b/year testing industry which one can only imagine would flourish in a for-profit school system, which is mentioned in the article, and one should question The Oklahoman's positions on the matter.

One of The Oklahoman's favorite go-to guys on the matter of vouchers, Brandon Dutcher of The OPEA is worth looking into on this topic. Dutcher is a radical neo-liberal who participated in the tea-parties, however oddly enough, was a big proponent of the NBA tax which has now given close to $1/4b to the wealthiest Okahomans at the expense of working Oklahomans. It is also worth noting that Dutcher, like so many in the for-profit educational field who constantly rant and rave about GM auto workers making $53k/yr, made $82,500 in '07 for doing little more than writing blogs and organizing one elegant dinner party.

Update: Brad Henry has vetoed SB 834