I have a feeling that Catherine Bellinger will give me, and perhaps all of mankind plenty of material for sometime in regards to her rantings on Whitney "The Rest Stop on I-684 Southbound in Bedford Is My Favorite" Tilson, and her own Students for Education Reform blog. Catherine, you have turned into a wonderful lackey, disciple, votary, loyalist, 'ho, cultist of Whitney. I swear he must be rubbing one out thinking how he has been able to con you.

Tell the world Catherine, your qualifications to comment on anything about urban education. You have obviously lived in a gilded cage your entire life. Sitting high and looking down from that perch of yours in Fairfax County, and Princeton you see what you want to see, and see what you are told to see, but you have no life experience to put it in the proper perspective.

Have you ever been in a real inner city for any amount of time? Have you commiserated with anyone from such neighborhoods? I doubt it. You in Princeton? Go live in Camden for a while. See how you like it and see then how it affects you.

Which brings us to your rip job of Diane Ravitch. Nice mea culpa you left in the comments the other day. Too little, too late. You don't mean it, you only said it because you got caught with your knickers down. But who am I to decide? Let's let the world decide, mm'kay?

Ms Ravitch wrote:

In the past few days, Chancellor Joel Klein has announced that he is closing nearly two dozen public schools. Some of these schools are the anchor in their communities; some have long histories as gateways for immigrant children....most could have been improved by a thoughtful plan of action, including smaller classes, better supervision, and the kinds of resources that hedge-fund managers pour into "their" charter schools.

And now your blabbering reply, which shall be dissected.

Oh Diane...have you visited Paul Robeson High School, one of the schools that Klein announced he is going to shut down?

Why are you choosing Paul Robeson High School for? Ms Ravitch, and I suggest you use this term instead of Diane, never mentioned Robeson. But......

My Breakout trip (the same group that visited you in New York) conducted college awareness workshops there for a week.

Wow!! You were there for a whole week and you were able to give your "expert" opinion already! Golly!

First of all, Robeson certainly was not the "anchor" in its community, the Bed-Stuy neighborhood in Brooklyn

And you know this for sure because.....? Please state the facts and investigation method you had used.

or if it was, it was merely an anchor of failure.

Nice one, so Whitneyesque. Thought of that one yourself?

It wasn't RESOURCES that Robeson needed, with its 40% graduation rate and only a little more than half of the students stating that they were inspired to learn.

Yes, 40% graduation rate does suck. I concede you that point. And not having the pleasure of visiting Robeson I can't and won't comment on why there is a 40% graduation rate other than to say there are so many many variables that to paint with a broad brush as you do is just wrong. But as far as resources did you look at the school budget? Did you examine all supplies? Did you delve below the surface? The students that claim they have not been inspired to learn, do you have anecdotal proof of their reasons?

The participants on my trip cited a terrible school environment, a culture of apathy and incompetence,

Who are these participants? How did they measure, compare and contrast their findings?

and students who wanted to go to college but had never been informed that they needed to take certain classes or certain exams.

And whose fault is this? Who is supposed to inform these students? The guidance department, administration, teachers? Do you have proof that these students were reliable, were speaking the truth?

Even their "honors" students had never heard of SAT II subject tests.

Seems that SAT II exams have not been called that since 2005. They are now SAT Subject Tests and the subjects are in very narrow fields. But again, please cite evidence.

This school didn't need more money.

How the heck do you know this? Have you seen the budget for Robeson?

It needed serious restructuring, and I'm confident that closing Robeson and opening new schools and giving students new opportunities will be beneficial to student achievement.

What is your training and/or background to make such a statement? This is a very pretentious comment on your part, one you make without having all the facts.

It needed to follow the "habits of high performing urban schools" listed in Sweating the Small Stuff (attached).

I have already discredited this. No more need to comment.

That couldn't happen with the same staff, unfortunately.

I shall repeat myself. What is your training and/or background to make such a statement? This is a very pretentious comment on your part, one you make without having all the facts.

Ravitch complains that closing schools "disrupts" students--true, but this is a case when you have to choose the hard right over the easy wrong.

I shall repeat myself. What is your training and/or background to make such a statement? This is a very pretentious comment on your part, one you make without having all the facts.

It might be hard to send all those students elsewhere,

It's wrong, it is unethical.

but otherwise you are just letting a culture of apathy and low expectations persist.

The culture and apathy coming from whom? Show evidence.

Catherine, it is time to break anchor from what you think you know.

Just about a half hour or so ago I was perusing the Internet for something amusing. I decided to see if see if Interstate Rest Stop Magazine's Man of the Year Whitney Tilson's blog had been updated. I mean you can always get a good laugh there. Alas, it has not been since December 18. Oh, Whitney, the challenge still stands. So I am reading some love letter he wrote to Diane Ravitch in a style that he thinks he knows more then her when I came across yet another busy body know it all in the style of Whitney. Her name is Catherine Bellinger and she thinks she is really, really, super duper smart. She goes to Princeton, so she should be super revered, and when she speaks, should be treated like EF Hutton. She has this organization called Students for Education Reform, and a blog, as well as a page on Facebook.

Catherine was very rude to Ms Ravitch as well. Condescending, patronizing, and I guess like her mentor, pimp, teacher, etc... Whitney Tilson, just plain ignorant. Hey, NYC Educator, not doing any name calling here. Just stating facts. Mmmm,K? But I want to discuss her blabbering to Diane Ravitch another time. There is something else I came across.

On Whitney the do gooders blog he listed something Catherine listed from a book, "Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism," by David Whitman. Entitled, "20 key practices of high-performing, high-poverty urban schools" just another manifesto in the slippery slope into turning all schools into charter schools, or just something written by someone who does not know what they are talking about. Unfortunately Li'l Catherine is taking this as gospel without using any of HOTS.

Let's examine the points.....

1.Tell students exactly how to behave and tolerate no disorder

Really? But if teachers do that SCI, or OSI will repel down the school in hoods and remove us from school.

2.Require a rigorous, college-prep curriculum.

No problem with that. I believe in challenging students. But what about the students in special ed.? Or who just aren't going to college? All students CAN learn, not all will excel. Sorry if that sounds cold but it is a fact.

3. Align curriculum with state standards and specify performance outcomes.

It's done already. DUH!

4.Assess students regularly and use the results to target struggling students.

They are assessed way too much as it is. We are talking about CHILDREN! And how do we target the struggling students when you have a class of 27 and 4 serious behavior problems?

5. Keep students busy in class with a clear plan and a variety of assignments.

Busy time.

6. Build a collective culture of achievement and college-going.

Sounds like Obama's socialism to me. How do you propose this happens?

7. Reject the culture of the streets.

Of course!!! "Hey you young student. I know your parents are never home and you are out until 11 30 even though you are in fourth grade. But give up the bling and the wads of cash and pretty please stay in school." See how simple?

8. Be vigilant about maintaining school culture.

Huh?

9. Extend the school day and/or year.

I will give a massage to the first person, except Norm Scott, that will explain to me how this is a benefit.

10. Monitor and enforce attendance.

Really? You agree with this Catherine? See # 7 and please don't forget all the asthma related illness we have. Maybe you can help by going from borough to borough picking up all the rat feces.

11. Welcome accountability for adults and embrace constant reassessment.

Does this include administrators as well? What about accountability in Tweed?

12. Give principals and teachers more autonomy -- think "charter school."

No, think "THIRD REICH"

13. Eliminate (or at least disempower) local teacher unions.

HAHAHA! Why not spay or neuter? Not to worry, Mulgrew has beaten you to it.

14. Use unconventional channels to recruit committed teachers.

You mean hedge fund managers that want to satisfy their white liberal guilt and think they know what is best for little brown boys and girls?

15. Don't demand much from parents.

Yes, there should be no demands nor expectations of parents. Screw them. Who needs them. Bloomy is right.
For those who don't know, I am being a wee bit sarcastic.

16. Escape the constraints hobbling traditional district schools.

Isn't that what Kathy Bates did to James Caan?

17. Don't waste resources on fancy facilities or technology.

Or courthouses, or no bid contracts, or consultants paid in six figures.

18. Keep the school small.

School small, or class sizes small? This seems like code for CHARTER SCHOOL

19. Track and support students after they graduate.

Tracking is BS, and I think he might have been struck down in the Supreme Court.

20. Help create additional schools following your model.

CHARTER SCHOOL NETWORK.

Li'l Catherine, you need to really find another line of advocacy.