Don’t feel so bad for Karen Floyd, those of you who inexplicably think I was being mean to her by showing clips in which she expressed distress at having her quite lovely image recorded (See recent post).
Her friends are doing it to us, too. You know, the ones financed by Howard Rich — at least, we have reason to believe they’re financed by Howard Rich. (When an organization files a lawsuit to prevent having to disclose its donors, it’s hard to say for sure.) I think it would be instructive to compare the relative fairness of these two YouTube portrayals. Of course, I can write many of your responses in advance — the ones that are no more original than this video — but it’s worth waiting for the thoughtful ones to weigh in eventually.
I post a couple of clips showing Mrs. Floyd to be charming and even witty, if a tad vain (aren’t we all). I sincerely doubt that many people would decide for or against her on the basis of that post. It’s pretty neutral. Meanwhile, our friends at SCouRGe post something that … well, just watch it. It’s tiresome.
My favorite part is "the California-based media empire that controls The State newspaper is trying to influence our elections in various ways." And then it mentions, bizarrely, an endorsement from two years ago, when McClatchy’s involvement with The State wasn’t even a twinkle in Bruce Sherman’s eye. I look around at my colleagues — the same bunch that’s been here roughly 20 years, doing our best for our home state no matter who the owner of record is — and everybody looks the same as before to me. We’ve had two such owners in that time, and both have had the same policy — hands off of editorial. Which is why we’re all still here.
Of the twelve people on executive staff on which I also serve, there is one woman who used to work in California — but that was the L.A. Times (a Chicago Tribune-owned paper), and she was here long before McClatchy.
Some would think the bit about calling us "liberal" is funnier, but I’d have to go with the California thing. (And the "spiking stories in the newsroom" bit — I guess whatever it is, they’re spiking it, too, since they don’t tell us what it was. In any case, not my department.)
It’s kind of cool when somebody wants to trash you, and this is the best they can come up with. Maybe they’ll do another one in which we are all portrayed as space aliens. Personally, I would find that more credible. But let’s not get into that; you wouldn’t grok it anyway.
I guess our stressing the fact that they only exist because rich out-of-staters want to hijack then agenda in SC is getting to them, and this is the best they could do.
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Sounds pretty accurate to me overall, except the McClatchy part, but if that’s your main disagreement with this thing or at least the one you lead with, then SCRG must be hitting home.
What exactly makes your out-of-state contributions, via The State, so much better than Howard Rich’s?
That space alien stuff sounds appealing – sometimes I wonder if that’s not in fact what you guys are.
Did my actual response match the one you wrote “in advance”? I gotta hand it to ya, Brad, your arrogance knows no bounds!
I guess my ultimate problem isn’t with the “relative fairness” between your video of Floyd and SCRG’s anti-State commercial.
My problem is that in your mind, your video of a candidate interviewing with your editorial board ought to somehow be comparable to a hack-job political ad.
I didn’t even know The State newspaper was running for anything.
You know you’re doing something right when you’re subject to a TV attack ad. That’s bigtime.
It’s a shame the millions of dollars used on negative attack ads this campaign season– from both parties– couldn’t have been used for something truly important. What a waste.
Strangers in a Strange State
“The State” has done its’ level best over the last year to demean the motives of, discredit and generally be ugly to anyone who disagrees with its’ rigid support of status quo education in South Carolina. This is not arguable. However, no opinions matter except the ones we express tomorrow at the polls. I can’t wait to get in there and vote for Ms. Floyd, efforts by Brad and the other goons notwithstanding. That’s how I see it. Ed
Haha…
U guys have been trashing Karen Floyd, Andre Bauer and Richard Eckstom for months…I suspect they are somewhere are giggling now.
I can’t think of three South Carolinians more
worthy of trashing,but The State had no part in it.They’ve trashed themselves with their criminal behavior.Buy a vowel,the joke’s on you.Floyd,Andre and Eck;The Three Stooges.
If ignorance is bliss,SC must be heaven.
Here’s what I find amusing, the hate mongering of Ed, Lex and Chris includes the notion that a pot of voucher gold lay in wait with the election of Floyd. If the REPUBLICAN legislature hasn’t passed a completely watered down version of her scheme with a REPUBLICAN governor, they believe Floyd will push this over the top? I guess Tennenbaum has some super power to hold the voucher faction at bay.
These hate mongers still have yet to justify why our middle and elementary schools need an overhaul.
LexWolf, I’m genuinely puzzled here: What do you mean when you say, “your out-of-state contributions, via The State…”
I’ve looked at that and turned it over a couple of times, and I still don’t know what you’re saying.
Who is contributing what to what from out of state via the newspaper?
The State Endorsements on State wide or US offices:
RIGHT
Yes on marriage amendment
Ravenel
Wilson
Weathers (over blog fav Emile)
Hammond
LEFT
Moore
Barber
Rex
Clyburn
Eckstrom
Spratt
Damn liberal editors
On a personal level,I’m amazed at the great education my ten-year old niece is getting at her public school.She’s already two years ahead of herself in English and Math,and is so amazingly articulate it’s scary.I can think of no reason for her to attend a private school.I actually think it would be bad for her.It would send the wrong message.
No need to be all that obtuse, Brad. How much do you think your incessant cheerleading against school choice would cost the NEA if these were ads? Just because you personally are from SC doesn’t provide you a defense, considering that most of the alleged out-of-staters from SCRG are also in fact from SC. If you are claiming that their money comes from out of state then surely the McClatchy (and previously Knight-Ridder) money also comes from out of state.
Above all, I resent your persistent, arrogant claims that South Carolinians are so gullible that a few thousand dollars from out-of-state will make them completely change their minds, as if they were being hypnotized. Why can’t you get it in your head that over half of the voters want school choice, with or without a few ads from SCRG and others?
But it’s OK. Tomorrow we’ll see who wins: the majority looking for real education reform or the reactionary minority stubbornly defending the failed status quo, despite all evidence that it simply can’t be reformed by yet more rearranging of the deck chairs.
May I give a prediction as to what you will then say in so many words: ‘once again, the stupid peons of SC have spoken against Brad’s superior wisdom and voted against what we think is good for them. The jerks!’. Of course, you’ll prettify the whole thing and make it go on for 500 words or something but that essentially will be your postmortem on the election.
Randy,
Your unwarranted assaults toward me are tiresome. I have never advocated vouchers, and am not sure they would be the correct path to improve education in SC. I believe they should be studied, and I think they MIGHT be an effective tool in certain circumstance.
My beef with you and the Rex campaign is that you represent the status quo.
My beef with the State Newspaper is that it has been so partisan and petty that honest journalism has been left by the wayside.
Your ability to be argumentative and your inability to think outside a simple template is exactly why the education community is held in low esteem. Ideas are what important movements are about…and you sir, have no ideas, and only the redundant arguments of the worker bee class.
Chris
Heh. And that would be putting worker bees in a bad light.
Hey Bill, she’s two years ahead of herself? Better slow her down, as I’ve heard somewhere that her mass will approach infinity as she nears “c.” Ed
Ideas are what important movements are about…and you sir, have no ideas, and only the redundant arguments of the worker bee class. – Chris
Hitler had ideas…Marx had ideas…ideas in of themselves are not necessarily good.
I’ve posted plenty of suggestions. Your aversion to rational thought (and data, God forbid) blinds you to this, I suppose. Funny that you distance yourself from Floyd now after I’ve called you out for your disparaging remarks about education – which is why these remarks toward you are warranted.
I actually support choice for the low socio-economic students in failing schools. I believe end of course tests are an effective way to measure student achievement and hold teachers accountable. I support Doug’s idea that students not be socially promoted if they fail PACT and be sent to an alternative setting for remediation. And as a teacher, I have found chronic discipline issues to be the biggest problem and want alternative settings for these students.
BTW Chris, you and Lexie still haven’t supported your statements that SC schools are terrible…aside from the 10 hs graduates your interviewed.
Lexie, you are being quite the hypocrite in criticizing Brad.
I asked you to identify a SINGLE state that has made use of your scheme for state wide vouchers. You explained that there were none because the teacher unions have done everything in their power to stop the entire nation [sic] from adopting state wide vouchers. So in that respect, the voters are “gullible” and “hypnotized” according to you.
Now you suggest the opposite because this lobbyist money suits your partisanship.
This flip flopping is nothing new. You cited the NAEP scores as evidence that SC is below average on the 8 NAEP tests. When I pointed out SC is above the median on 5 of them, you then dismissed these same scores. This after you stated “data is data”.
I smell waffles.
“So in that respect, the voters are “gullible” and “hypnotized” according to you.”
Not at all. Voters know what they want and some politicians will even vote accordingly, in spite of scorched-earth tactics from school choice opponents. Then, once school choice is passed, opponents will file lawsuits out the wazoo to overturn the will of the people. Just look at any of the main battlegrounds – Florida, Ohio, Milwaukee – to see how the educrats fight tooth and nail against any meaningful reforms. They couldn’t care less about kids as long as they get their fat salaries, and they will stop at nothing to keep it that way!
Ridicule it all you want but teachers unions are one of the top powerhouses in the country at pushing or blocking legislation. They know what’s best for them, even if it’s not good for the kids they are supposed to teach, and they push it for all it’s worth. More important, they are highly organized and they know how to make the most out of their numbers. Just like farmers (barely 2% in this country) demanding their neverending $billion subsidies, they have the advantage of having thousands of members in every congressperson’s district and hundreds in every state legislator’s. And those members vote and make sure their representatives know it, plus they are willing to work very hard to defeat any challenges to their sinecures.
It’s a shame. If only they would look out for the kids the way they look out for themselves. Instead many of them, like you, send their kids to private school while locking the plantation gates to keep other kids from getting out.
“You cited the NAEP scores as evidence that SC is below average on the 8 NAEP tests. When I pointed out SC is above the median on 5 of them, you then dismissed these same scores.”
BTW, you have yet to produce any evidence for those 5 out of 8 claims of yours, despite repeated requests. The link you finally produced, after weeks of stonewalling, shows no such thing. So put up or shut up!
Lexie, you admitted to seeing the map with the color coding. You also admitted that you didn’t understand the term “statistically different” as in “the states in yellow are not significantly different”. So you admit to seeing the very data you now dismiss. Flip flop.
Stonewalling? I simply retyped the same directions I gave you long ago. You finally figured out how to find the map which is again, not my fault.
You stated “data is data” but haven’t a shred of it to justify the need for your scheme. This is in addition to not having any justification for how this “plan” will work aside from “the market will make it work”. You even admitted that these private schools will answer to the government (flip flop).
I think you started talking up this “plan” before you really thought through the details. I guess I’d be frustrated as well if I was caught without any answers.
Ridicule it all you want but teachers unions are one of the top powerhouses in the country at pushing or blocking legislation. – Lexie
Any evidence of this, or is this simply unsubstantiated partisan opinion? (rhetorical question as the answer is clear).
If only they would look out for the kids the way they look out for themselves. Instead many of them, like you, send their kids to private school while locking the plantation gates to keep other kids from getting out. – Lexie
Hmmm, according to your own figures, public schools spend $8k but you spend $12k for your daughter to avoid the “idiots in public school”. So you’ll be writing a check to cover the difference in your plan so they are not stuck on the “plantation”? That’s just one of several holes in yur plan which you completely ignore.
I look out for these kids daily in the classroom. I don’t try to solve the problems by hiding behind an alias on the computer chirping about how some blind ideology will solve the ills of education.
BTW, how noble of you to push for a plan which could line your pocket with thousands of dollars, taken from public education.
Hey Randy…
I never ran from Karen Floyd. I will be voting for her today. She will win, and I respectfully submit that if u guys in the Ed estabishment are open minded enough to give her a chance, u will see she is capable of great things.
So today this question is settled. No hard feelings here…best of luck to the school kids of SC.
Chris
That puts a finger on it Chris. It IS about the school kids in the end. To Randy, I am hate monger because I refuse to lay down, play possum or be duped by the endless propaganda, cheerleading, cajoling and threatening by “The State” where public ed is concerned. I just went to the polling place and cast my vote for Karen Floyd. I am hoping for great things from her and Governor Sanford. I am also hoping that people like Randy will see that this is ultimately about the kids in these marginal schools and consequently that it is in their best interests to support Ms. Floyd and work with her. Ed
Did anyone on this blog vote “No” on Amendment 1,or is everyone like Brad,a self-admitted bigot?
bill,
it’ll be interesting to see how the Amendment 1 issue turns out. I think it’ll win with 70+% of the vote. But I’m no political scientist.
Appropos people named “Bill” and Amendment 1, I think that right-wing lunatic “Bill Smith” at idontbelievethestate.com just called Brad Warthen homophobic. (And meant it as an insult.) Check it out.
My world is upside down.
I don’t understand Lex’s point about out-of-state money. It’s pretty well established that while McClatchey may own The State, it does not set for editorial policy….at least not in terms of right-wing vs. liberal. That would seem to undercut SCRG’s point almost altogether….so what is Lex getting at? I do not follow the logic.
As for the status quo in education, I think there’s a lot of painting with a broad brush going on around here. The fact is that there are plenty of differences between schools and districts in South Carolina’s public schools, plenty of new ideas (some good and some not, perhaps), plenty of divergent notions about how things should be done. Those who claim that it’s one monolithic system in which everyone is in lock-step just don’t know what they’re talking about, in my opinion….or it just makes for good rhetoric.
There are districts that offer choice within their system. There are districts that have magnet schools. There are districts that have alternative schools. So on and so forth.
They may not favor PRIVATE SCHOOL choice….but to say that there’s no innovation is just silly, in my opinion.
“Bugging” is the right word to use for clandestine videotaping of someone.
Public school teachers are twice as likely to send their own children to private school.
Why isn’t $8,000 per pupil (actually $10,260 average) enough to pay higher teacher salaries and attract even better teachers to replace some of the ones we have now? Out of the $150,000 to $200,000 per classroom, where is all that money going?
Ed, you Chris and Lexie are hate mongers in how you blindly attack public schools. You have yet to offer any justification for your position aside from hearing others say bad things, I suppose.
You believe Floyd will provide “great things”? What do you base this on? Do you have ANY justification or is this simplistic opinion?
Hypocritically, you then condemn “The State’s propaganda”. Brad justifies his position by addressing the out of state money and taking money away from public schools.
You bragged about your vote for Floyd. If you can offer some reasons aside from blind allegiance to the market system, I would respect this vote. As of now, you offer nothing but blind allegiance and unsubstantiated criticism.
You either have allegiance to individual liberty and the market system, or to socialism run by a pyramid of little bureaucrats, on the backs of the businesses and employees at the bottom who pay all the taxes.
Randy,
Even on Election Day, with my small words on conciliation to you, you can not be civil.
Randy, my boy, my little worker bee of mediocrity…you are the reason people do not like the education establishment. You screech like a petulant teenage girl worried about a date for the Friday nights dance. You are as ornery the losing bird at one of Robert Barber’s cock fights. You, Randy, make Drew Theodore looks smart.
So please, rest safely in your tenured job… but know that in any other system of employment, you and yours would be on the streets, marked by the failure of your deeds, and your imagination.
Yours, suddenly hoping for vouchers,
Chris
Chris, that’s a sad little reply.
You base my teaching performance and abilities on some blog posts? This certainly fits in with your aversion to data and evidence. For the record, 85% of my AP students passed the exam last year. The year prior 100% of my math tech student made a C or higher on the state end of course exam on which the State proportion is 40% making a D or lower. Of course statistics of performance are unimportant in a world where off the cuff opinion reigns.
True, I have been “ornery”. It arises from a passion and concern for my profession and discontent with the politics surrounding education. This often includes simplistic and unsubstantiated evaluation and solutions. This is highly ironic considering empirical analysis is a foundation in the business world, yet those championing a business model for schools avoid such analysis.
For example, Floyd claims SC schools “are at the bottom”. The ONLY evidence she has to justify this is SAT and drop out rates. What exactly does this measure? Certainly, this doesn’t measure middle and elementary schools. The data that does, the NAEP (national) scores indicate we are strong in those areas. Yet Floyd, Lexie, Ed, and Chrisw want to put the cart before the horse and find data to fit your ideology.
The sad consequence is while we focus all this energy and resources on a whale of a red herring called vouchers, the major problems that are present in our SC schools are marginalized.
Randy, you said that the major problems of student scores, illiteracy and dropouts were due to factors outside the control of schools, so why should we even talk about any more programs or spending on public education?
The private sector, which already spends over $120 BILLION annually on remedial education and vocational training, apparently is the only hope of these students that you say cannot be helped by government.
We agree on that.