Ed-Wise: States of schools and states of minds

Several recent education-related stories affecting the city have arisen recently and they each deserve their word equivalent of 15 minutes of fame.

Eric "Roger Rabbit" Goldstein, the former head of the school system's food operations, was convicted on federal charges of conspiracy, bribery and extortion and may face 20 years in prison. His greed and indifference to the health of children invalidate any pity for his fall from grace. In Goldstein's case, it was a grimy "white collar crime.”

One of his colleagues, who by reportedly notifying authorities of Goldstein's activities, complained that he was subsequently "rewarded" by being humiliatingly penalized. Whistleblowers and Good Samaritans are on shaky ground. Laws protecting them are written in disappearing ink. Venerated pariahs.

Many years ago, a former chief executive of what was then called the Office of Food and Nutrition Services was investigated by the Office of Special Investigations which unsuccessfully recommended his termination. That's a story for another time.

Corruption may not be systemic and chronic, but it is resistant to eradication. This is especially true in school food and pupil transportation. The number of meals served daily to kids is greater than the entire armed forces of most major nations. And the logistics of bus routes and complying with all sorts of regulations and special circumstances is tricky. The complexity of their politically sensitive areas is rarely noted, but it is no vindication.

More intrusive oversight is needed.  

Next is a literally "feel good" story that reminds me of what Benjamin Franklin reportedly replied when asked what kind of government the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had just created: "a republic, if you can keep it.” Although the new mandate of two-to-five minutes of "mindfulness" breathing exercises has been mocked as a gimmick and accused by some of being a deflection from poor test scores and attendance, it's a fine idea. But will it be another DOE bust and not properly executed?

A piece of heavy machinery fell on a tourist's leg and nearly severed it. It happened years ago near a construction site that was difficult to access and delayed the ambulance. The tourist amazed the responders by being so calm about the whole thing. She attributed it to the natural anesthesia from meditation. Breathing techniques have also proven very helpful in childbirth.   

I have myself used it against writer's block, but with less success.

As part of a discredited literacy protocol around 20 years ago, teachers were forced to begin their classes with a 10-minute "Read-Aloud.” Hopefully the "mindfulness" practices will not become the new "read aloud.” Who developed this "mindfulness" program and stands to profit from it?  Let's trust the DOE hasn't hooked onto an ethereal equivalent of Lucy Calkins.

Anyone who has made an unannounced visit to most schools and had unrestricted access without an escort, knows that the level of discipline that the DOE permits to be enforced is insufficient to command the attention of an entire class for longer than it takes a speeding bullet to hit a target 100 yards away.  

Will "mindfulness" catch a break from classroom mindlessness? Don't hold your breath.

This week also marked the conclusion, after alleged stonewalling, of an eight-year investigation into the quality of education delivered in some Hasidic Jewish schools. The Department of Education found that many of these private schools failed to deliver instruction in core subjects like English, math and science that was "substantially equivalent" to public schools, as mandated by state law.

The findings have been rebutted by claims that the investigation was flawed and skewed, with potential evidence taken out of context with unfair encroachments on religious liberty.

If the verdict had taken the form of a United Nations General Assembly resolution, we could dismiss it as another malicious joke, but it is supported by prominent education researchers and Yaffed, an orthodox Jewish organization whose members are most definitely not so-called "self-hating Jews.” But there were some other observers who reported the news with a tone of suspicious relish with overtones of odious motivation. That doesn't necessarily make them cranks or anti-Semites.  

One vociferous critic also told me that King Henry VIII had texted him requesting his services as a marriage counselor.

Knowing the emphasis that has traditionally been placed on the value of educational excellence and the historical performance of the Jewish community, I was skeptical. Yearning to disbelieve does not constitute a refutation, however. Nowhere are the DOE-promoted critical thinking skills more in demand than Talmudic analysis. Surely, the Hasidic youth are mentally fit, even if not prepped, to climb the DOE's steep molehill of academic excellence. And they are the only students whose lessons on the Holocaust are not neutralized.

But I respect the investigation's findings and hope similar inquiries are launched into other private school systems.

Finally, a columnist wrote in the New York Post that "teachers are not the enemy and we shouldn't let their unions pit us against them.” My reply is that unions are not the enemy, and we shouldn't let union-busters and their henchmen and enablers pit the public and teachers against them.

It's an old trick to try to drive a wedge between rank-in-file and their leaders by pretending to uncover an existing schism where none exists. There is no clash or division between the interests, values and positions. They speak for us as we speak for ourselves. They are not pawns to secret agendas.Teachers are not hostages, don't need to be rescued and are not prone to the Stockholm Syndrome.

They're more captivated than captive. The columnist also called AFT President Randi Weingarten "the biggest villain,” adding that "schools under her control stayed closed for the longest.”

During the unprecedented pandemic, when casualties were mounting fast and the scope and nature of the disease were not fully fathomed, the medical experts made determinations based on evidence. They did not set policy and the teachers unions definitely didn't either. Blaming them for everything bad in the state of the world is reminiscent of some rather nasty historical tropes.

Politicians, their appointees and bureaucracies control the schools, albeit with imperfect mastery, not the teachers unions and their leaders, both locally and nationally. Were it otherwise, our schools would be in better shape.