Arne’s World

In 2009 two things happened that we're bad for children: Elmo's World stopped production and Arne Duncan became Secretary of Education. 

Over the past five years, children and all advocates for children and public education have been entangled in Arne’s World.

Arne's World (to the tune of Elmo's World)

Lalalalalala lalalalala

Arne's World                                                            

Lalalalala lalalalala

Arne's World (Arne's World)

Arne loves his charters 

And his Common Core

That's Arne's World.

YEAH!

In Arne’s World, American school children are dumb and educators have been lying to parents about their children’s progress. Read more

In Arne’s World, “white suburban moms” are deluded about the abilities of their children and the Common Core and standardized tests will set them straight. Read more

In Arne’s World, bribing governors and state education leaders to adopt the Common Core and teacher evaluation based on test scores is the American Way. Read more

In Arne’s World public school teachers are the problem. Read more

In Arne’s World teacher preparation programs are the problem. Read more

In Arne’s World, merit pay will improve the quality of learning for children. Read more

In Arne’s World, Bill Gates has no seat at the education policy table, despite being the person who financed the development and implementation of the Common Core and despite having financed the MET study that advocates for teacher evaluation and compensation based on standardized test scores. Read more

In Arne’s World, Hurricane Katrina, which killed hundreds of people, is the best thing that ever happened to education in New Orleans. Read more

In Arne’s World, the way to address struggling neighborhood public schools is to close them and turn them over to charter school privatizers. Read more

So, welcome to Arne’s World folks. A world of self-delusion and arrogance. A world that invites the powerful plutocrat to the table, while belittling the people on the front lines trying to make a difference every day. A world where closing a school is a better solution than working with parents, teachers and community members to improve a school. A world where kids are dumb and their parents deluded. A world where teachers are the problem instead of part of the solution. A world where you can say "poverty is not destiny", and then ignore its impact on learning. A world where public education, a crowning achievement of American democracy, is being handed over to private interests. 

Last year we learned from Tea Party zealots, that it is difficult to have a functioning government when elected representatives don’t believe in government. Over the past five years we have learned that it is difficult to move forward in public education when the Secretary of Education does not believe in public education.