On education, Dunleavy and the ad nauseam school of propaganda
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is back to his old tricks, claiming that anyone who doesn’t see the world of education exactly as he does belongs to a special interest and doesn’t care about young people.
Dunleavy publicity man Jeff Turner sent this voluminous term paper to Alaska newspapers Friday. It is straight from the ad nauseam school of propaganda.
Dunleavy has rounded up all of the usual suspects, from the charter school study to test results in Mississippi, without ever confessing that reality is far more complicated.
On May 18, he sent a similar missive, claiming that people whose ideas he doesn’t like make up the hated “education cabal.” The cabal exists only in Dunleavy’s mind.
Time and again he has shown himself to be incapable of making the slightest effort to understand the points of view of experts across Alaska who have spent their lives trying to improve education.
It’s no wonder that Dunleavy can’t get anything important through the Legislature. His refusal to cooperate and compromise with others is the heart of the problem.
In his effort to spread government propaganda, a hallmark of the Dunleavy regime, constant repetition of misleading claims and outright lies is standard practice.
The biggest Dunleavy lie about education is that all those who disagree with him are protecting the status quo and want nothing but money, while he alone has the interests of children in mind and wants reform.
The second biggest Dunleavy lie is this: “Rest assured that regardless of what you hear from your local school district, class sizes will be reasonable, teachers will teach, and school activities will continue.”
Class sizes are not reasonable in many parts of Alaska and the situation is getting worse.
Instead of dealing directly and honestly with legislators, school board members, administrators, teachers and the public, Dunleavy sits back and orders his staff to fire off another bloated press release with the same turgid talking points and insults, acting as if that constitutes leadership.
As a legislator and governor, Dunleavy has consistently shown a lack of respect for the opinions of others and presented himself as the man with all the answers.
He never stops complaining that those with other ideas about education simply want to spend money and don’t care about education policy.
He can’t get this lie out of his head.
In a press conference in January, which I’ve written about here before, he claimed that reporters have failed to make it clear that he cares about policy, while what he called “the other side” cares only about money.
“I have to be honest with you guys, the narrative, the story is not complete. And it's not being written, I think, to be honest with you, in a complete fashion,” he said.
“I've been talking about policy and money for years. We put money in. We continue to put money in. We're putting money in this. Money, money, money’s going in. Money. So, let's just make sure we understand. Money is going in. Okay? So, thank you,” he said.
Dunleavy motioned to a reporter.
“She's going to write that down. ‘Dunleavy says money’s going in.’ At least somebody will. OK?”
He asked reporter Sean Maguire of the Anchorage Daily News if the reporter was OK with the poor performance of Alaska on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, with marks near the bottom of the nation. He asked Maguire if he would be excited about those scores if he ever has a child in school.
“Are you okay with that? Yes or no? Are you okay with this? Are you okay with this? Yes or no? There we go. There we go. No answer. No answer. No answer. Gotcha,” said Dunleavy.
“Is anybody in this room OK with us being at 51, 51st in our NAEP scores? Is anyone here, raise your hand if you're saying that's great. And then explain to me why because it might be a different universe I dwell in. We’re doing money. We’re not just focusing on charter schools. This is a complete package.”
“The other side just wants money and they want us to shut up about this,” Dunleavy said.
“That’s the problem. You can’t shut up about this, it stares you right in the face. I don’t know if people here in this room have children or are gonna some day. I can guarantee you this. You’re not just gonna kick them out the door, I hope, and just hope they come back home after four o’clock. I got a feeling you’re gonna try and figure out what’s the best environment for those kids.”
“My job, the moral imperative is for me to put policy forth that changes this paradigm. So I focused on neighborhood schools. I focused on charter schools. I focused on home schools. I focused on mission schools. I’m focused on tech schools. I’m focused on language immersion schools.”
“Just get your friends on the other side that are just focused on money to also talk about this,” he said, pointing to the poor Alaska showing on the NAEP charts.
He ranted on and on, pretending that in Alaska Dunleavy occupies one side, in pursuit of the best educational policies.
And the other side just wants money.
“So do me a favor, make the headline this: ‘Dunleavy asks why it’s just about money? And why there’s not just as strong as an effort to get policy? Ask. Can I pay you? I’ll buy, I’ll get a subscription to your newspaper if you put that headline on it.”
I wrote here in January that Dunleavy would not accomplish anything this year on education policy unless he stopped acting as if he had all the answers. He hasn’t stopped.
His delusion about “the other side” and the “Education cabal” is insulting to the many people in Alaska who believe in public schools and are making a sincere effort.
No one believes that money alone is the solution. A competent governor would understand.
A smart governor would learn from his mistakes. A smart governor would realize that the problem is not with the school boards, school administrators, teachers and parents that he constantly belittles.
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