Ensuring a new crop of idiots...

From Cognitive Dissidence, one we all should read if we care about education:

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Walker's Education Plan Is Already Working!

The entire state knows that Scott Walker and his Republican hoodlums who control (for the time being) the state legislature did to the education system in the state. They slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget. Walker tried to tell us that his "tools" from Act 10 would give the school districts the ability to deal with the shortfalls from his malevolent budget.

Those on the right who, for some unknown and ungodly reason refuse to face up to reality and admit his plan is an epic failure.

But the truth cannot be hidden, and to make it more graphic (pun intended) here is what Walker hath wrought, per the Wisconsin Department of Public Education:

Essential Learning and Support Program Losses:

Teacher Losses 2011-12:

K-12 Class Size Increases:

Change In Student Teacher Ratio 2010-11 to 2011-12

And most significantly, Budget Outlook 2012-13

Now, unless you're one of Walker's Kool-Aid drinkers, it's pretty obvious what he is up to. It's the same gambit he kept trying to pull when he was Milwaukee County Executive. Walker is trying to starve the school system until it breaks, then use that as an excuse to privatize the entire state's educational system.

By continuously cutting into their budgets, school systems will be forced to cut more and more programs and lay off more and more high quality teachers. Then the kids will start failing to meet the requirements. He will claim that the public school system is unable to do the job and make the false claim that privatizing the schools through the voucher program will save money and give better results.

Both of those claims will be false though.

The voucher schools are already crying that they need more money than what they are currently drawing away from the public schools. If they are finally able to force public schools out of the way, it will become a feeding frenzy as they keep demanding more and more taxpayer money.

And as for quality, we are already seeing that that is most definitely not the case:

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Tuesday released a comparison of private school choice students and public school students on the WKCE. The test was given to grades three through eight and 10 last fall.

For Racine Unified, 60 of the 62 private school choice students in those grades were tested, DPI stated. They averaged 50.8 percent proficient or advanced on the WKCE math tests, while Unified students averaged 61.5 percent.

Those private school choice students also scored well below the state average math proficiency of 78.0 and the statewide average for economically disadvantaged students, 64.7 percent, DPI said.

In reading, the private school choice students from Unified averaged 55.7 percent proficient or advanced, compared with the district average of 69.2 percent.

The statewide average was 81.9 percent proficiency in reading and 70.5 percent for economically disadvantaged students.

The article goes on to show the disreputable Robin Vos claiming these lower scores as somehow being proof that we need to privatize schools, even though it might take "five to ten years" to show any sort of improvement in the private schools. Methinks that Vos is apparently a result of privatized education since he can't figure out that failing is not a good thing, especially when one was having great success.

And I can tell you with full confidence that if Walker somehow manages to survive the recall and to elude John Doe long enough to devise another budget, it will only get worse.

That's why we have to continue reclaiming Wisconsin. Make sure you help with a GOTV movement and get ready to vote the bums out on Tuesday.

 Now, the reason idiots like walker and vos are able to get away with such disgusting dishonesty is of course explained by the title of this blog. Look it up, we'll wait... it's under cognitive dissonance.

Another piece of the puzzle is given by Robert Altemeyer, his book The Authoritarians (PDF online FOR FREE!) explains that a certain percentage of people in any society are right-wing authoritarian followers. RWAFs, in relevance to this post, believe whatever their leaders tell them if they like the conclusions, in defiance of the reasoning. In this case, even the most ignorant bucket of snot wants good schools for their kids, but a lot of authoritarian followers feel that teachers are "out groups" and can be demonized. These conflicting priorities are resolved by what Dr. Altemeyer calls compartmentalization, like a computer with files that are seperate from each other, the RWAF can call up each idea, "education good" "teachers bad" without the two rubbing up against each other. Apparently, right-wing leaders, which Altemeyer calls "social dominators," understand this and can openly make these contradictory and vicious statements without the followers ever connecting them.

Therefore, the walker gop eviseration of education in WI serves many needs for authoritarians. It punishes teachers, "lowers" taxes (who cares if you get $6 while big businesses get millions), ensures the next generation will be unprepared for real life, most importantly it "defunds" any alternative to the authoritarian vision and makes sure young people lack the critical thinking skills necessary to see through all the bullshit rained down upon them.