Hope For Our Students had a brilliant comment on Part 1 of The Wolf of Delaware that I thought deserved it’s own post. This is what Hope wrote:
“Globalization of the world market” translates to the U.S. invitation to join the Organsation of Economical Cooperation and Development (OECD) which today has 34 country-members (the United Nations has 193); so hardly a global market. The percentage of <18% may seem small, but *”OECD member countries account for 63 percent of world GDP, three-quarters of world trade, 95 percent of world official development assistance, over half of the world’s energy consumption…”
The rest of the summary is a corporate sales pitch using inaccurate PISA comparative test data to influence education policy makers of the need for education reform. This sales pitch has been regurgitated by education reformers ever since. Today, we know the data in the original reports was inaccurate for many, many reasons. Most importantly, the OECD recanted it’s original claim that poorly performing teachers and low standards were the most likely reason for poor performance of students in the United States. In 2013, the OECD issued this statement, “We know the best way to improve test scores is to lower child poverty rates and build a sense of “community” within a country’s citizenry”,
As far as the “Wolf” is concerned, he believed the sales pitch and bought the elixir from the traveling salesman like many, many others did at the time (within both parties). The problem is, he is still swearing by the product which he now knows was a hoax and it makes him look more foolish than ever. The question is, when did he stop being a victim of false advertising and perpetrator of the swindle on Delaware families? I am hopeful, The Wolf Part 2 will answer that question.
*http://usoecd.usmission.gov/mission/overview.html
I am very much inclined to agree with Hope in just about everything they wrote, with one major exception. I do not think the Wolf was a victim of false advertising. I think he was very much aware all along of the sales pitch. Let’s not forget, Tough Choices was released in 2007. The Wolf and his buddy over at Rodel were knee-deep in education reform two years earlier. But I think the roots of this began before that. He was just positioning himself to be at the right place at the right time when it did come around in full swing. More on that later…
The Season Of Myths 