hangin' out with arne ~ one blogger's experience

Recently, a friend from the tweetosphere posted this blog. I found it to be an interesting discourse!

When I checked into the tweetosphere this morning, I was thrilled to see my bud, Arne Duncan, tweeting his little (literally) brain out. In case you don't know, he's at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, ready to spread more of his incredible bullshit wisdom to any sucker ivy leaguer interested parties willing to listen. Well, I was so excited to see him on twitter that I thought I'd just jump in and join him. I mean, who would I rather get into an early morning convo with than Diane Ravitch Stephen Krashen Susan Ohanian Arne Duncan? So, I started tweeting away in response to his tweets (I, like, so can't believe I was tweeting with Arne Duncan!) I'm gonna keep those tweets forever and I thought it might be nice to share them with you. BTW: You may notice that Arne's not that good about answering questions, etc., but hey, it was early in the AM.

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

High performing countries invest in education differently than we do#AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Yeah, like not investing in high-stakes testing and test prep or having a narrow curricula. And how about small class sizes?

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

We're not giving enough resources to the kids in the communities that need the most help #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan That's b/c U R giving all of R money away 2 consultants, test makers & textbook companies, none of which increase achievement.

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Thanks to #RTTT we've seen more reform in the last two years than in the last decade.

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Yeah but those reforms suck. Proven failures. Fire yourself Arne. You're bad for our kids.

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Real Reform vs Faux Reform http://bit.ly/k5nPI6

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

We all need to take on the status quo -- mayors, governors, unions, school board members #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Arne you and your buds are the biggest defenders of the status quo.http://bit.ly/jTHtiO

@traceydouglasoutside the box

BTW @arneduncan Bill Gates is a computer guy. He doesnt know sh!t about education. Seriously! Y R U letting him call the shots?

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Folks who say poverty is destiny--that's one of the biggest challenges we face in education reform today #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Cut the crap, Arne. Who has said that? Srsly!

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Part of why high other countries are outpacing us is because they are recruiting the top 1/3 of college graduates into teaching #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Arne, how does poverty affect student achievement? BTW: 21%+ of our kids live in poverty.

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

We need to pay teachers more #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan How about : "I need to respect teachers more." That "I" means you, Arne

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

We should pay great teachers $150,000 a year #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan How do you define 'great teacher'?

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

We need to have a high bar, high standards, recruit great teachers and principals, and give districts more flexibility #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Re: high bar, high standards... You need to start with the Secretary of Education position first. Major fail currently.

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Anyone who thinks that great teaching doesn't matter devalues the profession #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Oh, and re: "devalues the profession". You don't wanna go there, Arne, because re: valuing the profession - U R Far Below Basic

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Do unions have to change, absolutely. So do school boards, principals, and we as a department #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Does the Secretary of Ed need to change? Oh yeah!!! Got facts?

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Where we have courageous unions, we need to celebrate and reward that. #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Yep because courageous unions would have stood up to u and your deformer pals instead of rolling over 4 a place at the table!

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Or goal is pretty simple, we want to lead the world in college graduates by 2020 #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Why?

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

The countries that out-educate us today will out- compete us tomorrow #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Really? Then I am so scared of Finland. /eyeroll/

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan BTW: Education is NOT a competition!

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

When you see high performing schools they're not teaching to the test everyday. The test scores take care of themselves #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan That's right. Only schools w/ poor black & brown children are teaching to the test all day every day.

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

When students drop out of school they're condemned to poverty and social failure #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Would u stay in school when all that's valued is a test score & yours sucks? When all u do is ELA & math test prep

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

We're investing $350 million to come up with the next generation of assessments, we need to move beyond filling in bubbles #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Sorry Arne but that just shows what a dolt u r. We don't need more tests!!! We need equitable & full funding 4 r schools!

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

We want to expand access to early childhood education, but access to quality #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan Hey, there's a good idea! ...as long as you don't test them 2 death.

@arneduncanArne Duncan 

Reforms in IL are a model for the country #AspenIdeas

@traceydouglasoutside the box

@arneduncan RUFKM?

And on that note, our tweetversation was over. /sigh/ I wonder if he'll be tweeting tomorrow morning.