Generic White Men, Trigger Warnings, & Post-PhD Confessions
Why do we believe Generic White Men? I take down a problematic article about de Blasio’s relationship with charter schools, written by Old White Dude Extraordinaire William McGurn ::cue eyeroll::
In this post: Dr. Allison Harbin writes about reliving her experience of being a whistleblower, and what it is going to take to believe women.
Next week: Dr. Allison Habin writes about deregulation and the privatization of public education through the lens of recent history.
Last week: Dr. Allison Harbin writes about the Boomers' big idea to deregulate industries and gives her unsolicited opinion about neoliberal bloodlust.
Dear Friends and Fam,
How’re we liking a Tuesday newsletter? Last week, I wrote a series of new posts for Post-PhD which necessitated me googling myself for the first time in a few years, and that took me down a rabbit hole of trauma, bullying, and outrage. I should’ve heeded my own internal trigger warnings.
But, to be real, I was already there. The media narratives of Dylan Farrow, Meghan Markle, and Sara Everard in the UK found me re-living my own experience of being a whistle blower, obviously not for the same reasons nor nearly as traumatic, but regardless, it got me thinking about how much we hate women. And that is something every single woman has been forced to reflect on lately.
What is it going to take to believe women? What is it going to take to believe BIPOC women? For the first time, I publicly wrote about the experience of getting sued by my former professor and exactly how it cut me off at the knees. But, the silver lining of it all is that it prepared me with the tools and clinical disillusionment necessary to become a thorn in the school privatization movement’s side. They really only have themselves to blame.
I think the first step towards allowing women and BIPOC to be human is simple: practicing respect— respect for others’ experiences and respect for others’ right to be human. Who gets to be human?
Not women. Not BIPOC. That leaves a very narrow pool of those allowed to be human, and therefore, who gets to be taken seriously.
Speaking of who gets to be taken seriously….
In the WSJ article “The ‘Equity’ of Bill de Blasio,” Let me clear, I don’t particularly care for de Blasio nor his education. But that doesn’t mean I agree with this guy about why— because this article completely misses the mark.
the writer queries: what’s progressive about fighting public schools where racial minorities succeed?
Really asking the “tough” questions there, William McGurn, aka stereotypical WSJ white male journalist. This guy is sure to understand the complexities of systemic racism in education, so already, I’m excited. Please note that last sentence is dripping in sarcasm and condescension (ok, fine, this whole email).
Of course, the article is about charter schools. And of course, it takes the position that charter schools are the only solution to school segregation and inequality. lolol, who is still buying this argument? I’ll tell ya: only those seeking to justify how they’re profiting off this lie.
The author, we’ll call him Generic White Man, states of de Blasio:
“Over his three terms in office, he closed failing public schools and saw the number of charters explode from only 17 to 183.”
[Fun Fact: referring to urban public schools as ‘failing’ is racist. See Eve Ewing’s work on Chicago public school closures. Et al. It’s called “deficit thinking” and we’re all over it ]
Ok, you’re thinking, that sounds like this Generic White Man (GWM for short) is onto something. But wait for it… remember, this is the Wall Street Journal we’re talking about:
“Despite charters’ record of achievement and clear popularity— in New York City there’s now a wait list of 48,300 clamoring to get in— Mayor de Blasio continues to under mind them whenever he can.”
GAH GAH GAH How dare de Blasio?!
Eye roll and rage black out.
GWM is a man with a mission, and he’s determined to over-explain his “argument” with assumptions (and we all know what assuming does):
“Indeed, the more successful charters are, the more the mayor resents them”
LOLOLOLOL this guy, this GWM, whose background isn’t even in freaking education is SO SURE HE GETS IT.
Suggested reading for this clown: This Atlantic essay by Conor Williams, “What applying to charter schools showed me about inequality: Charters are not a comprehensive solution to public education’s problems.”
Here’s the thing about charter school “data”:
The lottery, or how students are selected, is often rigged. Here is an excellent analysis, “What We Can Learn from Charter School Lotteries,” from the Journal of Economic Perspectives, by Julia Chabrier, Sarah Cohodes, and Philip Oreopoulos from 2016.
Their “record of achievement” is faked. One way is to kick out the low performers, or hold them back unnecessarily. As well as harsh discipline practices that “drive away more difficult students or drive them out once enrolled.”
Their “clear popularity” is manufactured, at great expense, by the spin doctors of charter school lobbyists, whose pockets are so terrifyingly deep, even I don’t dare take aim (don’t worry mom, it’s cool).
This narrative, that charter schools are on the side of minority students, is the single biggest lie of the whole school privatization movement.
This condescending assumption that white people have the answers to educating minority populations is as old as time. Here is a great read on it by Kevin Carey, “The Demise of the Great Education Saviors.” Christopher Emdin discusses this white savior mentality in education with the history of the Carlisle School in his introduction to For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood. He does this to point out not much has changed. I scanned in this forward to his book because I think everyone should read it. Here it is.
I’m over it. Returning back to our GWM article about how de Blasio is “failing” minority students, the last question he profoundly asks:
“In what world does any of this make Bill de Blasio progressive?”
Hmmmm. Actually, this world. This GWM, at no surprise to anyone, has failed to do his homework. Probably because he was so sure he was right, he didn’t even need to query the problematic assumption that neoliberalization is somehow good for racial inequality. Even though it’s clear that assumption underlies every sentence in this thinly veiled advertisement for charter lobbyists. Vomit.
While we may not believe women, we certainly believe the GWM. And that’s what securing all our collective doom.
#WhiteMenLie most of all, to themselves, as they bolster up their fragile egos and make sure to believe that they are the saviors, they are the heroes of their own story. And white women? We ain’t much better.
What I’m reading:
“America the Laggard” in Fall 2020’s Jacobin: “by virtually any measure, people in the U.S. are worse off than those in other rich countries. There’s no disputing the impact of our weak entitlements and paltry labor protections.”
and of course…
Rebuttals to that GWM’s trash mentioned above. Below is my clap back to all the arguments this GWM makes about how de Blasio is “hurting” minority students by not drinking the Charter School Koolaid, with supplementary reading. (and yes, I did forward this to this particular GWM, knowledge is power after all ;)
GWM’s 1st claim:
DE BLASIO MISSED A DEADLINE TO ALLOW SUCCESS CHARTER SCHOOLS TO EXPAND IN NYC THEREFORE HE IS A VILLAN.
Mmk, buddy, let’s calm down on that. While GWM does accurately quote the reality of Success Academy’s student demographics, that’s about all that is accurate about your assumptions of Success’ impact. As GWM states:
Success Academy reports that the typical racial breakdown for one of its charters is 60.8% black and 34.4% Latino (against 25.5% black and 40.6% Latino in the city’s traditional public schools). And students are selected by lottery.
-Listen, Success Academy is the living embodiment of why charter schools are racist places of trash. I would know, because I interviewed with them. And because I always have receipts when I’m slinging mud. Here is a damning video of a math teacher screaming at a first grader for getting a question wrong. Then, go read Chris Emdin’s analysis of the Native American Carlisle school. I’m sure you can connect the dots to systemic racism from there. But if not, here, here, and here are some fun articles about Success Academy, its lawsuits, and charges of discriminatory use of data. Ask any public school teacher in NYC, “what do you think of Success academy?” and you’ll get your answer there: Success is the pinnacle (or is it nadir?) of charter school exploitation and racism. You can quote me on that.
-Here’s an article about Success Academy’s ‘legacy’: “The Startling Way NYC’s Largest Charter Network Handles Discipline.”
GWM’s use of a statistic:
“According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, from 2013-2019, the black-white gap for fourth graders increased six points in math and two in reading.”
Yes, good use of a statistic sir, but it doesn’t mean what you think it does: Between these years, we also see charter schools explode. After explaining Success academy’s “pedagogy” and “curriculum” perhaps we can understand that this fact GWM is holding up as evidence that de Blasio is hurting schools, is in fact, illuminating what charter schools have done to the standardized test scores they swore they could improve. Smh.
GWM’s false-assumption that BIPOC children do better in Charter Schools. This is an instance where I don’t entirely blame GWM for being dangerously ill-informed, because unless you are educated rigorously, it can be hard to spot problems with data collection. ::pats his balding head gently::
All that evidence that charter schools > public schools for BIPOC kids? It relies entirely on self-reporting of charter schools. That’s right, so the way they hold charter schools “accountable” is through their own self-supplied data…. Here’s some articles on why that’s bad, just for the cheap seats in the back: “The Surprising Source of Key Data in a Report Critical of the U.S. Charter School Program.”
“How Messed Up is California’s charter school sector? You Won’t Believe How Much.”
Here is a report from the Brookings institution about why relying on self-reported data for non-cognitive skills. But that’s only part of the problem, the other one is corruption. In other words, I don’t believe a single damn thing that comes out of charter schools. None of us should.
But most helpful of all in proving my argument that GWM shockingly didn’t do his research: Here is a great answer sheet from Valerie Strauss, ed reporter at the Washington Post, which separates fact from fiction in terms of the lies charter schools champion. Strauss illustrates this data issue:
“Given the extensive research literature related to charter schools, it is surprising that the NAPCS report relies on such a small and selective set of sources.”
That seemingly banal sentence is an intellectual call-out, a dog whistle I’m afraid too many general readers miss. What she’s saying is: your data is inaccurate therefore all those rosy analysis of your success is, by default, nonsense.
As GWM concludes his article: No One Wants Segregation
“Certainly no one wants segregation”
— sir, your racism is showing. Hurry! Cover it up with neoliberal logic so no one sees it. —- GWM continues,
“But neither should it be used to excuse public schools that fail to provide children of color with the education they need to claim their place in the American dream, much less to deny these children the option of a good charter school. The mayor’s focus on integration conveniently deflects attention from this larger failure.”
Of course they want segregation: It’s profitable. In NSFS when I discussed exactly how keeping minority communities minority is the single most important factor for hedge funds to invest (they get to avoid paying taxes).
And this, folks, is exactly how the narrative of victimhood gets warped and used to justify continued exploitation. If you’re white and can’t see that, best believe ya part of the problem (and most likely stopped reading this email by the second line or so)
So for the rest of us, let’s take some comfort in the reality that this whole thing is rigged, and so stacked against us it’s reached the realm of the absurd. As Kafka says, “every man is the hero of his own story”
smh, same shit different day.
Let’s burn it down.
-A
P.S. Since I’m sure to be hemorrhaging subscribers after this here newsletter, let alone all the white professors who follow me are sure to be writing in being all #NotAllMen, if you enjoyed this excoriation of a GWM, please spread the word— share this newsletter!
In the meantime, I eagerly look forward to more white men writing in to “correct” me.
NSFS: Not Safe for School, your snark-filled antidote to racism and corruption in education. Follow @postphdtheblog on Twitter and @allisonharbin_postphd on Instagram
Other posts about Generic White Men:
I come by my disdain honestly in a long tradition of southern writers who remain obsessed with the uneasy cultural quagmire of postbellum southern history.