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| 2012 Election: | Obama's book | Biden's book | Romney's book | Ryan's book | | | Jill Stein's interview | Gary Johnson's interview | | | 2012 Debates |
Teachers Under Attack How NJ Governor Chris Christie's Personal Vendetta Against Teachers Will Destroy Public Education by Mike Spina  (Click for Amazon book review)
BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org: The first impression one gets from this book is "What a whiner!" The author, Mike Spina, says on p. 23, for example, "Christie signed into law… the biggest hit: new part time school employees become part of a defined contribution plan, not a defined benefit pension." (That sounds like a pretty small hit to anyone outside of the trenches of Trenton!) The fact is that in New Jersey, Chris Christie won the gubernatorial election promising to reform education; then as Governor, he reformed education as promised. I encouraged my many family and friends in New Jersey to vote against Christie -- but I acknowledge that Christie won, and that therefore he has a mandate to implement his campaign promises, foremost of which was education reform. The author does not acknowledge anything about an electoral mandate, and instead BLAMES Christie for doing exactly as he promised to do! The second impression one gets from this book is "What a biased whiner!" The author is well-qualified to write this book -- he is a retired teacher who has run for public office. And he interviews dozens of other well-qualified people -- but only people who agree with him. For example, on pp. 127-9, Spina quotes numerous "experts" agreeing with Spina's opinion, over and over again, that Christie is "trying to bust the NJEA" (the teachers' union). That is the essence of bias -- you quote people saying the same thing as you, to reinforce your own opinion as if it's a fact, without ever citing opposing viewpoints. That bias permeates this book. The author is certainly colorful in his attacks on Christie. In that sense, it's a fun book to read, because fervency is fun. Some of the fervently colorful terms the author uses:
Mayor Cory Booker is a Democrat, who teamed up with the Republican Governor Christie to reform the failing Newark school system. They did so by getting the founder of Facebook to contribute $100 million. Christie had to appoint Booker as overseer so that the $100 million could be controlled in the manner prescribed by the donor. Unbelievably, Spina considers the $100 million to be a bad idea -- bashing the trend of "celebrity" funding and bashing Christie and Booker as "selling out" (p. 143). That's unbelievable because Spina spends an entire chapter deriding Christie for losing out on $400 million in federal funding (Obama's "Race to the Top" funds) which most assuredly come with more strings attached than the Facebook funds! The most damning praise I ever received was when, after completing a detailed environmental report concerning northern Arkansas, an Arkansas state official read it and said, "Based on the people you interviewed, I can see how you drew your conclusions." In other words, he was complaining that I interviewed a biased set of people, and then drew biased conclusions based on that selection and presentation. But I had interviewed and cited that state official himself -- so I at least presented the opposing point of view, even if that state official disagreed with my interpretations. Based on the people Spina interviewed, I can see how Spina drew his conclusions. Spina does not present any opposing points of view, except to bash opposing points of view as "political opinion" in the face of "facts" presented by Spina's "experts." Spina intends this book to present the case for how Christie is factually wrong about education reform. But Spina succeeds in doing the opposite -- demonstrating how the teachers and the NJEA, as represented by Spina, are unwilling to listen to public opinion; consider themselves as the only appropriate decision-makers in education; and are incapable of change because of those two conceits. Christie deserves to win against this crowd -- we accordingly hope he fulfills Spina's nightmare and destroys Spina's constituency -- which may very well improve the New Jersey public school system in the process. -- Jesse Gordon, OnTheIssues editor-in-chief, April 2013
How NJ Governor Chris Christie's Personal Vendetta Against Teachers Will Destroy Public Education by Mike Spina.
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