Side Blog 4: The obliteration of Daniel Negreanu

For the longest time, I enjoyed Daniel's blog. Until recent, I've somewhat agreed with his bleeding heart liberal views, although the fact that he won't look at meat pisses me off the most. Oh by the way, if you don't know who Daniel Negreanu is, this post is going to be almost irrelevant to you. If you want to check out his blog, go to http://fullcontactpoker.com and you can experience the blog for yourself. However, Daniel recently decided to go into the education system in America, something that I've written several essays about. As usual, he gave his spin on things after seeing a one hour program on some shitty news channel that he watches while wasting his life away. I'm going to go through piece by piece and describe what is wrong with Mr. Negreanu's argument.

"The show was very informative. The big myth in the U.S. public school systems is that they don't have enough money in the system to teach the kids. That is simply bogus. "
-Very good, that is correct. Education is hands down the biggest expenditure of national, state, and local governments

"It seems the biggest problem with the education system is the moronic "No Child Behind" bill that passed. With this, completely, and utterly stupid program, parents aren't given the right to choose which public school their kids can attend."
-Ooooh, and you were doing so well there too Daniel. Problem is, you decided to keep writing after saying that NCLB is a moronic act. The basis of NCLB is requiring schools to meet AYP(Average Yearly Progress) and if those schools do not do that, parents can obtain vouchers to send their children to other schools. So get your facts right.

"It's all according to zip code, so even if you knew that the school got was below average, your only choice would be to move, or to go to private school. That, in my opinion, is the epitome of what causes the problem countrywide."
-Oh, I'm sorry...WRONG AGAIN! Haven't you ever heard of magnet schools? A magnet school is something that is covered under federal tax dollars that the school must spend money on to send you to if you feel that your school is not meeting NCLB standards.

"Teachers, have absolutely no incentive to care at all! Since there is no competition, there is little incentive to make the schools better."
-Well, you're wrong. Teachers have all the incentive in the world to care because they want to increase test scores on state tests so that they KEEP THEIR JOBS. There is competition amongst schools because they are always striving to meet AYP or their asses are going to be on the chopping block.

"The public school system is the only "business" in the country where you just don't have a choice where to shop. They showed examples of when the telephone company was a monopoly. People paid more for phone calls and got crappy service."
-Eh, I'll let you slide because for one thing public schools aren't businesses. They are non profit organizations! Just take a look at the yearly expenditures and you will see that all the money is going somewhere and not into someone's pocket at the top.

"There are more problems, and the biggest one is the teacher's union. As long as that is a strong group, education in this country is doomed. It's virtually impossible to fire a teacher, even if they are totally inept. "
-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Okay, now that I stopped laughing, two things to cover here. First, a teacher must acquire tenure, which usually happens after 3 or 5 years and then it is tough to fire them. Before they acquire that tenure, they can be dismissed without cause. Teachers' unions protect the rights that teachers have as professionals. You know, like you're a professional poker player, teachers are professional people. I mean, someone had to teach you to misconstrue the facts as well as you do now. Next, teachers that are tenured can be fired easier under NCLB because if their classes aren't meeting AYP then that will be directly reflective of that teacher.

"It was an excellent piece, and they rounded it out by showing what happens at schools that go charter, meaning that they are not playing by union rules. At those schools, you CAN get fired if you aren't doing a good job, and the students at these schools fare much better than at the regular public schools."
-Ummmm, not playing by union rules? Teachers in charter schools are still unioninzed, you idiot! Yes it is true that those students do better than public school students, but you have to consider that charter schools are schools in which parents must be a stipend up front to the school to send their children there. It's private school without the fancy dress. Smaller class size leads to increase attention which leads to increased success. Nuff said