The power of belief

Profuse declarations of one's confidence in the ability of all children to perform at the highest level are de rigueur for high-level education administrators.  Admission that some children may be bound for careers as plumbers, cosmetologists, or automotive technicians is a major faux pas, met with cries shock and horror -- particularly if one fails to speak with hushed voice and lowered eyes to suggest deep shame in bringing up unmentionable possibilities   To profess mild skepiticism, much less engage in critical thinking, with the wares of the latest educational snake-oil peddlars will banish one forever from the chambers where key decisions are made.

Michelle Rhee's latest bit of nonsense is emblematic of this evangelical bent.  Rhee firmly believes (but, note, does not provide evidence) that the only thing preventing urban schools from overrunning the classrooms of the Ivy League is (drum roll please) ... belief.

Rhee first sounds her theme thus:

I believe we can solve the problems of urban education in our lifetimes and actualize education’s power to reverse generational poverty. But I am learning that it is a radical concept to even suggest this.

Actually, if there is anything radical about this concept, it is that education alone is sufficient to eliminate the intergenerational transmisson of poverty.  Rhee's sweeping suggestion that somehow she alone has glimpsed the light brushes aside the work of hundreds of thousands of dedicated researchers, social workers, teachers, psychologists, and activists who have dedicated their lives to addressing the problem of poverty in the U.S..  But we have seen this attitude from St. Michelle -- returned from the caverns of Baltimore schools grasping the hold grail and cup containing all the answers to our society's most deep-rooted and intractable problems -- many times before.

And the answer according to St. Michelle?  Simply believe:

Examples of extraordinary success also exist here in Washington, DC ... At the successful schools, the primary difference was the team of adults who decided it was possible for lives and outcomes to move in other directions.  What is keeping us from bringing such examples to scale is not a lack of solutions but a frailty of belief.

That's pretty much it.  If kids don't do well, it's because teachers lack courage and don't believe.  The one concrete suggestion she gives is a plug for evaluating teachers based on student's test scores -- despite no evidence whatsoever (which is not required in a faith-based world, of course) that it is a good idea that could work  Then, in a nice bit of irony, she applauds Obama's education policies while decrying adults who play politics in the same breath.

And she concludes with an effort to seem MLK-esque:

There is no doubt that poverty drags multiple obstacles into schools with children, and these obstacles are extremely challenging to overcome. It can feel like climbing a mountain every day, both for children and the adults who are teaching them. But there are successful mountain climbers. As we follow their examples in larger numbers, we will create well-worn paths of success. Mountains will be reduced to hills, and hills to level ground as all children become poised for life choices that can compete with their imaginations

Curious that she doesn't mention who those mountain climbers are, what exactly they doing, by what measure she deems them a success in reaching the pinnacle, or what specifically she is doing to follow their lead.  But perhaps she is merely being humble in not telling us directly that the fearless climber scaling the peaks is her and hers is the lead we should follow.  But we would probably know that ... if we only believed.