Atlanta Daily World

I'll begin by saying I'm heartbroken about the arrest and "perp walk" of 35 Atlanta educators last week, including former Superintendent Beverly Hall.

This has to be the saddest thing that's happened to our school system since it was officially "separate but equal."

I must also say that the charges of criminal racketeering that have been leveled against these educators is beyond horrible. I do not believe that Supt. Hall was intentionally leading a criminal enterprise of school test cheating for money. This is nonsense.

I do agree that changing test scores was a total disservice to the children in the Atlanta Public Schools. I also agree that using the results of a single test to determine the fate of a teacher's or principal's job makes a mockery of education.

The combination of the pressure brought on by "no child left behind" with testing being the standard for evaluating student and teacher performance, with the use of money as a reward and firing as a punishment was a witches brew that brought the APS system to its knees.

Dr. Hall's salary and pay bonuses were tied directly to student achievement and she used that same standard with her principals and teachers. Not only did they get bonuses for improved student performance on tests, but they also risked losing their jobs if students did not improve their (test) performance.

Here's the big problem with this. APS students are not widgets on an assembly line, waiting to be stacked into a thing-a-ma-jig. As if teachers could get ten more dollars for every 10 more students they stacked.

And here's another thing. Most of the educators accused of cheating had either quit, retired or lost their teaching licenses after hearings before the Professional Standards Commission, the body designated to oversee such things as bad professional behavior by teachers. Plus, Dr. Hall had quit and left town. This was the appropriate way to handle these cases. Why are we spending tax payers' money to criminally prosecute people who've already been removed from the system?

And finally, I have long objected to a single standardized test being used to determine the fate of students, much less teachers. This whole sordid business is a wake-up call for modern education. Students need to be taught how to think, analyze and discern, not how to memorize. With technology, students can find any fact at their fingertips. It's now time for some real reform.

Teachers can help students most by serving as coaches, advisers and synthesizers of information. They can offer feedback on their thinking and guide them in exploration of new ideas. They can work with their parents to figure out the best path for them to take, using instruments that measure their interests along with their aptitude.

We've got to figure this out. We've got to provide support for children in poverty who don't have the financial and other support they need at home to help them learn how to learn. Everyone's quality of life in the future depends on it.

The Obama administration deserves to be richly criticized for surreptitiously obtaining the telephone records of reporters for the Associated Press, especially for bypassing court proceedings that would have allowed executives of the news organizations an opportunity to at least argue against releasing the documents.

It was also wrong to single out conservative organizations for special IRS scrutiny. In case you haven’t noticed, the names of practically all Black professional organizations begin with the word “National.” That’s because most organizations bearing the name “American” – such as the American Bar Association and the American Dental Association – are professional groups that once barred Blacks from membership. That’s why we had to start our “National” organizations. If it’s okay to target conservative groups today, there is nothing to prevent a future president or IRS commissioner from targeting organizations with the word “National” in their name.

Still, the actions of some Obama administration officials should not be compared to Watergate, as was the case on last Sunday’s talk shows.

To refresh your recollection, as many of the Watergate witnesses would say, Watergate is a reference to a series of scandals that began with the June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and ended with President Richard M. Nixon resigning on August 9, 1974 rather than face certain impeachment.

The five men arrested in connection with the Watergate burglary were linked to Nixon’s Committee for the Re-Election of the President. It was later revealed that Nixon had recorded many conversations in the Oval Office that showed that he had knowledge about what his Press Secretary Ron Ziegler labeled “a third-rate burglary” and had attempted to cover-up his involvement. Nixon fought to keep the tapes private, but the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that he had to turn them over to government investigators.

Nixon resigned in disgrace and 43 people, including his top White House aides, were sent to prison. Nixon’s successor, Gerald R. Ford, pardoned Nixon, the only U.S. president to resign from office.

Unlike Nixon, President Obama said – and there’s been no evidence presented to contradict him – that he didn’t know about the IRS impropriety until after it had been disclosed in a report by the Treasury Department’s inspector general.

Obama said, “I have now had the opportunity to review the Treasury Department watchdog’s report on its investigation of IRS personnel who improperly targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.  And the report’s findings are intolerable and inexcusable.  The federal government must conduct itself in a way that’s worthy of the public’s trust, and that’s especially true for the IRS.”

Instead of noting the distinction between Nixon’s role in Watergate and Obama’s non-role in the latest scandals, CBS’ Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer told Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffe on Sunday, “You know, I don’t want to compare this in any way to Watergate. I do not think this is Watergate by any stretch…but I have to tell you that is exactly the approach that the Nixon administration took. They said, ‘These are all second-rate things, we don’t have time for this, we have to devote our time to the people’s business.’ You’re taking exactly the same line that they did.”

Schieffer, who covered Watergate for CBS, should know better. And so should Peggy Noonan, a former White House speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

On NBC’s Meet The Press, Peggy Noonan defended her May 17 Wall Street Journal column in which she claimed that we “are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate.” When host David Gregory pressed her, Noonan said, “This IRS thing is something I’ve never seen in my lifetime.”

But the Boston Globe noted last Friday, “As startling as the reports have been in recent days –   from the IRS targeting of conservative groups to the Justice Department seizing phone records of the Associated Press – one Nixonian element so far is missing: There has been no evidence that Obama himself ordered or knew about the actions.”

John Dean, White House counsel during the Nixon administration, told the newspaper, “I find the comparison – that whoever is making the analysis is challenged in their understanding of history.” He said, “There are no comparisons. They’re not comparable with any of the burgeoning scandals.”

The Globe observed, “And Dean is in a position to know. Nearly 41 years ago, Dean was with Nixon in the Oval Office on a Friday afternoon when the president wondered aloud about utilizing the powers of the IRS to target his political opponents.”

Carl Bernstein, one of the Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, told Politico: “In the Nixon White House, we heard the president of the United States on tape saying ‘Use the IRS to get back on our enemies.’ We know a lot about President Obama, and I think the idea that he would want the IRS used for retribution – we have no evidence of any such thing.”

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine, is editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service (NNPA.) He is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. Curry can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.

As the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, her actions are watched closely and were interpreted as a verdict of judgment on Newbirth. It turns out that Bernice King’s decision to step down was not related to the legal problems of the pastor. Speaking to the radio station Praise 102.5 based in Atlanta, King told the outlet that “her decision to leave her post is unrelated to Bishop Eddie Long’s recent settlement of four sexual misconduct lawsuits.” In fact, the reverend intends to start her own ministry, according to the interview she gave host Rhodell Lewis. Now that’s a shocker, and seems like “perfect timing.”