(NAME-MCE) FW: Your Upcoming Payne Workshop

[Paul C. Gorski]

Hello, friends.
 
I thought you might enjoy the following letter, which I emailed to the
Missouri State Teachers Association at the urging of a few of its members,
concerned over its hosting of a two-day Ruby Payne training.
 
Paul
 
******************************
Paul C. Gorski
Founder, EdChange:  <http://www.edchange.org/> www.EdChange.org
Social Justice News:  <http://www.socialjusticenews.net/>
www.SocialJusticeNews.net
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www.EdChange.org/multicultural
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NAME:  <http://www.nameorg.org/> www.nameorg.org
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul C. Gorski [mailto:gorski at edchange.org] 
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 10:06 PM
To: 'kking at msta.org'; 'bmoe at msta.org'; 'gmmcray at msta.org';
'chrdina at msta.org'; 'rharmon at msta.org'
Cc: 'Paul C. Gorski'
Subject: Your Upcoming Payne Workshop


Hello MSTA Board,
 
Did you know that by hosting Ruby Payne you are spending a lot of money on
somebody whose work has been shown summarily to be both completely wrong and
extremely oppressive? Did you know that her "framework" is based on a
concept, the "culture of poverty," which was introduced by Oscar Lewis in
the early 1960s and completely discarded as erroneous and unfounded by the
early 1970s? Did you know that an analysis of the truth claims in her book,
A Framework for Understanding Poverty, uncovered hundreds of inaccurate
statements--points throughout her book that conflict directly with decades
of research on the intersections of poverty and schooling? Did you know that
not a single leading scholar (as in, people who base their work on research
and collect their own data, who make "data-driven decisions" as we like to
say in education) or anti-poverty activist has endorsed her work, and most
have rallied to point out the destructiveness of her work?
 
Did you know that low-income adults actually work more hours per week than
their wealthier counterparts?
 
Did you know that decades of research has shown that low-income parents hold
the exact same attitudes toward education as wealthy parents, but that they
don't enjoy the same access to involvement because parent involvement is
usually structured around assumptions that people don't work multiple jobs?
 
Did you know that wealthy people are more likely than low-income people to
be substance abusers?
 
Did you know that most low-income people are hard-working, ethical,
intelligent, and non-violent? Did you know that these people are invisible
in Ruby Payne's work?
 
Did you know that sessions critiquing Payne's work have been delivered at
all of the top education conferences in the country, including the AERA
conference? Did you know that some of the top journals in the country have
published articles critiquing her work? Did you know that not a single one
of these journals has published an article supporting her work or showing it
to be effective?
 
Did you know that Ruby Payne has contributed thousands of dollars to extreme
right-wing politicians? Did you know she has written several articles in
support of No Child Left Behind despite being from Texas, where its
precursors were devastating to low-income students?
 
Did you know that Ruby Payne self-publishes and that she's making millions
of dollars through a for-profit organization that she founded? 
 
Did you know that Payne has never worked in a high-poverty school?
 
Did you know that researchers in Indiana are about to release an article
that shows empirically how Payne's work increases stereotyping among
teachers who participate in her workshops?
 
The fact that most of us in education don't know these things--that we
continue to use Payne's work despite the fact that it's not grounded in any
sort of reality--is symptomatic of why our schools are so rife with class
inequities and why we've made hardly a dent in these inequities. We're
fighting a battle that we don't understand because we're trying to
understand it through lenses smeared with inaccuracy and prejudice. We'd
never teach math teachers that 2+2=8, then encourage them to use that
knowledge in their own classrooms. But we will teach them that low-income
students are incapable, have uncaring parents, can't communicate, tend
toward violence--all things she argues which are 100% false--and send them
into their classrooms to apply this bias in their interactions with
low-income students and their families.
 
At the very least, I implore you to bring somebody else in, as
well--somebody who can challenge the damage Payne will do.
 
Please see attached several of the aforementioned articles. Just a sampling.
 
Paul
 
******************************
Paul C. Gorski
Founder, EdChange:  <http://www.edchange.org/> www.EdChange.org
Social Justice News:  <http://www.socialjusticenews.net/>
www.SocialJusticeNews.net
Multicultural Pavilion:  <http://www.edchange.org/multicultural>
www.EdChange.org/multicultural
SoJust History Project:  <http://www.sojust.net/> www.SoJust.net
Feminist Tees Shop: www.cafepress.com/feminist_tees
Social Justice Store:  <http://www.cafepress.com/edchange>
www.cafepress.com/edchange
Multicultural Poster Store: www.edchange.org/posters
NAME:  <http://www.nameorg.org/> www.nameorg.org