Similarities and differences between Lewis Black and Mike Rose

I did not see too many similarities between the two or even differences.  This was just two guys saying the system is broken in two very different ways. 
Lewis Black is so sarcastic and at times funny.  He has a point in what he was saying but I did not hear him offer up any concrete solutions to the problems. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to  understand that our schools are broken - which is good because none of us are"
 Yes, it is ridiculous to have such an expensive public school in California, "I'm pretty sure schools shouldn't be the nicest building you'll ever be inside" and of course Tony Danza probably should not be teaching (does he have a college education and a teaching certificate?) unless he is qualified to do so, but there  were no suggestions beyond the sarcasm to improve the problem.  But I guess that is Lewis Blacks way of making sure people get the message,,, Schools are broke and need fixing and throwing out a bunch of stupid suggestions like the NBC reporter did "The next time you drive by a school, stop in and ask what can I do to help" are so not helping.  Brilliant.

Mike Rose, on the other hand, did have some solid suggestions. 
" To stop making the standardized test score the gold-standard of student achievement and teacher effectiveness. In what other profession do we use a single metric to judge goodness? Imagine judging competence of a cardiologist by the average of her patients’ cardiograms."
     These tests are not helping anything.  The teachers have to teach to the test.  I have heard that several times over the past years that my boys were in school.  The tests measure more the ability of the teacher to teach certain subjects but don't say a lot about the students ability to learn to actually think out a problem and solve it.  Also the time away from actual learning increases when these tests are being given.  At Kingston High School during testing week, the only kids that are required to actually be in school before 11am are the tenth graders that are taking the test as well as a few from the other grades that are retaking the tests.  What a wasted amount of time!

"To have the secretary of education, the president, and other officials stop repeating the phrase “We are going to educate ourselves toward a 21st Century economy.” It is smart economic policy more than anything else that will move us toward a 21st Century economy."
Politics do not belong in school.  Maybe that's what got us in this pickle in the first place.  Politicians are good at one thing....saying stuff.  I am not sure they do anything beyond that, certainly they  don't do anything.   We need people with a solid workable solution to the problems in the schools that are not afraid to go up against the system.

That's it for now.  Where's my heart medication?!!