Crains New York - July 15, 2013 - (Page 11)

L ake Pl acid Waterfront real estate auction Offered in cooperation with p STEVE HINDY Testing is poor gauge of students’ abilities P ublic education is constantly under a microscope. The current focus is on testing and gathering data about students’, teachers’ and administrators’ performance. This is the focus in New York City and New York state and at the national level, with the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program. I am not an educator.I tried teaching high-school English when I graduated from college and nearly had a nervous breakdown. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I gave it up for journalism, which Walter Lippman once described as “the refuge of the vaguely talented.” There are many educators in my family, and I have been getting an earful about how testing is out of control. My wife, Ellen Foote, is retiring from the Department of Education this year, after 23 years. She taught in lower Manhattan for the first eight and then ran a middle school there for 15 years. Ellen was at the top of her class in high school in Seneca Falls, N.Y. I scored average on standardized tests, but I always managed to get decent grades, putting me in the top 10% of my class. That got me into Cornell. It seems to me that standardized tests are not a great predictor of success in our society.Two of the greatest entrepreneurs of the current generation, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out of Harvard to pursue their dreams. Apple’s crazy genius Steve Jobs was no product of traditional education. There is a scene in the Whit Stillman film Metropolitan where a young woman tells a young man that he is very smart. He replies that he is not. She insists. And then, I recall, he says, “Oh, yeah, well, you don’t know what I A Spitzer win would be a disaster for city T he president of the Partnership for New York City and the president of the United Federation of Teachers rarely agree on the big issues confronting the city. Not so when it comes to Eliot Spitzer. They both said last week that he would be a disaster as city comptroller and would do what they could to make sure he didn’t win. They and anyone else who agrees with them had better be at their best. Beating Mr. Spitzer won’t be easy. The former governor and Client No. 9 will try to make this fight about big and powerful groups out to block someone who cares about individual New Yorkers. He will do his best to make it seem as though it is all those bad Wall Street guys again who have never forgiven him for his investigations of their nefarious deeds when he was state attorney general. It will even be true that the Establishment (capital E) is against him. That Establishment, however, consists of many of the people who care about the city the most. Yes, it includes Kathryn Wylde of the partnership and virtually every other business leader I have talked to in the past week. It also includes virtually every union leader, beginning with UFT GREG DAVID President Michael Mulgrew. It says something important that so many people agree Mr. Spitzer would be an egomaniacal and disastrous comptroller. The problem is that the Establishment’s choice, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, is a got on my SATs.” Testing can tear you down if you take it too seriously. The great teachers I remember are people like Sam Dickieson, a chemistry teacher I had in Seneca Falls. When Mr. Dickieson informed me I was being inducted into the National Honor Society, he pointedly added that I should “keep my nose clean.” Mrs. Wilson, who taught English, helped me along, too. What those teachers did was to find something good in my work and show me it was mine. They instilled confidence. So when I got my disappointing SAT scores, I didn’t despair. I don’t think the data wonks can identify what it takes to make a great teacher, or what it takes to make a great entrepreneur or businessman, or artist or community organizer or politician or lawyer or doctor. Your great teacher may not be my great teacher. Seems to me the emphasis on testing enables lazy or bad teachers to just “teach the test” and get by. That is not good. Testing is undoubtedly part of the criteria that must be used to judge teachers and administrators. But I think it is only a small part. I hope the next mayor, governor and president rein it in. weak candidate. He originally planned to run for mayor but couldn’t develop any traction. He dropped down to the comptroller’s race and used his bona fides with the unions to scare away his competition. Convincing someone like Brooklyn Councilman Domenic Recchia that you are tough politically is child’s play compared with a street fight against Mr. Spitzer. It won’t help Mr. Stringer that he is good on the tasks confronting the next comptroller. Voters are not interested in a discussion of city audits or pension arrangements. They will decide this race on personality— and Mr. Stringer doesn’t have much of one. Mr. Spitzer does have a personality, and a track record that is the polar opposite of the image he wants to project or the history he wants to tell. So the way to keep him out of public life is to attack him starting yesterday. If there is any lesson from the mayoral race, it is that timidity is dangerous. The biggest mistake Christine Quinn and Bill de Blasio have made in their campaigns is not attacking Anthony Weiner from the moment he admitted he might run. Mr. Weiner has clearly cut into Ms. Quinn’s poll numbers and pushed Mr. de Blasio far from the spotlight. Ms. Quinn is belatedly trying to recover from the misstep; it is too late for Mr. de Blasio. Let’s hope it is not too late for Mr. Stringer. Discover the recreational lifestyle of the Adirondack Mountains. The main home and guest cottage are perched on a hillside with extensive gardens, outdoor fireplace, dining deck, patios and hot tub. Follow the walking path down to the 2-slip boat house which includes a bonus room and bathroom. Auctions: 2pm August 10th Nominal Opening Bid: $250,000 Public Previews: 12 - 2pm August 3 & 10 Auction Location: 616 Mount Whitney Way, Lake Placid, NY williamsauction.com/adirondack 918.217.6472 NY DEAN C. WILLIAMS RE LIC 32WI0834875. WILLIAMS & WILLIAMS RE LIC 109911428. ADIRONDACK PREMIER PROPERTIES INC. BROKER MARGIE PAPIER PHILO, 2429 MAIN STREET, LAKE PLACID, NY 12946, 518-524-7347. 5% BUYER’S PREMIUM. Join Crain’s to congratulate the 2013 honorees at a special luncheon event and take advantage of a unique networking opportunity with the New York business community. EVENT INFORMATION DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 TIME: 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Gotham Hall | 1356 Broadway RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY: crainsnewyork.com/events-MPW2013 **COST TO ATTEND:** $300 for individual ticket(s) $3,000 for table(s) of ten $5,500 for a table of ten plus one full page ad in the event journal **Early bird pricing ends July 31, 2013** Space is limited. You must be pre-registered to attend this event. No refunds permitted. For more information, contact the Events Hotline at (212) 210-0739 or crainsevents@crainsnewyork.com. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Nancy Adler at (212) 210-0278 or nadler@crainsnewyork.com. 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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - July 15, 2013

Crains New York - July 15, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
SMALL BUSINESS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
REPORT: HEALTH CARE
CLASSIFIEDS
FOR THE RECORD
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - July 15, 2013

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