Unfortunately, Obama has appointed as his secretary of education someone who actually embodies this utterly punitive, anti-intellectual, corporatized and test-driven model of schooling. Full Story »
Posted by Dwight Rousu
The article is well footnoted and researched on one of the most important domestic issues, education. The history shown for Duncan and the Chicago school system are quite alarming.
What is he thinking? A non-educator who has attacked the whole idea of democratically controlled common schools, and has rancorously attacked unions does not seem to be a good choice for America. There seems to be some crony aspects that are against the interests of education.
It's well written and biased as hell.If you want to report, report. While I may or may not agree with Obama's choice, reading your article , you've already made up MY mind.
When Bush and Kennedy together lobbied and had passed the "No Child Left Behind Act", I thought at last something would be done to help low-income schools from being a daytime prison. While children who wanted to learn could't because of the trouble-makers disrupting the classroom, all this program did was teach children to test. A school should be just that, a school. It should't just test the three R's. Without art classes, music classes, computer classes, etc., you do not learn ... More »
Another example of how the online news organizations are filling the void left by the corporate news media which are moving into pure propaganda, self-promotion, and entertainment services. So dense and intellectual that it took two people to write it, it almost takes two of me to comprehend it. To summarize, the pick of Arne Duncan seems to prolong the trend in education away from teaching kids to think, and toward teaching them that they better go along to get along. It is an excellent argument on the side of "liberal education", which has been steadily discredited at least since Sputnik, as opposed to "conservative education" which just uses Biblical princilples.
Militants sent to the military, slackers to the drug trade, sociopaths to prison, and everyone else taught and tested for a slot in the global economy. That is except for those who go to private schools, magnet schools, and experimental schools in rich neighborhoods.
I am so sick and tired of people who are shooting down Obama BEFORE HE EVEN TAKES THE OATH of office. How would YOU like people to criticize you before you even began a job? After what we've had for the last 8 years and all the MESS he has to clean up, I would think for ONCE, everyone in this cotton-pickin' country of ours could pull TOGETHER to get things back on track. If we don't, America isn't going to survive.
The article includes a number of very contradicting statements and opinions. It is clearly not objective.
Improving public education is a major priority. Teacher's unions are serious obstacles to this goal. Incompetent and unprofessional teachers and administrators must be replaced. Increased funding and reorganized administration are both necessary. Parents must be stimulated to become intensely involved intheir kids education.
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