I disagree that it's a quibble to object when the ...

2009-04-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

I disagree that it's a quibble to object when the President gets hard facts unarguably, flat-out wrong -- and in a way that portrays our schools and teachers in a worse light than they deserve.

For one thing, it's important to get facts right in and of itself. For another, there has been a campaign for decades to malign our public schools, and using inaccurate facts (funny how none of the errors portrayed our schools in a BETTER light than they deserve) adds fuel to that. The forces maligning our schools most vigorously are the ones who want to eliminate public education entirely and turn the next generation's schooling over to the free market.

So while it's important to recognize that our schools should be doing a better job, it's also important not to unjustly malign them in a way that threatens their survival. And how anyone can defend the use of flat-out falsehoods is just beyond me -- have people no ethical standards at all?

Whenever the President cites a statistic about edu...

2009-03-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Whenever the President cites a statistic about education there will be something to quibble about. Some pundits have made a career out of doing precisely that.

President Obama is right that our schools can and should be doing a better job, particularly for poor students, minority students, and students with special needs. That's what's really important about what he said, isn't it?

Comments on San Francisco Schools: A defense of U.S. schools from the privatization w...

I disagree that it's a quibble to object when the ...

Whenever the President cites a statistic about edu...