Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Long Read

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/07/05/why-many-democrats-turned-against-teachers-unions/

This is an interesting - if long - read on why even some Democrats are turning against teacher's unions.

This is the Clinton - and to be fair, Obama - wing of the party that I distrust some.  The Aspen Institute/Davos/Tom Friedman set that has these "big ideas" that are going to be "disruptive" and "synergistic".

The key thing about these education reformers that I took from the article is that many of them are economists, not educators.  They are looking for efficiencies and productivity, and frankly, good education is inefficient.  It's time consuming and personalized.

If, indeed, the philosophical foundation of education reform is this economic perspective, then it is doomed to fail.

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