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Friday, March 2, 2012

Schools Matter: Education: Quick Takes

Schools Matter: Education: Quick Takes:

Education: Quick Takes

I'll avoid the pitfall of quoting Polonius about brevity (hint: Polonius is a blowhard being satirized by Shakespeare and not passing on pearls of wisdom). So instead, I'll credit Stephen Krashen [1] for his dedication to brief commentary on education reform. Here are a couple quick takes on education worthy of deeper and genuine consideration:

• My home state of South Carolina has a long history of creating controversy around issues large and small. SC, I regret to acknowledge, also tends to take stands that are wrong on some or all levels. Now the current Superintendent of Education in SC, Mick Zais, has joined the Tea Party-like fight against federal education policy by challenging Secretary of Education Arne Duncan—specifically about Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which SC has regretfully already adopted and begun to create new state tests, and NCLB reauthorization policies, including Race to the Top and opting out of NCLB.

Duncan has responded with Orwellian bravado.

This exchange is the battle of who can be more wrong.

Duncan represents the political doublespeak of making claims that mask corrosive policy, and Zais represents