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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Schools Matter: Tom Friedman Signals New Education Rhetoric and the Same Old Crap

Schools Matter: Tom Friedman Signals New Education Rhetoric and the Same Old Crap:


Tom Friedman Signals New Education Rhetoric and the Same Old Crap


I have been dismissing Tom Friedman for a long time, but occasionally I do find something of interest in his column that someone else said.  His latest column follows that pattern, in that it is based largely on quotes from Tony Wagner, a Harvard prof who has made a career of trying to do in education what Tom Friedman has done in politics, i. e., represent an abstract middle-brow version of progressivism that wraps neo-liberal social engineering plans in gauzy, good-smelling paper.  When you look closely, however, you will still find a turd inside.

Friedman begins with the reason for all education, the economy, and by pointing out that there are no more high paying middle skilled jobs.  What he doesn’t tell us is that those jobs were shipped abroad by theyguys he goes skiing with in Sun Valley, exported to labor markets that