In another smart column, Rick Hess dissects Thomas Friedman’s fawning praise for Arne Duncan.
What puzzles me is why so many knowledgeable commentators continue to speak of Duncan’s great success in Chicago. I get confused about whether it was Paul Vallas or Arne who “saved” Chicago. Despite a string of saviors, Chicago remains un-saved.
In this column, Hess has it both ways, simultaneously praising Arne’s run in Chicago and pulling it apart.
Whatever: he remains the reigning iconoclast of the right.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why is Friedman a respected journalist. He is a joke.
More on Mr. Friedman’s column from Jim Geraghty at the National Review:
Boy, Does Arne Duncan Like to Talk Sports.
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/334614/boy-does-arne-duncan-talk-sports#
Mr. Friedman is a dangerous clown. I’ve been writing about his rhyming nonsense since 2006.
http://stager.tv/blog/?p=318
Matt Taibbi just awarded the “Grenade of Understanding Award” to the person who writes the most like Tom Friedman.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/the-grenade-of-understanding-winners-of-the-write-like-friedman-challenge-20121115
Taibbi’s ongoing critique of Friedman is always a must-read.
Just heard that Tony Bennett has indeed applied to be the new Commissioner of Education in FL. We just can’t catch a break.
Speaking of man-crushes…
Marc Tucker “has been a leader of the standards-driven education reform movement for many years. Mr. Tucker created New Standards, a 23-state consortium designed to develop internationally benchmarked student performance standards and matching student examinations.”
Tucker’s influence goes back to your era of influence Diane. Now leading the National Center on Education & the Economy, his current blog is on the “Skills Gaps”–” the gap between the skills people seem to have and skills that employers need.” Employers have an inability to find “entry-level people” who “read, write, do math, problem solve.” He concludes “It is a failure to provide the kind and quality of basic education that is the foundation of good vocational training.”
The NCEE pre-Depression 2007 report, “Tough Choices or Tough Times” makes it clear that wage depression is what plutocrats want. http://www.ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Executive-Summary.pdf
Skills and achievement gaps are scapegoats for the real problem with market-driven reforms.
In this blog, “Automation, Employment, and the Importance of Vocational Education,” he writes, “As the difference between the “China price” and the prices charged by other countries for similar goods and services becomes smaller and smaller, the United States will find that it no longer has access to the kinds of very cheap goods that has made Walmart such a success in our country and around the world. So the prices of many things that Americans have now become accustomed to purchasing very cheaply will rise, in some cases steeply.” He laments the loss of manufacturing jobs. “Income disparities will grow more quickly than at present and the middle of that income distribution will get narrower and narrower as these processes accelerate.”
Oh… If we can only be like Singapore!
Ha!
Who have been the funders of NCEE: http://www.ncee.org/about-ncee/funders/
The usual suspects!
Alan L. Wurtzel
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Apple Computer, Inc.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Circuit City Foundation
David Rockefeller/David Rockefeller, Jr. Trust
DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund
Eastman Kodak Company
Ford Motor Company Fund
Gannett Foundation
GTE Foundation
Holland Associates
Jewel-Osco
John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation
Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Lumina Foundation for Education
Melville Corporation
Nellie Mae Education Foundation
New American Schools
New Schools Venture Fund
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Sam M. and Helen R. Walton Foundation
SJS, Inc.
Target Stores
The Abell Foundation
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Boeing Company
The Broad Foundation
The Danforth Foundation
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
The Leon Foundation
The Pew Charitable Trusts
The Stupski Foundation
Union Carbide Corporation
The Union Carbide Foundation, Inc.
Verizon Foundation
Walmart Foundation
Walton Enterprises
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Xerox Corporation
Kris,
You may want to read my critique of “Tough Choices,” written in 2007 when the report came out.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/01/17/19ravitch.h26.html
Diane
“Writers” (i.e., shills) like Friedmand, David Brooks, and so many other “opinionators” do have a useful purpose–They often tip the hand of the reigning power’s plans. I recommend reading these clowns, and the major papers in general, the way that people used to read Pravda back in the days of the USSR–don’t dwell on the details, but ask why the story is publlshed at that time and why the author is putting a particular spin on the subject. Obviously, it looks like Obama is doing a lot to primp (or pimp) up Arne, which only shows to me that Obama “Won’t Back Down”.
Hey! David Brooks is not a shill, and neither is Thom Friedman —
I think the word you are looking for is ‘lackey.’
For all of those out there who are not aware it exists, I introduce you to
http://dumpduncan.org.