Anyway, ardee, you old coot.  You have been a busy man.  11 grandkids.  I myself have 8, one just born last week, as you may have remembered

No Dave, as Martha will quickly note ( and disparage) I have a total of fifteen grandkids, eleven in schools.

As to the old coot thingie…It is a simple fact that, while those around me grow up and older, I am aging not one whit…...but I have this peculiar painting in my attic…..

ardee, November 7 at 10:59 am

I will not argue with your point, which may actually be true.  I am not an expert on the subject,  but just comment on the declining ability of schools to graduate kids that can actually read and write. 

I don’t actually have an answer for the current state of some schools where kids have to worry more about being gunned down than finishing their homework.  It is sad. 

Anyway, ardee, you old coot.  You have been a busy man.  11 grandkids.  I myself have 8, one just born last week, as you may have remembered.  I don’t think I will catch you though.  I had only three kids myself, and they are about done.  I am just pleased that they are all fairly normal functioning families, so far. 

I hope all of our grandkids can grow up in an America that is at least free enough for them to have a shot at happiness.  And I wish you and your family the absolute best.

DaveZx3, November 7 at 1:26 am

Obfuscation, a game the whole family can play.

I responded to your initial, and suspect supposition that children are being taught about sex before they are being taught to read, with the implied belief that education should be restricted.

I currently have eleven grandkids in public schools at various levels and in two states. One of my grandkids is in college, one in the work force, and two are still too young for even preschools. As an involved grandparent I find the curriculum to be fine in each case. I also find that the flaws in education are due far more to budget deficiencies and manpower shortages ( large class size for one, out of date texts for another) than in the teaching of “unsuitable subjects”.

ardee, November 6 at 10:15 pm #

“I certainly have a higher opinion of children that does Dave. I appreciate that schools seek to broaden their horizons, teach them to love learning for its own sake and expose them to a panoply of new ideas”

No one has a higher regard for our children than I do. 

From the information that I read, children are not better educated today than, lets say, 30 years ago.

So, in spite of the fact that, as you say, “schools seek to broaden their (students) horizons, teach them to love learning for its own sake and expose them to a panoply of new ideas”  the schools are doing it at the expense of real elementary education.

If a kid can’t read, you are not doing him any favor by exposing (indoctrinating) him to a panoply of new ideas.  If the NEA really cared about children they would come up with a way to teach them all to read, write and perform math problems by a reasonable age.

I certainly have a higher opinion of children that does Dave. I appreciate that schools seek to broaden their horizons, teach them to love learning for its own sake and expose them to a panoply of new ideas.

Dave hopes they put the blinders on our kids and make them look down at their feet until, what, ten, twelve, fifteen, twenty…oops too freaking late.

gerard, November 2 at 11:56 pm #

“Nobody is talking joy here.  Why is that”?

Joy has been stripped from the world, including the world of kids.  Our troubles have dominated our day to day living, and we are fearful.

You can’t be a kid anymore.  You have to perform at an earlier and earlier age.  As in earlier days, kids are being used, but not for labor, for politics.  They have become the object of an agenda which hopes to change the world through childhood indoctrination.

All kids need to learn until they hit high school is reading, writing and arithmetic.  But they teach them sex, evolution, revisionist history, politics, etc.  Let the kids be kids and let them have the joy that kids are supposed to have.  There is plenty of time for the misery later in life.

Nobody is talking joy here.  Why is that?  Kids are born for joy and eager to learn—every one except the most deprived and damaged, deprived by cirumstances beyond anyone’s control. 
Most kids enter school eager to learn.  Various things discourage them:  Unhappy teachers, ignorant administrators, early experiences of failure and discrimination—all of which can be eliminated with skill and compassion.  Teachers who love learning will teach the love of learning naturally. Some kids will learn some things faster, some slower depending upon their natural bent and genetic endowments—which vary widely and present difficulties in the classroom. Good teachers meet challenges creatively.  Children often love their teachers.  Teachers usually love kids, which is what made them decide on teaching. Freedom of discussion, opinion, finding ways to draw kids into subject matter and feel excited about learning—all the realm of gifted teachers—and many, many teachers are gifted if they are encouraged to develop their gifts.  Well, that’s about it.  Joy is the word that gets sidetracked by testing, standards, grades, social discriminations, differences in funding and cultural acceptnce.  Joy.  Why do we so often leave it out?

Virginia777—I’m not disagreeing (or agreeing) with your statement, “low student achievement is a whip the Right uses to beat public education with,  its the mantra of No Child Left Behind which became nothing but a tool for failure.” ... I’m struggling to understand your point. Can you elaborate a bit? Thanks. Now…

As for “corporate education” vs. private schools, I may not have been clear enuf, either. My point was that the current standards and goals of public education are rooted in its origins—as a program mandated and paid for by government to benefit corporations, not students or taxpayers. Public education was probably the first major program (like war, tax breaks or bail-outs) designed to benefit the elite at the expense of the middle and lower classes. I agree that private schools offer a superior education than public because they have more financial resources and fewer gov’t. restrictions than public schools.

NCLB was never intended to improve education. It was specifically designed to standardize education nationwide—a total contradiction to laws giving states and local school boards the responsibility to create curriculum meeting the needs of local populations. That’s how we got to creationism being taught as science in Texas, while in Mass., evolution is taught.

The NEA had nothing to do with teaching and curriculum per se—until NCLB was enacted. Indeed, NCLB underscores the point about tests based on “average, straight white male” (SWM) standards being a waste of time and money by forcing schools to teach to a test that has no relevance to many students.

On the other hand, let me play devil’s advocate. Right or wrong, Corp. America has a single culture based on “SWM” norms. ANYONE wanting to succeed in Corp. America darn well better learn how to read, write and mimick these standards. This is why we see a sudden influx of Asians and Indians shooting to top spots in American corps. They elected to adopt established “SWM” norms rather than try to change the system to accommodate their cultural standards. Minorities of any stripe who prefer to honor their culture of origin have that right. They just can’t realistically expect a warm welcome from the entrenched culture of Corp. America.

Finally, as to all the political discussion…. I live in a small farming town just 60 minutes from mid-town Manhattan. Each year, our 8th graders have an essay contest. The winner reads his/her submission at graduation. Last year’s winner expressed her opinion that the Iraq War was wrong and backed up her assertions with facts. Whether you agreed with her essay or not, it was a brilliant bit of writing and tangible evidence of a public school with at least SOME teachers who cared more about education than income.

In short, the three teachers who judged the contest were fired within a week. The girl’s English teacher (not a judge) also was pressured into leaving. The entire town, all rabid, right-wing Republicans, was up in arms. The girl was vilified, the local paper ran editorials about how awful “the situation” was. The school board canceled all future essay contests, etc. So here we have four outstanding teachers and a bright student who so threatened an entire town that it turned, literally, into a witch hunt.

In the end, the school board decided to change the curriculum, limit competition in the pursuit of excellence and restrict Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression because it was dangerously unAmerican. An independent thinker? How frightening! Can’t let our youngin’s have original thoughts—not at 14. That might lead to academic achievement. Better that she smoke pot or get pregnant, I guess.

Sadly, I have no answers to offer; only observations and opinions. I’m just glad I have no children of school age in today’s “Thru the Looking Glass” environment.

Virginia777,
I tend to find in the UK the whole idea of the
‘migrants/coloureds’ being kept down to be the
opposite.
(I’m NOT having a right wing rant here)
I am finding that the UK in most areas are helping to
fuel groups like the BNP by neglecting the
established peoples in favour of outside influences.
Now this focus can be a good thing, my 5 year old
girl happily schools in a multi-cultural classroom,
although I don’t agree with the Catholic dogma they
push and some of the information given but she plays
and works alongside other nationalities happily.
There are more funding streams, educational groups,
social groups and focus on the ‘minority’. Our high
schools were divided by Islam and now closing because
they have their own Islamic schools paid for by the
government. Black culture is pushed and praised to
the point where our English heritage no longer exists
through political correctness to the point where we
cannot have our patron saints day but are allowed
everyone else’s.
American culture has taken over English culture to
the point where our youth cannot even spell correctly
let alone speak correctly, although it shows
something when our children put on a mid-atlantic
accent when playing fantasy.
So my point is:-
Our government is doing it’s utmost to divide us all
even more than we have been under the guise of
political correctness and extreme leftism.
The rich will still be the elite trained.

Why the world is full of liars and fools!

Politicians lie to the People; preachers lie to the believers; parents lie to their children.

No wonder Satan is father of all lies.

L I (F) E

Virginia777, November 1 at 1:07 pm

I don’t see it here, not because we have no kids of color or immigrants, it is just a much better school environment in which all kids seem to be able to keep up because there are adequate numbers of teachers, and they can teach instead of just babysit.  It is more of a rural, laid back area. 
City school districts are a mess, in many areas, if what I read is true.  I don’t see how any learning can take place if a kid has to worry about being gunned down or beaten to death on the way to school.

I can understand the agony of those situations.  But I don’t have any answers, because we are literally broke as a nation. 

I am not a conspiratist by nature, but a lot of things are starting to seem awfully contrived lately.  We get the economic meltdown, flu pandemic, rapid fire health care reform, a monstrous climate bill, two wars, and a lady in the white house that says one of her favorite philosophers is Mao, and your leading general asks for 40,000 more troops.

I am not saying what started it all, but it all is starting to seem a big surrealistic.  It is hard to imagine we could have that much on our plate and be broke at the same time.  Any one of those things could have brought us half way to our knees at one time.

Just think if that was the story of a family.  The parents both get laid off, and then everything imaginable happens.  Car breaks down, furnace breaks down, kids get sick, oldest daughter gets pregnant,  mother-in-law gets committed, and your septic system starts bubbling up.  And your credit card company just raised your interest rate to 33%.

Nobody is in panic, so I am not in panic.  But my heart has not been beating very steadily lately.
I just get the feeling that something big is going to happen, like the house is going to burn down the day after you couldn’t pay your homeowners insurance bill because you decided to eat instead. 

I don’t know the answer to the school problems.

If America are the great hope for the world then such
subjects need to be discussed on a world stage over
national. I think it would be far more conducive for
the future generations.
I know in the UK our standards have dropped each year.
How our children can be improving on each years grades
whilst standards of reading and writing have dropped I
don’t know.

to DaveZx3: it should come as old news that the Left has picked up concepts originating from the Right,

and this one - most definitely does. Its not a “dumbing down”, its the setting of standards that are based on white middle class achievement.

Raising that “bar” puts so many kids, often kids of color and immigrants, on the other side of that bar,

doomed to failure AND condemned by society.

and to Bucky5: if you want to talk about Corporate Education, I have two words for you:

private schools

By Virginia777, November 1 at 12:38 pm #

“low student achievement” is a whip the Right uses to beat public education with,  its the mantra of No Child Left Behind”

We have no one (that I have come across) in our local school system with politics right of center.  A few middles maybe, but mostly lefties.  They do a real good job of teaching.  Their ratings are high.

I don’t like their politics too much, but I can’t argue with the teaching results.  I don’t hear anyone complaining that the right is inhibiting their teaching. 

Both my daughters teach, and a few close neighbors.  I live in a college town that is dominated by leftist politics.  I never hear complaints that the right has been able to instigate a systemized “dumbing down” of the kids.

How does it work down to the actual schools, since the NEA is obviously a left leaner to say the least?

and Thong-girl, that is a bold-faced lie that public school teachers do not invest time (and yes, phone calls home) in their students

“low student achievement” is a whip the Right uses to beat public education with,

its the mantra of No Child Left Behind

(which became nothing less than a tool for failure)

Bucky5, interesting points about public education being about obedience training of children for the benefit of the corporations.Curiously, G.W. Bush’s manner of speech for public consumption is dumbed down to his perceived audience assumed to only be publicly educated. On the other hand his manner of speaking to his private audience of the “have mores” is without the guffaws and inarticulate bumbling that he presents in his public persona.Incidentally, the the governments obedience training for ADULTS takes form, most conspicuously, at the airports with the shoe removal exercise. I suspect if the shoe bomber had, had it shoved up his butt the airport obedience training would be even better for the government just to prove they could and would enforce rectal examinations for bombs up the passengers butts and is all likelihood their would be little if any protest, all in the interest of national security, of course. In my case, we used to have diving under the desk drills, wooden desks to shield us from the nuclear blast. This drill was conducted nation wide even in rural areas without any possibility of being nuked. I lived the the San Francisco Bay area, a target area.

I have a neighbor who coaches girl’s basketball at a nearby private school.  That is his only job and you have never heard of this little school in NoCal.  At night I can hear him outside on his cell phone discussing how to “sign” new talent and he is always talking with parents, students and other schools trying to get good athletes in schools they can play ball.  He is passionate and dedicated and no doubt helps lots of kids get access to education.  I also work with a group of scientists at U.C. Berkeley and the goal is to help kids get into Cal and get educations in science.  There is little passion, no night time cell phone calls and no wheeling or dealing.  It is hard to get anyone to do a thing to help kids and it’s harder to get “educators” what would happen if they worked as hard as coaches seem to, to get kids on their team.  No one seems to get it?

As a former manager of an employment agency I discovered the reason employers
demanded college graduates. It was not because of superior education but
because of character. They felt that a person who worked hard for a degree would
also be a better employee. High school graduates were not wanted because most
employers thought that they were too young and wild to be trained.

Melpol, RAE, Dave and others—ALL make excelent points. However, history is again instructive.
To uncover and rectify the problems with our public education system, one need only to look at its history, why it became mandatory and what the original goal was.
Public education sprang from Corporate America, not some benign notion that a well-educated citizenry was important to the country.
As the industrial revolution got underway, corporations needed a semi-literate, unquestioning, compliant workforce able to read a basic instruction manual and follow orders. Enter public education.
From kindergarten, we are taught not academics, but conformity and respect for authority. We don’t start our education learning the alphabet. We start by learning how to line up in pairs, or by height or gender or some other arbitrary category.
Our entire education is based on memorization and regurgitation. Critical thinking skills are not encouraged—quite the opposite. The point is to produce automatons, not thinking humans.
Yes, there will always be a few who go beyond average; a few who are in front of the bell curve’s peak. Those individuals are labeled as either tomorrow’s leaders or abberant—deviants to be squashed, not encouraged.
We’re so brainwashed that instead of joining forces and enjoying the strength of our collective power, we turn on each other, desperate to hold on to our assigned rung on the social ladder.
Certainly the past century has seen the rise of social issues and tech. advances not anticipated at the dawn of public education. However, such disruptive forces are easily accommodated by dumbing down the curriculum or lowering the bar. It’s the fastest, easiest way to ensure and perpetuate a two-class system: “the have enufs so they won’t complain,” and the “have mores.” (Begruding nod to Dubya for the paraphrase.)
For brevity, let’s not even address social promotions, mainstreaming, etc. Let’s just agree that a rising tide does not lift all boats. Those securely anchored, without the freedom, flexibility or resources to stay on top of an ever-changing environment, are doomed to drown.
For an excellent read on this and related topics, get Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1835 tome, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. His premise is simple: democracy (equality, one man, one vote) and capitalism (rugged individualism, rewarding the accumulation and consolidation of resources and power) are diametrically opposed philosophies. As such, our country was destined and designed to fail with the inception of public education. De Tocqueville’s insight and accuracy in predicting how and when the clash between two such ideologically opposed beliefs would end is astonishing. Very important reading if you want to understand what the future holds and what we can do if we don’t want to crumble like every other civilization/culture has to date. Then again, as another poster noted, it may be impossible to overcome man’s genetic need to destroy its most precious assets and resources.

As I contemplate this situation, wholesale lying to our children, it hits me again that lying, I think, is a fundamental characteristic of mankind.  Maybe not boldfaced lying, but misrepresentation of the truth, at least, and flat lying at worst. 

I don’t think an intelligent person could disagree that leadership on all levels of all institutions and governments utilize lying or misrepresentation, to some degree, to control their agendas and their peoople.  Yes, including religions. 

I have often responded that if I could have one wish, it would be for world peace.  But upon further consideration, I would now wish for “absolte truth”

I am confident that if everyone had the truth, there would be no more wars, violence, abuses, stealing, cheating,etc, because there would be absolute transparency.

We are absolutely against the peering into our private lives, but even that is a form of lying.  If you could peer in, then the real me would be exposed, and I could no longer control how you think about me. 

Man is all about controlling the image and the perception.  It is all a type of false advertising, where people attempt to build themselves up through whatever means they have.  Acquiring education and degrees, buying nice cars and homes, nice clothes, hanging out with cool people, acquiring false body parts, etc.  It is all a lie and a misrepresentation to some extent. 

Is it way too ideal to expect a society that honors and values truth?  Would a society be doomed to failure if everything was exactly what it was, no more no less? 

For my money, truth should be put on a pedestal, engraved into stone and laid out for all to see, so as never to forget what truth is.  And lying prosecuted with vigor. 

It is particularly disgusting that the head of a world government, the madman of Iran, Ahmadinejead can say in an international forum that the Holocaust never happened.  Maybe he can peddle that shit to some, but I am still alive, and liar that I may be, some things are burned into my memory.  He should have been removed and locked up as soon as those words left his lips.  Not to single him out, but that is one outrageous example.

Re: Shift

Your comment: “Worshiping at the alter of athletics is not the path to academic success.”

I don’t know what your issue is with the fact that Arne Duncan is/was a coach, but the fact is a person can be both academic and athletic.  As far as athletics or coaching goes, there are many ways to teach or internalize these facets too, some ARE bad but others are great.  I live in FOOTBALL TOWN USA, and trust me PERSONALLY I hate football, however I wouldn’t go so far as to say if someone likes it or is good at it that they’re stupid or ignorant.  Is there a measure that would fall into this category…..sure, but it then the case would be to prove that “athletics” is THE CAUSE.  I doubt that athletics alone would be shown the proven cause of stupidity or ignorance.

Re: RAE

Your comment: “People learn in different ways - reading, seeing, hearing. Most people learn through some combination of these “inputs.””

Good point.  I’m guessing that “anaman51” more likely meant that reading was essential to doing well academically and that reading was essential to becoming a functioning member of society.  Aside from that…. absolutely, people do learn in many ways and all types of things can enhance or deter learning…. nutrition, illness, economic standing, bad teaching, emotional upset, low self-esteem….etc, are detriments.  While opportunity, empathy, creativity, repetition, humor, valid materials….etc, enhance learning.  We know, none of the detriments necessarily mean students won’t succeed, nor do any of the enhancements necessarily mean students will prevail, so an additional factor/s must affect the outcome.

Since schools/teachers/parents cannot control all factors, flexibility needs to be built into the system with proficiency as the goal, short and long term.  This will allow all to succeed, at least to a certain level eventually.  Some, given the very same flexibility will excel, but ALL will have at the very least attained the accepted level of proficiency to function as a member of society and/or for individual necessity.

The SYSTEM and the ATTITUDES (all parties) are what needs changing….. the kids are fine. (lol)

Arne Duncan is a Coach.  A guy committed to athletics.  Smart people do not get their academic credentials from coaches, nor do they place stock in their educational philosophy.  Duncan’s idea of academic achievement comes at the end of a whip.  Fear and discipline are his tools.  His is the wrong prescription.

Teachers know what is needed in the classroom to achieve at higher levels.  Teaching is very complex and requires a high degree of perception, learning, and empathy to be successful.  Coaches have none of these.  Teachers will tell you what is needed to achieve more highly.  The public however, will not listen.  Until citizens are willing to listen to accomplished experienced teachers and implement their suggestions, learning in America will falter.  Worshiping at the alter of athletics is not the path to academic success.

anaman51: “If you don’t learn to read, first and foremost, everything from that point on is a waste of time. Reading is essential to learning,...”

People learn in different ways - reading, seeing, hearing. Most people learn through some combination of these “inputs.” I’m educated to Master’s level and I know I learn best first by seeing, second by hearing and third by reading. You can show me something once and I “have it” whereas you can hand me the written instructions and it will be next week when I “get it.” Explain something orally and I’ll usually see the point immediately.

No, anaman51, reading is NOT essential to learning. Of course, it’s very helpful in many cases but not essential. Try telling a blind person that since they can’t read “everything from that point on is a waste of time.”

This battle for scholastic ineptitude has been around long enough to demonstrate unmistakable results. I have a brother-in-law with a high school diploma he can’t read. He can’t fill out a job application, either. Since grade one he was put in “special classes” that were supposed to help him learn to read, but he stayed slow because they wouldn’t let him repeat a grade. They just moved him into the slow readers class in the next higher grade, citing “peer parity” as being more important than actual reading ability.

Here’s the rub: If you don’t learn to read, first and foremost, everything from that point on is a waste of time. Reading is essential to learning, and it must be pursued until it is learned, period. If the child must spend a year in scholastic limbo, doing absolutely nothing else but attending a total-immersion reading regimen, then so be it. Without that skill, there will be no other skills. This is fundamental, moreso than math—-after all, life consists of one story problem after another.

Parents, you cannot rely on the public school system to teach your kids to read. Do it yourself, if you love them. Make them aware of all the wonderful things reading can do for them. Otherwise you wind up with a son like that of a friend of mine, who fought learning to read tooth and nail from the beginning, always in the special class. I gave him and his sisters an expensive video game for Christmas one year and told him now he’d have to learn to read so he could read the instructions. He simply shrugged and handed them to his sister. “She’ll read them to me,” he said. That was what he had learned in special class—-how to avoid having to read.

Lying to our children begins with “Yes, Virginnia, there IS a Santa Claus,” moves on through the fantasies of Tooth Fairy, etc., and includes such outright lies as “every person is equal,” “every life is precious,” “the color of your skin doesn’t matter,” and “anyone can become President,” and, oh yes, the big one, “there is a God who loves you and in his spare time created the universe and everything in it.”

The facts, as anyone with a function brain knows, are very, very different from those we teach our children. It takes many of us until retirement before we rid ourselves of this bullshit and sadly, I suspect, most of us never catch on to the con game at all.

The facts: MONEY = POWER = PRIVILEDGE.

In America, those without money and lots of it are are NOTHING but a pain in the ass to those few who have it. In America, if you’re not born into money the chances of you getting any significant amount of it are slim and none. About the same as winning a lottery. The notion that if you work long and hard and stick to it you WILL win is just one more lie. Oh sure, a few might win, but that’s not the way to bet.

There should be standards but the question is are the tests an accurate assessment of knowledge and will/or do they show profiency.

This shows that anything can be skewed, so it appears at least some of our educators “play politics”.  In other words, why do state assessments differ?  To sample the national standard tests you can try them out here:
http://nationsreportcard.gov/testyourself.asp

One premise that should be changed in our school systems is the age factor.  In my state several years ago the entrance to school age was raised.  Then, it was claimed that students were far ahead of their predecessors because they were taught to read in kindergarten.  This wasn’t the case however, simply because their predecessors normally entered school one year younger than current children, it was a wash.

Additionally, AGE should not be the overriding benchmark as to where a student is placed.  In certain aspects it isn’t, but we are certainly “not there yet” regarding this conundrum.  We need a valid tiered proficiency system in ALL courses that allows children to suceed in their specific capacity.  Such as: Level 1.1, 1.2, 1.3….5.2, 5.3… etc, this would allow the flexibility for students to be engaged in math at the 5.3-level but science at the 4.3-level if that is wherein their true proficiency was.  AGE should have absolutely no bearing upon level of proficiency, proficiency should!  In this type of system less than 90% would not be proficient.  This would give teachers students who were READY for the next level of instruction when they arrived.

Currently, the system is worked that if “overall” a child is at say C-level for their age/grade level they will be advanced.  If the norm instead was, attain proficiency (whatever the course and whatever the level), move forward—this then would BECOME the automatic short-term goal for students and gradually, whatever their age they would advance in the true sense.

My conjecture is that there would be an additional social benefit to students learning with others of differing ages as opposed to our ignorant age specific standards.  Levels would need to be more compartmentalized so that it would be possible to completely skip a level if proficient without jumping ahead a year in ALL subjects nor staying back a year in ALL subjects.  In this type of system it’s plausible that an 8yr. old, a 10yr.old, and a 12yr. old could be at the same level of say Science, but differing levels of Lang. Arts.  It has always seemed to me that children learn in “spurts” the same way they grow, that is why MORE flexibility is required to either stay where they are or jump ahead.

I agree that there should be national standards for these levels, since the outcome of NOT having them is obvious, will we never learn.

How about this one- my wife has been in the education system (non teaching) for years and routinely witnesses special ed kids at third grade reading level being ‘mainstreamed’ into English Lit and Chemistry class, where the poor kids dont have a clue. Just for the sake of fulfilling the concept. Talk about doing good for the wrong reasons!

She considers the education system a joke.

Promoting slow learners is better then having them dropout of school in
frustration. Schools that only teach reading and writing will help the slow learner.
Upon graduation they will know how to fill out a job application.

I must have missed that part of the article in which Secretary Duncan professed eagerness to “take over” the education system from the states.

I did note this:
The federal government can’t impose a set of standards, because education is largely up to states.

Did you miss that one Dave? Or can you simply not resist a right wing talking point, true or not matters not.

Never thought I would agree with Arne Duncan, but there you go, he is absolutely correct on this one.

I think it would be appropriate for Duncan to come up with suggested toucher standards that states could accept or reject.  That way a state which does not come close to the tougher standards would at least be able to be categorized as a “dumbing down state”  and parents beware. 

I can’t sign on to the federal government taking over the education systhem though.  Sorry, that is when Arne and I start disagreeing again.