Patterico's Pontifications

12/16/2008

Obama Names Secretary of Education (UPDATED)

Filed under: Education,Obama — DRJ @ 11:07 pm



[Guets post by DRJ]

Law professor and blogger Steve Diamond say Barack Obama has rejected Bill Ayers in his selection of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education:

“Bill Ayers and co. lost a big battle today with the announcement that Arne Duncan will be Obama’s Education Secretary. Duncan is one of the “Big 4,” as Ayers calls the four reform oriented school superintendents Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein and Paul Vallas.”

Diamond says Ayers lobbied against the “Big 4” and favored another candidate, Linda Darling-Hammond.

There’s more at the link and here’s a brief biography of Arne Duncan. He’s a former Harvard basketball player and co-captain, and he played pro ball in Australia.

UPDATE 12/18/2008: Duncan wants to bring what he learned in Chicago to the rest of the country. I hope that doesn’t include his reading program. In 2007, only 17% of Chicago’s 8th graders read at or above grade level.

— DRJ

33 Responses to “Obama Names Secretary of Education (UPDATED)”

  1. Well, there you are! Proof positive that Ayers is “just some guy from the neighborhood”.

    Icy Texan (b7d162)

  2. Law professor and blogger Steve Diamond say Barack Obama has rejected Bill Ayers in his selection of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education:

    Steve Diamond apparently has no idea what Mr Duncan used to do.

    And by that, I mean “Does for a living right now”.

    Not only did Mr Diamond once suggest that we should creat all-gay high schools (because of the dropout rate of gay students, apparently), but worked closely with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, using it to assist him in programing the Chicago Public Schools agenda.

    A loss for Ayers? Hardly.

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  3. basic physics at w*rk, as usual……

    gold sinks, shit floats.

    redc1c4 (27fd3e)

  4. How many bombs will Ayers place to voice his displeasure?

    Perfect Sense (9d1b08)

  5. So by “lobbying” I take it he means, “Presented his recommendations to Obama?”

    Which might hamper the “I don’t know teh guy” part of Obama’s meme.

    Steve B (5eacf6)

  6. Perfect Sense: Ayers would probably object to the word “bombs”. He’d prefer to describe them as “symbolic acts of extreme vandalism”.

    Old Coot (a8acc7)

  7. I’ll assume that Duncan is a better choice than could have been made. But that doesn’t alter the fact that the federal government should have no role in education under our Constitution.

    Tim K (7e41e8)

  8. Having watched Duncan’s support for Charter schools here, Obama could’ve done a lot worse regarding that appointment – but he never, ever went against the all – powerful teacher’s union (unlike his predecessor Paul Vallas, who has made serious reforms in New Orleans), so I’m not all that hopeful that the status quo will change one iota. Obama talks about rebuilding the public school infrastructure, but that’s not the root cause of the widespread school failures. He knows what the real problem is, and his family knows it as well – private schooling for their entire formative years tells you all you need to know about his true feelings on the subject.

    Dmac (e30284)

  9. Comment by Scott Jacobs — 12/16/2008 @ 11:32 pm
    Just proving that the latest fad in pedagogy is segregation:
    Same Gender-identity schools;
    Same Racial-identity schools;
    resulting in a uniform educational output…
    A continuing stream of illiterates to be wards of the state.

    Another Drew (bc69ec)

  10. He can play basketball too.

    love2008 (1b037c)

  11. Comment by love2008 — 12/17/2008 @ 9:00 am

    Yes, that is a critical, educational qualification.

    Another Drew (bc69ec)

  12. It is neither the teacher’s union nor charter schools which are responsible for the miserable state Chicago Public Schools are in. It is the miserable trash who supply most of the desk-wasters who go there. But they vote. So we force dedicated teachers to become babysitters for future felons present-day drug dealers, murderers, thugs and gangbangers. Risking being mugged, raped or killed by their own students, every day. So that brood sows, living on welfare, can get their five kids from five different fathers out of the house so they can get high on crack and work towards kid number six with boy-friend number elebenty.

    nk (bdc27b)

  13. Don’t hold back, nk … 😉

    JD (7f8e8c)

  14. There was a discussion, a while back, about a teacher in Oregon who wanted to carry her legal sidearm while in school. I was opposed to the idea at first. Then I talked to a CPS teacher. She was all for it. So the teachers could protect themselves from their students. One of her colleagues had recently being raped by one of her students on her way to her car.

    nk (bdc27b)

  15. One of her colleagues had recently being raped by one of her students on her way to her car.

    Truly, death is too good for that scum.

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  16. JD,

    My daughter goes to a public school. And her teachers are in “the teacher’s union”. But all the students are the children of parents who give a shit. Who walk their kids to school. Who do homework with them every night. Who work hard to pay $5,000.00 – $7,000.00 in of their real estate tax bill to the school district. And to whom “the crack problem” is wearing low-cut jeans without a belt.

    nk (bdc27b)

  17. nk,

    My mother WORKS for a public school, where like a week or two a go some kid brought a knife to school and was passing it around to show kids.

    Mom works in an elementary school…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  18. No different in Philly. From a recent article –

    Until there is a safe learning environment, all the money in the world won’t fix Philadelphia schools, which spend more than $2 billion a year in taxpayers’ funds to achieve a graduation rate of about 50 percent. The latest attack occurred last month at Germantown High when three students wandered into a classroom and assaulted a teacher.
    English teacher Harry Doe suffered a sore arm and shoulder, a swollen eye and facial bruises, but was not “seriously injured,” officials say. The students, two sophomores and a junior, were ticked off that Doe dared to reprimand them for entering his classroom without permission.
    Two days earlier at Beeber Middle School, a 12-year-old allegedly tried to rape a teacher in her classroom during an after-school program. The teacher fended off the attack, and the student was arrested.

    Jack Klompus (cf3660)

  19. Two days earlier at Beeber Middle School, a 12-year-old allegedly tried to rape a teacher in her classroom during an after-school program.

    I assume he knew how to rape. I wondered how he learned. One of my juvie clients had given syphillis to a three-year old girl when he was twelve.

    nk (bdc27b)

  20. One of my juvie clients had given syphillis to a three-year old girl when he was twelve.

    Jesus… How do you keep yourself from throwing a case like that? I mean, oaths aside…

    Jesus, I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  21. In a case like that, ineffective assistance of counsel would be a badge of honor.

    JD (7f8e8c)

  22. His first lawyer did throw it. The whole trial was thirty-seven pages of transcript resulting in an indefinite sentence. (That’s shorter than most Grand Jury transcripts where only the State gets to talk.) I was lawyer number two. I argued ineffective assistance of counsel.

    nk (bdc27b)

  23. Oh, I forgot to tell you. The rape of the three-year old was a prior. I had him for car theft when he was sixteen.

    nk (bdc27b)

  24. But that was not my point, anyway. Who gave syphillis to a twelve-year old and taught him to rape three-year olds?

    nk (bdc27b)

  25. Comment by nk — 12/17/2008 @ 11:07 am

    …and irony would be having him assigned to making license plates in the Big House – until he becomes too ill from syphillis to function.

    Another Drew (bc69ec)

  26. He’d be about 40, now. If he is not in prison it’s only because he was converted to Black Muslim. He may be a community organizer.

    nk (bdc27b)

  27. The Heritage Foundation has a lot of positive things to say about Duncan.

    Amphipolis (e6b868)

  28. NK, a friend also works as a temp for CPS, and he’s basically sent to all the hell – holes that don’t have enough teachers in the first place, so he has many stories to tell. But my point about the union is that their leadership will not even consider closing some the worst – performing schools at all, despite deplorable conditions for the staff (and students). Of course it begins and ends with the parents themselves, but the least the union could do is acknowledge that politically – incorrect fact, and then move to close the dregs that are sewers for learning. They won’t even consider dress – codes at most schools, and their fierce opposition to the increasing role of the military in the pilot programs is indicative of their fecklessness.

    Dmac (e30284)

  29. Comment by Dmac — 12/17/2008 @ 2:43 pm

    It has been my experience that the teacher’s unions oppose dress codes for the simple reason that they know that they would then have to dress in a respectful, responsible manner as befits the adults they allege to be –
    The curse of the profession being taken over long ago by the “free speech” hippies of the 60’s.

    Another Drew (bc69ec)

  30. […] Patterico’s Pontifications » Obama Names Secretary of Education […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » Obama Names Secretary of Education | helpfulnames.com (c704ae)

  31. I’ve updated the post regarding Chicago’s 8th grade reading statistics under Duncan.

    DRJ (803bba)

  32. He did such a great job with the Chicago schools, he will not be targeting the same levels of illiteracy nationwide.

    JD (7f8e8c)

  33. he will now be targeting

    JD (7f8e8c)


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