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Obama’s Amazingly Un-Amazing Education Secretary
Arne Duncan is the most boring candidate possible. So much for "change."
But you know, I think the Times may be on to something here in spite of itself. It really is amazing how totally uninteresting — how completely devoid of any possible justification for paying attention to it — the choice of Duncan for education secretary is. In fact, the selection has succeeded in fascinating me by achieving such an unprecedented level of anti-fascinatingness. It repels my interest so strongly that I can’t stop thinking about it.
Obama could have nominated one of the serious Democratic education reformers, like Washington, D.C.’s Michelle Rhee or New York City’s Joel Klein. That would have signaled that Obama’s bold embrace of reform principles like parental choice (”I think it’s important to foster competition”) and merit pay during the campaign was no mere rhetorical cover, but a serious call to arms. Such a pick would have heralded a renewed struggle in Washington over union control of the government education monopoly. And it would have vindicated the predictions made by some that the inexorable logic of History would inevitably override Obama’s free will and force him to become a champion of reform.
On the other hand, Obama could have picked a conventional Democratic education figure — that is, a union shill — signaling that he didn’t plan to rock the monopoly’s boat and would use education issues to pay back his allies in the unions with yet more lavish spending and no accountability for results.
In that sense, a more “boring” (in the sense of “conventional”) choice would actually have been a much less boring choice, because it would have been an open, undeniable break from Obama’s reformist campaign rhetoric.
And that’s exactly where a lot of us thought we were headed. Obama’s choice of Linda Darling-Hammond to head up the education wing of the transition certainly made the choice of a union shill seem likely.
But no. Obama transcends the tired old debates and false choices of the old politics. He builds bridges and reaches across isles and spans expanses, etc.
So he chose … a guy who has pushed to make things a little better here and there on the margins, but has never done anything to cause the union monopolists to lose any serious sleep over him.
If a real reformer would have signaled new educational battles ahead, and a shill would have signaled a return to the days of union domination, what does Arne Duncan signal?
Well, nobody really knows, but for what it’s worth, my guess is this: Obama doesn’t plan to lift a finger either way on education, and wants to keep the issue as far out of the news as possible, so he can concentrate on higher priorities — namely, transforming the nation’s slow-motion health-care disaster into a fast-motion disaster, and destroying the economy with new environmental mandates.
That’s bad news for those (myself not among them) who had cherished hopes for a federal push for real reform in the short term. We’ll have to keep working for change at the state level, where in 2008 we’ve racked up a track record that we should be proud of. On the other hand, the Duncan appointment does show that the teachers’ unions can’t count on getting a free ride anymore, even when their friends are in power. The unions’ friends are getting a lot less friendly than they used to be.
Slowly but surely, their day is ending.
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Greg Forster is a senior fellow at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.
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20 Comments
1. suztours:“… Obama doesn’t plan to lift a finger either way on education”
And here is part of the problem – first of all, there should NOT be a Federal Department of Education at all, but if it’s allowed to continue operation, the President ought to nominate someone who actually cares and will actually do something to make things better. If America really wants to make the world a better place, it ought to first teach its children something, not support unions which have as its members so-called “teachers” who are really no more than just “babysitters”!
Dec 18, 2008 - 2:56 am 2. 8 My Foot:The future of our public school system, going down the tubes even faster. Glad my kids are out of school.
Dec 18, 2008 - 3:49 am 3. Alo Kievalar:ANOTHER WORTHLESS BUREAUCRAT
I agree with “suztours” comment (above). There should be no Dept of Education. There didn’t used to be one until 1979 and seems to me we got along JUST fine without ONE. That’s not so long ago. The reasons for its existence are totally fraudulent if you really examine the details.
Further, I understand that Mr Duncan HAS NEVER BEEN A TEACHER!!
HE HAS NEVER TAUGHT IN A CLASSROOM !
In other words, he went from degree to degree, from desk to desk, from “theory” to “theory” never really getting his hands dirty and not daring to enter a class where he probably would have been torn to pieces.
I’ve known dozens of these guys. These are the people with the fat salaries whose contribution to education is at best minimal, often dangerous and almost always totally worthless. They’re about as distant from what really goes on in a classroom as is possible to be. They also couldn’t care less.
This nomination is nearly as disappointing as nominating H. Clinton to be Secretary of State.
It’s already beginning to look like a SHIP OF FOOLS, and I basically supported Obama’s election.
Dec 18, 2008 - 5:14 am 4. Warm Mountain:When Mr. Duncan gave his speech at his announcement, he made a glaring and basic grammatical error. He said, “..my sister and I,” when the correct pronoun should have been, “my sister and me.” I have no great hopes for this man to lead our nation’s children to higher educational standards when he cannot speak correctly.
Dec 18, 2008 - 6:10 am 5. The Wizard:I ask The Obamanation: “Where is the change???” All I see are elitist, liberal Democrats committed to moving this country to a welfare state. The empty suit has no plan; his lack of management experience and executive skills are now on full display for the world. He is basically a Chicago street thug politician that works best in a backroom environment. His lack of candor and transparency screams volumes as to what we can expect for the next four years. All I can say is, God help us all, we are in huge trouble.
Dec 18, 2008 - 6:31 am 6. 8 My Foot:Warm Mountain, I disagree with you.
Dec 18, 2008 - 6:36 am 7. 8 My Foot:“My sister and I…” is correct, because take out “My sister and..” and complete the sentance. “I” does something, whereas “Me” does something doesn’t work.
Warm Mountain…I screwed up. I read the whole sentance. Sorry. You’re right. In the context he used it, “Me” is correct.
Dec 18, 2008 - 6:40 am 8. Karin:But then, you already knew that.
Take out “my sister” and it works. “He gave (me) the opportunity to start a great school on the South Side of Chicago”.
I humbly grovel at your feet.
What exactly is the job description of a secretary of educaiton? How do we know if the person has been successful in this job? What happens if the person is not successful? These are private-sector questions, I realize. A few more:
Who is the current holder of the job? And does anyone care? What coherent rationalization for refilling this department is there?
Dec 18, 2008 - 6:40 am 9. FeFe:Obama knows he can not get rid of NCLB since Ted Kennedy supports it (and gave his endorsement to Obama). Therefore, his appointment of Arne is a pay off to a buddy. There will be no change in the ed game. I, for one, am pleased on this account. States are still not in compliance with NCLB 6 yrs later. They were dragging their feet waiting for an administration change. I hope this will be the change I can count on.
The only policy I can see Obama administration addressing is teacher certification. The Teach For America model, et al. Studies prove a highly qualified teacher does not translate to student scores. However, highly qualified came from the Dems and has strong union support, plus the benefit of taking the Ayers route and indoctrinating teachers as radicals for social change.
Honestly, why do we have to bring in teachers from the Phillipines when an American with a secretarial background can teach and manage an elementary class just as well or at least be given the hope to try. What the argument should come down to is the curriculum. Teachers have been teaching in disciplines they were not considered highly qualified in for years with success aided by a strong text book and supplements. This thought gets hijacked by discussion of a national curriculum in the efforts of fuzzy math proponents. Shame.
If I were to think outside the box on an Obama administration ed policy, I keep coming back to Chicago. You have a mayor who supports paying kids to learn while the city’s role model in Oprah dissing students as only wanting material items she promotes on her show so she opens a $40 million school in South Africa. No school choice but schools for specific immigrant societies. Where is the integration in that? Now that there are universal dropout rates, I think we can seen Arne loves charters pushing high schools that follow Obama’s youth service model in the guise of vocational schools.
Dec 18, 2008 - 7:58 am 10. seven:Another empty suit? I do suspect he is edjucated on the Chicago way.
Dec 18, 2008 - 7:59 am 11. Chris in Toronto:I love this line: “It repels my interest so strongly that I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Dec 18, 2008 - 8:28 am 12. Robert Hurley:If you think that Duncan is boring, just read this column
Dec 18, 2008 - 9:34 am 13. Jesse:Who cares? These cabinet shills don’t do anything beside contribute to the further degradation of public education and waste taxpayer dollars. Less they do the better. Dept. of Education…bah! It’s like Orwell’s Dept. Of Peace…does everything but educate.
Dec 18, 2008 - 10:09 am 14. Rather Read:Sigh. I had hoped for someone who had actually taught, but I guess that was asking too much.
At least it wasn’t Bill Ayers.
I am saving every penny – my granddaughter will NOT go to a public school if I can help it.
Dec 18, 2008 - 12:46 pm 15. thegre8_1:Just as bad as selecting Bill Ayers. Obama and Duncan are Ayers puppets for education policy. Duncan plays the hoops with Obama in Chitown.
Dec 18, 2008 - 5:10 pm 16. GGW:Hey Warm Mountain,
Per your comment above:
<<>>
The correct use of the ellipsis…is three dots. Not two.
Might be a good time to move out of your glass house.
Dec 18, 2008 - 7:18 pm 17. 8 My Foot:GGW, I knew it! No one ever believed me. Thank you. I can die in peace now…one of these days.
Dec 18, 2008 - 10:57 pm 18. deguello:What else could you expect? Make the schools effective, and the number folks who are lazy,feckless ,ignorant ,demagogue bait,declines, compromising the future of the democratic party, and ruining Obama’s re-election plans.The messiah knows exactly what he is doing!
Dec 19, 2008 - 7:11 am 19. J. Rockford:B. Hussein Obama was never going to pick someone as Ed Sec who would try to make significant changes to the disfunctional education system in this country today. Why would he even consider doing that? He owes the teacher unions who helped get him elected which is not the most important thing to him; it’s the only thing. HIS kids are taken care — taking the Chelsea Clinton route — Sidwell Friends, then elite college. You think he cares about the inner city schools? Inner city residents were just useful idiots for him.
Dec 19, 2008 - 10:43 am 20. el gordo:If a real reformer would have signaled new educational battles ahead, and a shill would have signaled a return to the days of union domination, what does Arne Duncan signal?
The same end result as appointing a union shill, but with fewer political risks. Praise for being centrist without actually being centrist.
Dec 20, 2008 - 10:51 am