“Good” Schools and “Bad” Schools

In the reviews for the film “Waiting for Superman,” several writers have described the lottery for slots in the “good” charter schools. At the school where I teach, families are reluctant to pull their students out, even if it is clear that the kid doesn’t want to do the work, and isn’t (at least currently) […]

Confessions

Sometimes I know where they work by their clothes– the shirt with embroidered words, the scrubs. I fall in love with about three-quarters of them. They are so eager to prove that they love their children, although no such proof is required. They are eager to prove to me that they care about education, that […]

Failure

If we’re too enlightened to beat up on the minority group of the hour, at least we have our school system to beat up on. I hear the phrase “failing schools” at least once a week, and last night Oprah went on a Godzilla-hits-Tokyo style hike through educational controversies. I watched skeptically, and barked at […]

Threats

I think I’ve made it clear I don’t believe Muslims are out to get us. For one thing, too many people who are Muslim are worrying about what’s for dinner or if their moms are mad at them. For another, they’re all over the place. If they were out to get us, we would already […]