This Is A Great Explanation Of One Of My Biggest Concerns About “School Reformers”
One of the biggest concerns I have about many “school reformers” is the fact that many have extremely limited (and in a number of cases — like Education Secretary Duncan — zero) direct experience in the classroom.
It’s not my habit to quote from Forbes Magazine, but there is an exceptional column there by Conor Friedersdorf that’s titled Why Some Elites Know Not What They Run. In it, he shares correspondence he has had with a person who wants to reshape health policy, but does not want to spend any time “working in the trenches.” It provides a much more articulate representation of my concern than any that I could write.
Here’s an excerpt:
I understand why my correspondent doesn’t want to spend several years in the field or working at a hospital before she gets to even tackle the systemic problems that she wants to solve, but I’d wager anything that she’d be far better at improving outcomes on the ground if she understood first hand what went on there, rather than