Recently, I attempted to unpack the media-augmented narrative -- and national hot button issue du jour -- of public education reform within the context of a fairy tale. I chose the fairy tale as my medium because I couldn't think of any other storytelling device that was simultaneously so magnificently far-fetched and so widely recounted.
And yet, for me to sit here and claim that this fable from hell is complete fiction is just as disingenuous as the media's repeated insistence on its utter veracity. Because embedded among the sweeping generalizations, circular reasoning, scapegoating, and causal oversimplification of this grand morality tale are baby-corn kernels of truth. Which is why it makes for such superb propaganda.
So, allow me to clarify.
Never have public school teachers been more
