Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Answer Sheet - How Colbert brilliantly skewered Wake County (N.C.) school officials

The Answer Sheet - How Colbert brilliantly skewered Wake County (N.C.) school officials

How Colbert brilliantly skewered Wake County (N.C.) school officials

Stephen Colbert used a Washington Post story on the Wake County (Raleigh, N.C.) Board of Education to do a hysterical piece on "The Colbert Report" about the panel's decision to scrap a school diversity plan that has long been considered successful. The story, by my colleague Stephanie McCrummen, explains that the policy in Wake County has led to a situation in which, as she wrote "Some of its best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents cannot afford a house in the neighborhood." But a new majority-Republican school board backed by national tea party conservatives wants to get rid of the policy in a move that some say will lead to resegregation of the county's public schools. Colbert picked up on this and did the following video, which is hysterically funny but