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Monday, April 18, 2011

Arne Duncan, the status quo and a teacher who never ate a bee - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Arne Duncan, the status quo and a teacher who never ate a bee - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Arne Duncan, the status quo and a teacher who never ate a bee

Education Secretary Arne Duncan likes to say that people who support the status quo in public education are “part of the problem.”

To wit:

He said this month in an interview with the Star-Ledger in New Jersey: “What keeps me up at night is the historic lack of urgency, the acceptance of the status quo. We need to change. Anyone who is defending the status quo is part of the problem.”

He told Wolf Blitzer of CNN in a January interview, “In a knowledge-based, globally competitive economy, we have to do so much better

The critical condition of critical thinking

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This was written by Roxanna Elden, an English teacher in Miami who is the author of “See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers.” She is a National Board Certified high school teacher and a member of the Teacher Leaders Network.

By Roxanna Elden

When I started teaching freshman English, one of my favorite lessons covered errors in logic, including these three terms:

·Oversimplification: The argument presents one cause or solution without considering other factors.

·Circular reasoning: The argument treats the point to be proven as if