What Bothers Me, Pedro ...
Dear Pedro,
Since I'm not in the city often enough to drop into your office for a chat, this will have to do instead. You know that I love an argument, so I'm glad you ended your first column with something that bothers me.
In the past few years I couldn't get Diane to pick a fight with me—although I suspect we have our disagreements. For example, whether everyone should (even if not mandated) learn Latin. But I had dinner with her last night and we agreed: We have entered the Age of Alice in Wonderland, or maybe "The Twilight Zone."
Incidentally, my colleague in Chicago, Mike Klonsky, says Diane's response to your piece in The Nation was in response to his critique of it, or something like that. To make it easier on readers, here's the controversial paragraph in your words.
Since I'm not in the city often enough to drop into your office for a chat, this will have to do instead. You know that I love an argument, so I'm glad you ended your first column with something that bothers me.
In the past few years I couldn't get Diane to pick a fight with me—although I suspect we have our disagreements. For example, whether everyone should (even if not mandated) learn Latin. But I had dinner with her last night and we agreed: We have entered the Age of Alice in Wonderland, or maybe "The Twilight Zone."
Incidentally, my colleague in Chicago, Mike Klonsky, says Diane's response to your piece in The Nation was in response to his critique of it, or something like that. To make it easier on readers, here's the controversial paragraph in your words.
"The teachers have been bold in their denunciation of the high-stakes testing that has been used to rank students, schools, and now teachers. But they have been less clear about what should be done to promote change and improvement. The union has raised the critical issue of student