"Silver Bullet" Watch
Who was that masked man?
I'm going to start a new feature: the "Silver Bullet" Watch.
It's well-known that corporate reformies push policies - test-based teacher evaluations, charters, merit pay, vouchers, gutting tenure, ending LIFO - that have little evidence to support them. But one thing I've noticed is that they always seem to sell these with a qualifier: "I'm not saying _____ is a 'silver bullet.' It's just one part of a larger program we need..."
The "silver bullet" excuse is basically a way of saying that even though the reformies' favored policies won't do much of anything, they should still be implemented. Here, again, are a couple of examples:
Michelle Rhee: "There is no one thing that's going to bring about the
It's well-known that corporate reformies push policies - test-based teacher evaluations, charters, merit pay, vouchers, gutting tenure, ending LIFO - that have little evidence to support them. But one thing I've noticed is that they always seem to sell these with a qualifier: "I'm not saying _____ is a 'silver bullet.' It's just one part of a larger program we need..."
The "silver bullet" excuse is basically a way of saying that even though the reformies' favored policies won't do much of anything, they should still be implemented. Here, again, are a couple of examples:
Jonny Alter: "Charters, by themselves, are not any kind of a cure-all. You now, a magic pill."
Michelle Rhee: "There is no one thing that's going to bring about the
