Problem vs. Solution: A Response
Dear Mike,
Let me begin by addressing your underlying question as to whether what you and I are proposing is part of the cure or the disease. The belief that the most promising way to tackle poverty requires frequent standardized tests for all students, breaking up the public school monopoly, imposing accountability measures on teachers, and more "efficient" delivery systems is, in my view, "part of the disease." But let's lower the tone by changing the dichotomy to a contrast between being "part of the solution" or "part of the problem."
Thus, the first series of my responses below are an attempt to answer your question about how your views (and mine) stack up on the "problem/solution" continuum. The second part of my response goes a wee bit deeper into some underlying issues that divide us.
Thus:
Let me begin by addressing your underlying question as to whether what you and I are proposing is part of the cure or the disease. The belief that the most promising way to tackle poverty requires frequent standardized tests for all students, breaking up the public school monopoly, imposing accountability measures on teachers, and more "efficient" delivery systems is, in my view, "part of the disease." But let's lower the tone by changing the dichotomy to a contrast between being "part of the solution" or "part of the problem."
Thus, the first series of my responses below are an attempt to answer your question about how your views (and mine) stack up on the "problem/solution" continuum. The second part of my response goes a wee bit deeper into some underlying issues that divide us.
Thus:
- To the extent that we both want schools to improve—above all for poor and minority children, we are
