Duncan’s unusual ‘state of education’ report
Education Secretary Arne Duncan (By Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)
Education Secretary Arne Duncan delivered what he called his annual “state of education in America” report at the National Press Club this week (see video and transcript below), just before the federal government was forced to shut down because of Congress’ failure to fund it. His speech, titled “Beyond the Beltway Bubble,” was, well, unusual.
Instead of starting out by talking about the unprecedented (but controversial) school reform effort he has led over the last five years, he slammed Washington D.C. as an “alternative universe,” Congress (which deserved it), as well as pundits and commentators on the right and the left who don’t agree with him.
The speech revealed Duncan as being thin-skinned, but more striking was what else it showed: that the education secretary still doesn’t seem to understand what many of his critics are saying. Here’s part of what he said:
Inhabiting this [Washington] bubble are some armchair pundits who insist that our
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