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Saturday, January 2, 2016

CURMUDGUCATION: John King's New Year

CURMUDGUCATION: John King's New Year:

John King's New Year



New Acting Pretend Secretary of Education John King hit the ground running with New Year's wishes and this New year's tweet




Now, it's not that anybody is watching King carefully to see which way he's going to jump-- his tenure as education chief in New York State already tells us what to expect. He has an inspiring back story, from which he himself appears to have missed the most important lessons. He has ahealthy ego, but he is not so keen on dealing with the public. The first words of his twitter profile are "Taught HS social studies" but not "for only a couple of years in a charter school." King is a fine example of a test-and-punish, privatizing reformster policy leader.

His three resolutions are... well, interesting.

Working to ensure that every student in America-- regardless of zip code or background-- has the opportunities a high-quality education provides.

First, let's note what this doesn't say. It doesn't say "Making sure that every community is served by a great school in their own zip code."

Second, "working to ensure" is politician to "try real hard" which may be more realistic than saying, "we are going to do this" but is also less aspirational. Given the lofty aspirations that USED likes to set for teachers and students, it seems like a lowball.

Finally-- the opportunities a high-quality education provides. That's a lot to unlock. When a wealthy, well-connected scion of a wealthy, well-connected family lands a great job opportunity, was that opportunity provided by education, or something else? This is a statement that invokes "zip code and background," the new euphemism for "non-wealthy and non-white" that pretends that socio-economic issues descend like weather systems upon randomly selected neighborhoods-- it invokes all CURMUDGUCATION: John King's New Year:
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