Saturday, September 8, 2012

Jersey Jazzman: Why Are Progressives Wrong On Education?

Jersey Jazzman: Why Are Progressives Wrong On Education?:


Why Are Progressives Wrong On Education?

Longtime readers know that Digby, proprietor of the blog Hullabaloo, is one of my role models. Aside from being wicked smart, she manages to find just the right mix of snark, wonk, and earnestness in her prose. She's also a shrewd judge of talent: adding David Atkins to her blog is one of the best moves she's ever made. So Digby's endorsement, coupled with Atkins's own volume of work, are more than enough for me to trust his reporting.

Why the prelude? Because Atkins wrote a very important piece about a meeting he and a few other progressive bloggers had at the Democratic National Convention with Howard Dean, the former DNC chairman, and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. I already wrote about Atkins's insightful observation about the usefulness of narrative in countering the corporate reformy movement; now I want to get to the meat of the meeting.
Howard Dean expressed his support for Randi as the most progressive union leader in the