The first candidate with a comprehensive education plan is John Edwards. No surprise there, and no surprise that the proposals are excellent. The details were released last Friday and highlighted in a speech at an Iowa middle school; apologies for not getting to it until today. The basics: Universal pre-school for 4-year olds, with tuition […]
Education in America
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EDWARDS ON AIDS.
EDWARDS ON AIDS. Proving once again that there’s no grassroots progressive interest group John Edwards can’t woo, he became today the first presidential candidate to respond to 100 HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations who have sounded “A Call to Action” for a “National AIDS Strategy.” His proposal is here, and although parts of it are, of course, […]
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Segregated Schools Leave Children Behind
As Congress debates reforms to No Child Left Behind, no one will state the obvious: Separate schools don’t produce equal results.
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Studying the Islamic Republic from the Inside
For just two years, a groundbreaking masters program provided a handful of foreigners with a rare insider’s glimpse into Iran. Until it became a victim of Ahmadinejad’s neo-isolationism.
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What Are Teacher’s Unions For?
Over at TAP, Richard Kahlenberg, author of a new biography of union giant Albert Shanker, argues for the relevance of teacher’s unions and reminds us of their original purpose: In the 1950s, prior to when Albert Shanker and other New York City teachers forged the modern teacher union movement, teachers engaged in “collective begging” rather […]
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A World Without Teacher Unions?
Despite the myriad criticisms of teacher unions, their abolition would be a huge loss for supporters of public education — and for the American labor movement as a whole.
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NOLA’s Failed Education Experiment
Privatization runs amok in the post-Katrina New Orleans school system.
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Why Is This Election Different From All Other Elections?
Pollster Stan Greenberg runs through some of the trends that he thinks will render 2008 a unique, and possibly even transformative, election: * The Democrats’ lead in both the Presidential and Congressional races is undiminished in the ‘core’ group of the most likely voters. Usually, the Republicans cut some of the margin on Election Day […]
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Does John Edwards Need an Ivy Education?
Steven Stark writes: There’s no doubt that Edwards made a mistake with the haircut, and that wealthy populist candidates are not easily forgiven for reminding people that they have money. But most candidates on the trail spend a lot on personal appearances — it’s part of the game. […] No, Edwards’s problem is different, and […]
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COMPASSION CONSERVATISM REDUX.
COMPASSION CONSERVATISM REDUX. Former Bush speech writer Michael Gerson is a welcome addition to the Washington Post op-ed page because, as one of the guys who actually believed in compassionate conservatism, he’s willing to say things other conservatives just won’t. Today, for instance, he admits that Evangelical teenagers, those same kids who are wearing chastity […]