The odd thing about the bitter contretemps between the centrist education reform coalition centered around the Education Equality Project and the liberal education reform coalition centered around Bigger, Bolder is that if you merged the two visions, you'd have a solid, comprehensive approach with no apparent internal contradictions, that integrates both the social policy/child welfare side of the ledger with direct school reform policies. Which suggests that the nasty words between the two are more about what they aren't saying than what they are. As far as I can tell, the centrists think the liberals are dodging direct school reform because they're mainly interested in protecting teacher's unions and the liberals think the centrists are utterly unsupportive of social welfare policies that are proven to enhance educational attainment because the centrists are mainly interested in busting teacher's unions. Which gets back to my larger theme in educational commentary that the odd centrality of teacher's unions to the discussion is ruinous on both sides. Teacher's unions may not make kids stupid, but they have a tendency to strike adults dumb. So for now, I'm sticking with my strategy: I like the universal pre-k and and improved prenatal care of Bigger, Bolder, and I like EEP's emphasis on accountability and direct school reform. And I steadfastly refuse to read between the lines of either document.
