A Teachable Moment

Let’s see if all of the data driven dunces who think they can fix public education by using student test scores to lop off the bottom ten percent of teachers each year can come to grips with the data from several studies reported today in the New York Times. Big surprise – the school performance of poor children has been falling behind that of their wealthier peers, and these studies haven’t as yet measured the fully effect of what we are euphemistically calling the Great Recession. Watch for the response from social Darwinists like Charles Murray to caution us against thinking that the lack of money and resources has anything to do with the performance of poor children. Surely it’s the inferiority, both genetically and culturally, of the poor that is largely responsible. Others on the right will surely continue to maintain that great teachers can solve this problem. One thing I know for sure – most of our politicians will not call for measures to overcome the poverty of some many of our nation’s children. Shame on all of us.