Sadly, No

Hate to harp on this, but it does seem to be a requirement that no matter who is president, his or her secretary of education has to believe in things that simply aren't true.



People have these little fantasies about what they achieved. If you look at the same history that Duncan is waxing nostalgic about in this clip, you can also find that the opposite is true, as did a little ragtag group of naysayers known as the University of Chicago.

What does it any of it matter? Joseph Campbell famously said, "Myths are public dreams." Why shouldn't they be public policy?

The UC study isn't something that can be reduced to a headline, especially not the headline I saw in the Sun-Times, which was something on the order of "Study Says CPS Fails Students." A more accurate sensationalistic headline would be, "People Selling The Chicago Experience Haven't The First Clue."

Blah, blah, blah. Ed policy is an information-free zone and Arne Duncan is the perfect man for the job, I hate to say.

One sentence from the conclusion of the study confirms what CPS teachers as well as anyone paying attention to the impact of poverty on achievement already knows: "Chicago students do not perform more poorly than students with similar economic and ethnic backgrounds at other schools in Illinois."
This in spite of all the Rahm/Duncan teacher-bashing that goes on in this city.

Homage.