[Speed Gibson,
Wednesday September 17, 2008 at 3:12pm]
Where We Stand: America's Schools
Maybe you saw "Where We Stand: America's Schools in the 21st Century" program on Channel 2 Monday night. Hosted by Judy Woodruff, who hasn't cracked a smile since she called Florida for Senator Gore in 2000, it's an anecdotal spotlight on three schools. One is in a poor area, another in a rich area, and one pseudo-charter school.
It was all very interesting, and accurate as far as it went. But it was still somewhat hard to watch in that I was constantly thinking "meaning that...?" and "says who?" and "keep going ..." and "therefore ...?"
With just an hour to spend, though, I think they rather wisely stopped well short of recommending solutions or assigning blame. It would be a great introductory hour into a series like the PBS "Free to Choose" production circa 1980. Back then, we were facing the truly worst economy since the Depression, the stagflation that Keynes said could not happen not to mention gas shortages and other related problems. With education in a similar though less acute situation, a similar series on K-12 education should be well-received.
It was all very interesting, and accurate as far as it went. But it was still somewhat hard to watch in that I was constantly thinking "meaning that...?" and "says who?" and "keep going ..." and "therefore ...?"
With just an hour to spend, though, I think they rather wisely stopped well short of recommending solutions or assigning blame. It would be a great introductory hour into a series like the PBS "Free to Choose" production circa 1980. Back then, we were facing the truly worst economy since the Depression, the stagflation that Keynes said could not happen not to mention gas shortages and other related problems. With education in a similar though less acute situation, a similar series on K-12 education should be well-received.