Great Education War being waged on multiple fronts

Alan Borsuk:

I have such conflicted feelings about the war.

No, not Syria. Also not Iraq, Afghanistan or even Grenada (we won that one, remember?)

The Great Education War rages all around us. If anything, it seems to be getting more intense, and cooperation and goodwill seem to be in shorter supply.

The war has many fronts:

• Standardized testing, how much should there be, what uses should the results be put to.
• Private school voucher programs (the battle royal, especially in places such as Wisconsin).
• Charter schools (actually, a hotter fight in many places than around here).
• Teachers' collective bargaining powers. Also teachers' pay and pensions. Also funding and tax issues overall
• Anything that some people see as "privatization."

War, of course, is too strong a term, if you take it literally. There is no physical fighting (thank goodness). But there are passions and intensity, and the stakes are high and the advocacy is often conducted with bare-knuckled rhetoric and uncompromising strategy. It sort of has the feeling of war.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 17, 2013 1:39 AM
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