New Huffington Post Column: Twilight for Education Policy’s Idols

Apropos of a few recent posts, and Diane Ravitch’s “Videogate” problem, I’ve written my latest Huffington Post column on how education reform arguments need to move past idol-worshipping. Here’s a sample:

And this is oh-so-very-nice to point out, and gosh, we oughta do something about it, except that that it’s really hard to discipline ourselves. You may understand in a polite, abstract way that the education reformer you’re talking to is not the moral equivalent to Michelle Rhee, but that isn’t always going to hold you back from holding him or her accountable for Rhee’s embarrassments. If you’re a “Rhee Supporter” — which is not the same as being an “education reformer” — you may understand that any evidence of DC schools cheating on tests rightly diminishes her legacy, but that won’t usually stop you from mounting a full-scale defense of everything she’s done since learning to walk. Rhee isn’t the only such example, of course. Both sides are susceptible.

Read the whole column HERE.