Last time I checked, Teddy Kennedy was running from NCLB with the kind of nimble agility not seen since his Chappaquiddick days. Best not to begin one’s argument with technicalities, MarkyT, it tends to eat into the efficacy of one’s argument. Now, I cited a very serious problem in my city. Not a hypothetical. Not a “what if.” But a tangible, manifestly disturbing phenomenon — massive corruption among education bureaucrats and the political machinations that covered it up. I then followed up with more general observations that seemed, to me, to be relevant. You responded by suggesting I lay off the “buzzwords.” I would respectfully suggest that until the “professional” education class gets out of bed with one of our political parties, a presidential candidate’s education initiatives border on the irrelevent, because — down here on the street — the system is broken. But enough buzzwords.

I see that Ms. Walden Ford isn’t your cup of tea. And it’s not because she’s black or a McCain supporter or pro-voucher, but rather that she just doesn’t have the educational pedigree which would qualify her to speak authoritatively to someone with heavy duty credentials in the education industry. She’s just someone’s mother. Just some woman who loved her child, and recognized the grave danger posed by permitting him to remain in public school. Just some woman who in desperation tried something that happened to work and that can work for others. And all she’s done since then is devote her life to spreading words of hope to inner city parents. While I might in other circumstances thank you for restraining yourself from “critiquing Ford” more assiduously than you threatened to, I suspect Ms. Ford can handle herself quite well. So if you have a more penetrating observation than that she is an African-American talking head for the McCain people, please elucidate.

Certainly, most of us on this blog have been through some form of education training– student teaching, in-classroom experience, grad courses, degrees, etc. I’m just a lawyer now, but I used to teach. It’s a good life in many respects. But it’s not about you, or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s about your clients, those whom you serve. It’s about the students and the parents who have entrusted their kids to you. Virginia Walden Ford may seem like some interloper crashing your little party. But she’s got more experience than any ten PhDs. Yes, that’s right. She’s lived what the rest of your crowd merely talks about. Her credentials are more than adequate.

I hardly think what I said was personal – unless you think critiquing someone’s political past is personal (in which case presidential races would be really boring). You can disagree with how I stated things, but the facts are this: She’s African American; she’s been in leadership positions at pro-voucher organizations; and finally, unless I’m missing something, she doesn’t have any professional training or experience in education (apart from being a parent). Which is the point I was making. So far none of her posts have presented any substantive policies from McCain. And I thought that was the point here.

Back off Virginia Walden Ford. She is more than “an African American talking head for the pro-voucher crowd.” It’s okay to disagree on policy, but don’t make it personal. As for Virginia’s background, google her. She’s a graduate of Central HS in Little Rock, AR. Yes, that Central High where a white democrat governor stood in the school house doors to prevent black kids from entering. Her son’s life was “saved” (to quote Virginia), when a kind man paid for his tuition at a local catholic school. Her son fell into the wrong crowd and she was losing him to the streets. Her son became a good student and served this country in Iraq. Millions of kids in the United States are being lost to the streets because their schools are awful. Again, what’s wrong giving a mother (black, white, or brown) in Anacostia a choice to send her kids to the same school as Ted Kennedy’s kids, Chelsea Clinton, and Obama’s kids. We all know that Kennedy and Clinton chose not to send their kids to any school in Anacostia. And Obama, if elected, will choose a private school. So why condemn low income chilldren to crappy, unsafe schools? At least, McCain wants to give those mothers a choice and their kids a chance.

Although I shouldn’t assume, most of the readers of this blog are truly interested in education policy and are looking to learn and discuss genuine issues. I may not agree with one candidate or another, but I certainly want to understand what the next president, McCain or Obama, intends to do about education in this country. Therefore, I recommend you actually discuss your candidate’s policies, why he believes what he does and legitimately disagrees with Obama, and what precedence education reform would take in his administration. All this political schtick is both silly and completely uninformative.

Thanks.

As for Fenty and Booker, I’m pretty sure they’re casting their votes with Obama and not McCain.

Once again, I’m being told all the things that Dems/Obama are doing wrong. but no one is telling me what McCain is going to do differently. Last time I checked, the GOP controlled all the branches of the federal govt for most of the last 8 years – if the GOP cares so much about education, where’s the proof?

Lip service? Canards? Self-aggrandizing? Can you throw anymore buzzwords in there?

In my mind, the achievement gap is a civil rights issue, and Republicans have had a pretty horrible record on civil rights for, oh, the last five decades. At the same time, I see zero passion for education reform and few details in McCain’s education agenda. So why should we trust McCain to close the achievement gap in the next four years?