On Arne Duncan: Open Thread

by Clay Burell · 2009-01-04 16:54:00 UTC
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I'm boarding a plane for Bangkok in 5 minutes, but before doing so wanted to point to a conversation on three separate spaces about Obama's nomination of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education.

Many people have expressed shock and disappointment - see Gary Stager's Huffington Post article for a forceful example. Then check out Dale McGowan's more interesting take on the similar outrage Obama set off over his tapping of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation.

What McGowan says there about why, on second thought, he's not quite ready to join the chorus of outrage at Obama - will somebody please shut that airport announcer up? - echoes my own response to Stager on Duncan here (short version: the buck stops with Obama, and though I don't trust Duncan much, I do still give Obama the benefit of the doubt for possibly having a method to what looks, on the surface, like cop-out madness).

Beyond all of that, though, and most importantly: What are your thoughts and, more interesting still, experiences with Duncan and Chicago Public Schools?

It's early days yet on this space - we've only been up for three days - but one of my hopes is that it can become a repository of first-hand accounts by readers of direct experiences unavailable in the mainstream press. Those accounts can have value, I'm convinced.

I'm boarding! See you on the other side - assuming we land there.

(And PS: A guest-blogger will be addressing special needs education this week to start elevating that topic.)

Clay Burell
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