The Hound watches with amazement as President-elect Obama is packing his cabinet with two more Illinosans. This in the midst of the state being the butt of every late-night comedian. Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan was tabbed Tuesday as education secretary, while retiring Republican Congressman Ray LaHood of Peoria is expected to be named transportation secretary today.
But, The Hound is more interested in Mr. Duncan, who has run the CPS for the past seven years. Let's all bring what we've learned in the Chicago school system to Washington, D.C. This is a school system where kids get shot going to and from class; where state Sen. James Meeks told students to boycott classes this fall because funding is nowhere near the levels of suburban schools, most notably New Trier High School.
Of anyone, Duncan should know that if Chicago parents could enroll their kids in suburban schools, they'd do so in a New York minute. The district is top-heavy with administrators and beholden to the teachers' union. Sort of like the U.S. Department of Education.
The Hound is certain there were probably more-qualified candidates for the education job --- like Paul Vallas, Duncan's former CPS boss who also has headed Philadelphia and New Orleans school systems. But only the Harvard-educated Duncan plays a mean hoops game, which the new president enjoys engaging in. Let's see if Duncan can slam-dunk the nation's educational problems.
Methinks the best candidate is "None of the above." Since when is public education a function of the federal government? Leave it in the hands of the states, where it belongs...like a whole lot of other things.
THE HOUND SAYS: Irene, that argument was settled decades ago when Jimmy Carter was first nominated and then elected president with the generous help of the teachers' unions. In return for that help, President Carter created the Department of Education. Since then, education, like other things in Washington, D.C., became a bureaucracy.
Duncan is part of the Chicago system...the one which has a miserable record with actually educating students, but they know how to pay off an alderman and to smooze a ward boss.
You'd think for a guy who promoted 'change', Obama would try to find somebody who actually has been a success at getting schools to work. But I guess that's asking too much of a politician who spent $100 million of the Annenburg's money and got zilch to show for it.
THE HOUND SAYS: Hermie, the word is "schmooze", not "smooze", which could be mistaken for "snooze" which is what the Chicago Public Schools leadership has been doing for about three decades. And Dunkin' Duncan was part of the leadership for nearly a decade.