Obama on education reform

STOP THE PRESSES!!!! I continue to be stunned and delighted by the courage
and commitment shown by President Obama and Ed Sec. Duncan on education
reform. Yes, we need to continue to push them to be even more bold, as the
WP and NYT editorials below do - millions of children suffering in failing
schools, on track to ruined lives, demand it - but let's not forget to
celebrate the MASSIVE sea-change in the Democratic Party that's happening
thanks to the leadership of Obama and Duncan, certain political leaders like
George Miller, Sam Hoyt, Mayors Bloomberg, Fenty, and KJ, superintendants
like Klein, Rhee and Vallas, the work of many groups like DFER, and the
grassroots efforts of organizations like TFA and KIPP. It's truly
astounding how far we've come in such a short time... OK, enough
celebrating, let's get back to work!

As proof of Obama's commitment to this issue, last week on the one-year
anniversary of his historic election, what did he do? He didn't show up at
a hospital and talk about the need for healthcare reform - no, he went to a
charter school and spoke about education reform, how important this issue is
to him personally (given the ages of his daughters), and how states are
going to have to change their ways to get Race to the Top money. Here's a
2-min video from his speech,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/11/04/VI2009110403672.html,
and here's an excerpt from the Washington Post article (full article below):

President Obama marked the anniversary of his election Wednesday by speaking
in unusually personal terms with schoolchildren and educators in a
politically friendly state, far from the partisan fray in Washington.

His decision to come to James C. Wright Middle School, an innovative and
ethnically mixed charter campus, was made weeks ago. But for Obama, the day
served as a respite from the Afghan war, the health-care scrum and the
post-election punditry in Washington that he disdains.

Obama used the occasion both to pitch his education reforms and to speak
about his life in the White House -- as a father helping to oversee his
daughters' studies, as a former community organizer who is now president --
a year after his election and a day after another one, which carried
potentially ominous implications for his agenda.

----------------------------

School kids get lesson on education reform

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 5, 2009

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR2009110403864_pf.
html

MADISON, WIS. -- President Obama marked the anniversary of his election
Wednesday by speaking in unusually personal terms with schoolchildren and
educators in a politically friendly state, far from the partisan fray in
Washington.