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Duncan: Education System Must 'Reward Excellence'

Ohanian Comment: Duncan claims the education community hasn't had
enough push from the business community.

Indeed.

Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools traces the Business Roundtable agenda from the 1980ies through its passage as America 2000, Goals 2000, and No Child Left Behind. Race to the Top is the logical absurdity of this agenda.

By Sudeep Reddy

Education Secretary Arne Duncan asked business executives to pressure policymakers at every level of government to improve an education system that is falling behind the rest of the world.

The U.S., in a single generation, fell from first in the world in college graduates to ninth, Duncan told The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council. Too many students are dropping out of high school, he said. And in math and science education, at least 20 countries beat the U.S.

"We're simply not producing the citizens, the workers, that you guys need," Duncan said. "We have not had enough passion, enough push from the business community, and your collective voice is extraordinarily powerful."

Duncan led the Chicago Public Schools for more than seven years before taking his post in January 2009. Since then, the Education Department has led new programs, such as Race to the Top, to encourage changes in K-12 education.

"We're going to confront everyone, and have been," including unions, parents, politicians and school board members, Duncan said. "We're going to continue to challenge the status quo. And we have to look into the mirror and challenge ourselves" at the Education Department, he said. "All of us have to move outside our comfort zones."

Duncan said education policy before he arrived was "very punitive," leading states to dummy down standards and water down their curricula. "We need to reward excellence and growth. We're now raising standards. We're breaking through on that."

The nation's best educators should be rewarded early in their careers, without having to wait decades for higher pay, he said. "I think our great young teachers should make $100,000," he said. To address a shortage of math and science teachers, he suggested picking a higher salary -- perhaps $15,000 to $20,000 above current levels -- to draw people into those jobs.

"If you poll teachers, teachers want to be rewarded," Duncan said. "The last thing they want is to be teaching next to a bad teacher."

— Sudeep Reddy
Dow Jones Newswires
2010-11-16
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101116-713390.html

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