They Hate Me, They Really Really Hate Me!

Kevin Carey, of the "independent" and "innovative" Education Sector, didn't have the decency to defame me by name when he attacked the cover story, School Wars, I wrote for the current issue of Good Magazine.

It's ironic to be accused of "policy juvenalia" in a blog oh so cleverly entitled "Bad Magazine."

In a time when smart people of good faith occupy both sides of many heated and complex education debates, it makes sense occasionally to pause, take a deep breath, and denounce things like the incoherent mishmash of policy juvenalia, useless sentiment, and blatant lies found in this article, published by GOOD Magazine, in which we are told that NCLB "requires all of the nation’s schoolchildren to be above the mean on standardized tests," Bill Gates and Eli Broad are spearheading the corporate conspiracy to privatize K-12 education, and standardized tests come with instructions about what to do if students throw up on them. It's sort of a perfect distillation of woolly-minded HuffPost-type conventional education wisdom, and in that sense is oddly valuable, because you can read it and know everything that a not-inconsequential percentage of people know (or rather, don't know) about education.

It's not "useless sentiment" to care about children.

Ever since President Bush told me to "use the Google," I have found it to be an indispensable tool for learning all sorts of interesting things. One thing I learned when I clicked on the "Who We Are" link on the Education Sector web site was that the "independent" and "innovative" Education Sector is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as Eli Broad.

It is awfully refreshing to see such "independent" and "innovative" analysts strenuously defending their sugar daddies. It's kind of sweet.

For the record, my article was carefully fact-checked by Good Magazine. In fact, a good deal of my juiciest stuff about Eli Broad was left on the cutting-room floor. Stay tuned, keep reading and don't forget to follow the money!

Note: You may read the Quick and the Ed attack on my article here.

My First Cover Story of a Magazine Sold at Newsstands!

I'm really honored that the article I wrote, School Wars, is the cover story for the September/October issue of Good Magazine.

While they edited out a good number of my jokes and a bunch of stuff about Eli Broad, I am thrilled to have been asked to write such a large and unconventional article for a lifestyle magazine. After ten years of writing for trade magazines and the web, I think this makes me an actual journalist! (My dues is paid up too)

While you can certainly read the article online here, I suggest you find a copy of Good at a local newsstand, bookstore or Whole Foods so you can see the provocative art they used to enhance my article. Plus, you can have me autograph the issue the next time you see me :-)

It's also not such a bad idea to buy the issue in order to send the message that you wish to read thoughtful pieces about education in the mainstream media. It takes a pretty gutsy magazine to pay me to question the motives of Bill Gates and Eli Broad.

Alternate Opinion: Corporate Involvement in Schools

District Administration Magazine has a feature in its April 2008 issue about corporate involvement in schools. Inside the feature is an interview with Billionaire education philanthropist, Eli Broad. I ask some questions about turning public schools into the plaything of rich folks.

Read Public Schools? Be wary of a gift that might squash the benefits of public education.

Bill Gates and Eli Broad Go Gangsta

Bill Gates and Eli Broad can’t revolutionize public education alone. They need a posse. Realizing that they needed to appeal to more than billionaires and ex-Governors Ed in ’08 teamed up with another education policy expert, rapper Kanye West.

Read Bill Gates and Eli Broad Go Gangsta