Obama’s Education Secretary: Chicago’s Loss Is Ours Too

On Tuesday, President-elect Obama selected Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan to be Education Secretary.  The zombies in the media genuflected in praise, becaues every decision Obama makes on anything is the correct one.  The teachers unions applauded.  Obama then praised Duncan as a “reformer”.  Red Flag!

When liberals talk about “reform”, it means one of several things: higher taxes, more government bureaucracy, more government intrusion, social engineering , corruption, or all of the above.  Pick your poison.

One of Duncan’s “reforms” for the Chicago Public Schools system was advocating the establishment of an exclusively gay public high-school: 

“We want to create great new options for communities that have been traditionally underserved,” he told the newspaper. “If you look at national studies, you see gay and lesbian students with high dropout rates … I think there is a niche there we need to fill.”

 Social engineering? Check.

But forget all of that.  Let’s talk about results:

Only 17% of 8th Graders in Schools Overseen by Obama Education Secretary-Designee Can Read at Grade Level

In 2007, only 17 percent of eighth graders tested at or above grade level in reading in Chicago Public Schools – the school system administered by Arne Duncan since 2001.

President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday tapped Duncan to become secretary of education in the upcoming administration.

Duncan, hailed by Obama as a reformer, said he would like to take the lessons he learned in Chicago with him when he moves to Washington. “I’m also eager to apply some of the lessons we have learned here in Chicago to help school districts all across our country,” Duncan said after Obama formally named him to the job in Chicago.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report for 2007, Chicago public schools have consistently performed below the national average during Duncan’s tenure.

What are the odds that the mainstream media points out that Obama’s choice for Education Secretary supports segregating gays and has presided over one of the worst education systems in the country? Not very likely. 

So Obama is sharing with the nation his vision of where the American public schools systems should be headed.  But of course, what’s good enough for us, is not nearly good enough for him and his family.  Last I checked, the Sidwell Friends School doesn’t employ union-member teachers. 

And yet, it exposes so much about Obama’s tangled web of seedy Chicago-style politics.  E.M. Zanotti fills us in on the connection; read her post here.  Bill Ayers even makes a cameo (he’s an education “reformer”).  So unfortunately, the Chicago-izing of America’s public schools system begins now.