Tuesday
Dec162008
Obama declines to comment on Blagojevich, names Education Secretary
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 12:28PM
President-elect Barack Obama declined to address recent allegations that Rahm Emanuel, the pick for White House Chief of Staff, presented embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich with a list of ‘acceptable’ candidates to replace Obama in the Senate.
“We’ve done a full review of this. The facts are going to be released next week. It would be inappropriate for me to comment,” said Obama during a press conference at Chicago’s Dodge Renaissance Academy.
Obama was similarly tight lipped over whether he would support a special election and stated that while he does not believe the Governor will be able to serve effectively, he will leave the decision to the State Legislature.
The President-elect also filled one his final high profile cabinet positions, nominating the head of the Illinois school system, Arne Duncan, as Education Secretary.
Obama touched upon Duncan’s reform credentials, explaining that the nominee improved teacher quality and rewarded school officials for gains in student achievements.
“He’s shut down failing schools and replaced their entire staffs – even when it was unpopular,” said Obama.
The President-elect linked an improvement in education with long term economic benefits.
“We cannot continue on like this. It is morally unacceptable for our children – and economically untenable for America. We need a new vision for a 21st century education system – one where we aren’t just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation.”
“We’ve done a full review of this. The facts are going to be released next week. It would be inappropriate for me to comment,” said Obama during a press conference at Chicago’s Dodge Renaissance Academy.
Obama was similarly tight lipped over whether he would support a special election and stated that while he does not believe the Governor will be able to serve effectively, he will leave the decision to the State Legislature.
The President-elect also filled one his final high profile cabinet positions, nominating the head of the Illinois school system, Arne Duncan, as Education Secretary.
Obama touched upon Duncan’s reform credentials, explaining that the nominee improved teacher quality and rewarded school officials for gains in student achievements.
“He’s shut down failing schools and replaced their entire staffs – even when it was unpopular,” said Obama.
The President-elect linked an improvement in education with long term economic benefits.
“We cannot continue on like this. It is morally unacceptable for our children – and economically untenable for America. We need a new vision for a 21st century education system – one where we aren’t just supporting existing schools, but spurring innovation.”
Reader Comments (2)
Birth certificate.
I eagerly await hearing from our new Secretary of Education. But I am not optimistic that he will be any more insightful or effective than those who have preceded him. I fear that he, like other establishment education leaders, will fail to acknowledge the proverbial elephant in the room: the model of secondary school education that continues to persist in this country (and which increasingly is permeating down to the elementary level) is, as Bill Gates has correctly stated, "obsolete."
Before the change we really need in public education can emerge, we must acknowledge the huge, increasing disconnect that exists between this outdated secondary school model, to which even the best public and private schools cling, and the realities of today’s world. In short, the future of our children – and our nation – depends on the introduction of a genuinely new model of secondary education, designed in and fit for the 21st century.
By many measures much of the rest of the industrialized world has caught or passed by us in secondary education. The good news, however, is that those who are beating us in the education race are doing so with the same old model we use; they too haven’t moved into the 21st century. So, if we act now to take the initiative to create a new, 21st century secondary school model, then our high school graduates can once again become the best educated in the world. Thus, the leadership we need from President Obama and Secretary of Education Duncan must include moving us beyond our myopic focus on attempts (noble and otherwise) to fix that which clearly needs replacing.
Alan Shusterman, Founder
School for Tomorrow
www.schoolfortomorrow.net