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8/25/10

Rachel, You Missed An Opportunity

Rachel Maddow, who I really like, took on Governer Christie's lameness with New Jersey's RTTT application in which they included wrong numbers that ended up costing them $400 million, and a loss of RTTT money.

Yeah, it was a lame, costly mistake.

But ask yourself, Rachel, why the hell should states be competing for crucial education funds?  And, is it really that fucking funny, when you think about it?

Rachel, you could have begun to talk about the education wars that are going on all around you, and affect every citizen of this country, especially the most impoverished members, many of whom live in New Jersey.

You could have chosen to comment on the fact that our Education Secretary has never taught.  Not one day.

You could have remarked that it seems odd that billionaires are funding charter schools and CMOs that have shown they are no better than traditional public schools, and are often corrupt and run by non-educators.

You could have mentioned that to get RTTT funds states had to change their laws to allow for more charters, which have been shown to be useless as a way to scale up some magical education reform.

You could have talked about poverty and how it kills hope, health, and happiness (remember your happiness scale?).

But no.  You chose to make fun of the Governor.  You missed the story.

You missed an opportunity.