Now don't get me wrong. I'm not totally agreeing with her, but in this article about Tony Bennett and "education reform", Miss Twitchy makes points that resonate.
First things first--is she defending him? HELL NO. And this is one of those instances where the batshit crazy Tea People and progressives meet coming from both sides of an issue. Witness her lead paragraph:
The resignation of Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett couldn’t have come at a better time. His disgraceful grade-fixing scandal is the perfect symbol of all that’s wrong with the federal education schemes peddled by Bennett and his mentor, former GOP governor Jeb Bush: phony academic standards, crony contracts, and big-government and big-business collusion masquerading as “reform.”
More below the Chee-to:
Now, I wouldn't trust Tea People as far as I can throw their scooters, but when it comes to education, they make many valid points that track well with progressive thinking. Especially when it comes to the "reform" movement.
I'm not going to post a lot of what she says, and JUST THIS ONCE I'm going to ask you to go to the National Review and read her piece for yourselves. It's worth it. Both for the things we as progressives agree with, and for the things we disagree with.
As you will read, Malkin echoes those sentiments in her article by railing against what she sees as a "big government takeover" of education. She doesn't get to the meat of the "reform" debate, or why they're doing it, it's just "big government cronyism".
But instead of condemning his actions, the tone-deaf, ethics-blind Jeb Bush heaped praise on Bennett for his “leadership” after his resignation. Bush’s nonprofit vehicle, the Foundation for Excellence in Education, chimed in as well, calling Bennett a “bold champion for students” and “a good man and a good friend.”
These good ol’ boys bonded over their zeal for the top-down racket known as Common Core. As I’ve reported previously, this Fed Ed program is supported by both big-business interests (Microsoft founder Bill Gates and News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch’s education arm) and government educrats.
Note: Isn't it ironic that the acronym for Jeb's little "reform" organization is FEE?
Now, she does touch on the moneymaking scheme that is Common Core and the fact that it exists solely to make money for, as she puts it, a "plethora of data-mining firms [that] stand to gain millions from student information gathered under the Common Core assessments umbrella".
Whatever that means.
In the end, she advocates for more parental control of schools--PTA and local school boards.
And that, of course is where our paths diverge. While it is important for local boards to have control, what she advocates for are things like parent triggers, and for total control--including curriculum.
But I will leave you with this nugget: There are MANY things that we fundamentally disagree on, we Liberals and the Tea People. But, occasionally there are things we will have in common. There's where we start.