To win in Afghanistan we must get rid of bad soldiers

"Teacher quality" is high on the agenda these days as the key to fixing what ails us in education.  I would submit we need to look at who's running the system.   The blather that comes out of Arne Duncan is so typical of the bloated, pompous promises  that every high-ranking educrat must master if he wishes to advance his career.  For example:

We expect the states that win Race to the Top will lead the way and blaze the path for the future of school reform for years and even decades to come. They will make education reform America's mission.

It's embarrassing to work in a public institution where the highest-ranking person is such a bonehead.   If this is an example of the finest critical thinking skills our nation's top educator has to offer, we are certainly doomed.  Anybody with a shred of common sense can list many reasons why the Race to the Trough may end up a flop.  And for anybody with the least familiarity with all the education policy fads that come and gone over the past 30 years, the handwriting is clearly on the wall.

But put that aside, something interesting here is Duncan's idea of "reform."  When you reform something, you take it and transform it into something else.  Usually, before you get started, you have some idea of where you are heading.  But Duncan has no goal in mind behind perpetual reform, for "decades to come," stretching as far as the eye can see.  "Education reform," not simply good education for all children, should be America's mission.  A ceaseless process of change has become the goal.