by David Safier
I'm pleased to say that Matthew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute found my first column about some of his assertions (Fool's Gold: Cut teachers, improve schools) provocative enough he was moved to answer me in the Comments section beneath the post. Then I commented on his comment. Then he commented on my comment-on-his-comment. And I just posted my most recent reply.
It's an revealing discussion for any of you interested in contrasting educational philosophies. I'm at a sizable disadvantage in the matchup, of course. Ladner has a PhD., is vice president for research at the Goldwater Institute and has published numerous papers and briefs on education. I'm a poor-but-honest retired high school English teacher with over 30 years of experience in the classroom and a number of education classes under my belt. I lack his vast research and publishing experience, not to mention the political savvy he's developed over the years pushing the Institute's conservative agenda.
But I feel I have one advantage that may even things out. I don't try to spin the facts to my advantage. Conservatives are experts at cherry picking data and pretending to care about people they actually don't give a damn about if it furthers their argument. The reason is, they know if their true agenda is exposed, few people will agree with them. They have created a vast, nationwide think tank industry, of which G.I. is a prime example, whose primary task is to figure out ways to frame their message to make it sound more palatable than what they truly believe. All I have to do is point out the spin and stick close to the facts.
Note: I inadvertently misspelled Mr. Ladner's name when I first wrote this, then I went back and did what I always do when I make corrections -- I crossed out the mistake and wrote in the change afterward. I have removed the misspelling. I apologize for the error.
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