[PDI] The "Duncan Doctrine" - or Will Public education be militarized (more than it already is?)

FYI:

You may be interested in the full scoop on Obama's choice for Secretary
of Education (maybe this is a good indication as to why we need to scale
back big government?):

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/tomdispatch/2009/01/wil-public-educatio-be-militarized.html

<SNIP> [Duncan] was described
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/us/politics/16educ.html> as /the/
compromise candidate between powerful teachers' unions and the advocates
of charter schools and merit pay. He was also regularly hailed
<http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=52587@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=28> as a
"reformer,"
<http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008532391_edit18educa.html>
fearless when it came to challenging the educational /status quo/ and
more than willing to shake up hidebound, moribund public school systems.

Yet a closer investigation of Duncan's record in Chicago casts doubt on
that label. As he packs up for Washington, Duncan leaves behind a Windy
City legacy that's hardly cause for optimism, emphasizing as it does a
business-minded, market-driven model for education. If he is a
"reformer," his style of management is distinctly top-down, corporate,
and privatizing. It views teachers as expendable, unions as unnecessary,
and students as customers.

Disturbing as well is the prominence of Duncan's belief in offering a
key role in public education to the military. Chicago's school system is
currently the most militarized
<http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/oct/15/news/chi-military_15oct15>
in the country, boasting five military academies, nearly three dozen
smaller Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs within existing
high schools, and numerous middle school Junior ROTC programs. More
troubling yet, the military academies he's started are nearly all
located in low-income, minority neighborhoods. This merging of military
training and education naturally raises concerns about whether such
academies will be not just education centers, but recruitment centers as
well.<END SNIP>

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