The excellent Broader, Bolder Approach Coalition has a nice “gotcha” for David Brooks here. In the first piece he endorses pretty much exactly the approach that the broader bolder coalition has outlined; in the second he criticises the coalition and supports instead, the Education Equality Project (you know, the Al Sharpton one that John McCain supports) which was, as far as I can tell, set up specifically to oppose the broader bolder approach that he advances in his first article. Good stuff.
{ 4 comments }
tom s. 12.03.08 at 4:00 pm
There are two kinds of David Brooks…
Tom Hurka 12.03.08 at 4:38 pm
I don’t think the ‘gotcha’ is so decisive. The first Brooks article emphasizes the importance of family relationships, which conservatives often think are independent of economic conditions, i.e. poor parents can provide an emotionally supportive home. What the second article opposes is anti-poverty measures, which address economic conditions. Yes, the second article is more in favour of administrative reform in schools than the first would lead you to expect. But the alternatives to school reform considered in the two articles are quite different, family in the one case and economics in the other.
joe koss 12.03.08 at 6:24 pm
Thanks for the link to the Broader, Bolder Approach Harry. I just sent it to everyone in my ‘learning community’ or ‘cohort’ or whatever I am in, and labeled it required reading. Its funny that students end up disseminating important things between and amongst themselves, and for that matter, to their teachers, especially when these things are germane to the work educators ought to be engaged in and said students are in a prominent, highly regarded School of Ed at a more or less well thought of public institution of higher learning.
David 12.04.08 at 8:04 pm
At risk of obvious contradiction, I find it encouraging that a discussion of Brooks can only garner three comments. I would gladly churn out his pretentious drivel for a fraction of the fee.
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