Obama's New Secretary of Education is Arne Duncan

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[Staff Sgt. Max Fightmaster]

See the title. Just appeared on TV.

[pleikumud]

I too have never heard of the guy.

The federal Department of Education should be abolished. All schools should be private. Parents can make this happen by sending their kids to private schools, leaving the K-12 public schools without customers. As a result, they would have to close, and state and local taxes would be cut in half.

[pleikumud]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_duncan

A little background on Duncan.

[Dick Bachert]

Government schools then and now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0lR1KQq2-U

[Red Steel]

Arne Duncan
Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Public Schools
Email: aduncan@cps.k12.il.us

Arne Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987, majoring in sociology. He was co-captain of Harvard’s basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American. From 1987-1991, Mr. Duncan played professional basketball in Australia, where he also worked with children who were wards of the state.

Duncan returned to Chicago in 1992 to direct the Ariel Education Initiative, which seeks to create outstanding educational opportunities for inner-city children on the City’s South Side.  In 1998, he joined the Chicago Public Schools.

In June, 2001, Mayor Richard M. Daley named Duncan Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools. 

Duncan currently serves on the Boards of the Ariel Education Initiative, Chicago Cares, The Children’s Center, the Golden Apple Foundation, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Jobs for America’s Graduates, Junior Achievement, the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Foundation, Renaissance Schools Fund, Scholarship Chicago and the South Side YMCA.

He also serves on the Board of Overseers for Harvard College and the Visiting Committees for Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration.  He was a fellow in the Leadership Greater Chicago’s class of 1995, and a member of the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship Program, Class of 2002.  He has received honorary degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Lake Forest College and National Louis University.

In 2006, the City Club of Chicago named Duncan Citizen of the Year.

[sportutegrl]

SUPERINTENTANT

Public school Grad?

[penelopesire]

He only has a BS and a bunch of ‘honorary’ degrees? Pretty slim resume to be the Secreatry of Education.

[CedarDave]

Just thank God it wasn't Bill Ayers.

Being from Chicago, he's probably a Bill Ayers protege.

[HollyB]

Does anyone know of a connection between Ayers and Duncan in the Chicago Public School system?

[BohDaThone]

While I have no specific knowledge on Duncan, I do know that Chicago has actually taken the schools away from the union-dominated school board, and installed professional management at many levels. I have no idea how well it has worked, but the unions fought it tooth and toenail, so it may not be all bad.

O was certainly going to appint SOMEONE, and not abolish the dept't,so let's at least see if this guy is better or worse than others might be. Kind of like Michele Rhee in DC, they seem to be trying something useful, more charters, etc. Not what I would do , of course, but probably better than a pure NEA hack.

[oldironsides]

The new education boss evidently does not know his basic english. My spouse noted his error in his acceptance speech.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Duncan

[penelopesire]

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

[Bernard Marx]

Does anyone know of a connection between Ayers and Duncan in the Chicago Public School system?

The same question occurred to me when I watched the announcement. I spent a little time on Google and what I found is very unsettling. The links to Ayers, while not explicit, can easily be inferred.

In addition to his role in Chicago schools, Duncan runs the so-called Ariel Education Initiative, funded by Ariel Capital LLC (the outfit that generated huge amounts of money for the Obama campaign). His sister Sarah, also on the Ariel Education board, is coordinator of the Community Schools Program for the University of Chicago -- where Bill Ayers is happily employed at public expense).

Ariel Capital LLC is like a gigantic octopus with tentacles reaching into every part of Chicago machine politics with direct Daley/Blagojevich connections.

It seems to me that this appointment takes Chicago machine politics national. Here are some links that those who are smarter than me and who have more free time might wish to explore:

Ariel's Connections

Duncan

Ariel Education Initiative

Ariel & Education

Obama Funds

There's much, much more, and all of it very disturbing. Google the names of all the Ariel Capital board members. Following the muckety.com links is very "educuational."

[444Flyer]

LOL. That was a bad one.
(Obama’s falt fer tikin me ouff!!!)

[BohDaThone]

Ayers is at "university of Illinois -- Chicago campus" (part of the State University system).

It is not the University of Chicago. (Private school, ex home of Milton Friedman, Ed Levi, Leo Strauss and others)

[codder too]

Chicago has been the beating heart of the Deliberate Dumbing Down of Americas children. See Charlotte Iserbyts book by the same name. It is on line.

Years ago they "proved" that they oould do this beginning with the method of teaching reading. Those who created the program declared it a failure when test scores bottomed out within only a few, a very few, years after being introduced. Those of us who were watching knew that the opposite was true. It had proved a HUGE SUCCESS. The now knew that they could create illiterate children and control the masses. Nasty stuff. Whole language and Sight and Say has now produced at least 2+ generations of functionally illiterate Americans. ADD and ADHD and a nation of drugged kids, mostly boys, has been the result.

Add to that New math and Social Studies and Group think plus myriad other changes that guaranteed to Leave NO Child Behind and you can understand why this latest Secretary of Education will hasten the end of this Nation that once put a man on the Moon.

[Bernard Marx]

I “knew” that but the distinction slipped my mind. Thanks for the clarification. Still I can’t escape the notion that Ayers and crew will have tremendous influence on Obama’s Chicago education brain trust.

[browniexyz]

Hillary and Marian Wright Edelman conceived this at the Children’s Defense Fund in the 1970s—gives children legal rights to divorce their parents, among other things..

[Fu-fu2]

Bump-—From what I’ve heard, he is very pro-teacher’s union, promoted things like the “gay” homosexual high school and paying students for grades.