Obama chooses education secretary

[Gutenberg]

It's Arne Duncan, head of Chicago public schools. I wonder if he's ever had coffee with Bill Ayers?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/...2831.story

[MacGurl]

Secret meetings, in a dark basement, on the east side.....

[swampy]

From Wikipedia

"Duncan was raised in Hyde Park, Chicago, where his father Starkey Duncan was a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, and mother Susan Morton runs The Sue Duncan Children's Center for African American youth on Chicago's South Side. Duncan spent a great deal of his free time at his mother's center tutoring children and sharpening his basketball skills with the neighborhood children. Some of his childhood friends were John W. Rogers, Jr., CEO of Ariel Capital Management (now Ariel Investments) and founder of the Ariel Academy, Illinois Senator Kwame Raoul, actor Michael Clarke Duncan, singer R. Kelly and martial artist Michelle Gordon.

Duncan attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. He then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in sociology in 1987. His senior thesis, for which he took a year's leave to do research in Kenwood, in inner-city Chicago, was entitled The values, aspirations and opportunities of the urban underclass. Though unpublished, it was later cited by other authors. [2] [3] [4]

At Harvard, Duncan was co-captain of the basketball team and named a first team Academic All-American. [5] As a freshman, Duncan narrowly lost to a Duke team that included Tommy Amaker, who was himself later to become Harvard's basketball coach.[6]

Let's see... He lives in Obama's Neighborhood (Hyde Park). Another Harvard graduate. Plays basketball. Got a funny first name. But in all fairness he's known to oppose the educational philosopies of Bill Ayers.

http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/12/...ayers.html

"Bill Ayers and co. lost a big battle today with the announcement that Arne Duncan will be Obama's Education Secretary. Duncan is one of the "Big 4," as Ayers calls the four reform oriented school superintendents Arne Duncan, Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein and Paul Vallas. And Ayers has been part of a nationwide effort among certain self-styled "progressive" and "social justice" oriented education activists and educators to lobby against the Big 4. Ayers was, of course, plugging for race theorist, anti-union small schools advocate and education school figure Linda Darling-Hammond."

[Black Landlord]

Extremely well regarded here in Chicago. Too good to last, apparently.
Kind of a bummer that he's leaving.

[dmann]

Ditto BL. He has done some excellent work and I hope most of his team stays on to continue the effort.

DM

[lafinfil]

By chance I heard an interview with Michelle Rhee this morning on Diane Rehm's show,
and when she was asked about the appointment Rhee had praise for the choice.

Good interview with Rhee too - audio available http://wamu.org/programs/dr/

[rgG]

Looks like he was born in Chicago, but I wonder if he has published a copy of his birth certificate. He might actually be one of those damned Canadians trying to sneak into this country and take one of our good paying government jobs. What kind of name is Arne anyway, sounds Canadian to me.

[mikeylikesit]

What kind of name is Arne anyway, sounds Canadian to me. wrote:

Norwegian by way of Toronto?

[OWC Jamie]

during WWII many sat in rowboats off the coast of Dartmouth/ Halifax waiting to be picked up by Maine and points further south fishermen.