Muddle Mouth

You've really got to hand it to Mitt Romney. He seems to say it all when it comes to educational reform. Listening to him on Education Nation, it's a study of equivocation. He's for standards--not the common ones mind you, since that would be government intrusion. (Forget the fact that the Common Core State Standards are a state initiative, and they represent probably our more rigorous standards to date.) He's for parents, certainly. But he wants them home with their children, and off the government dole. At the same time, he wants government to mandate parent training, particularly for those low-income parents who don't seem to do it well enough according to his high standards. Hard to do without government intrusion. He likes the Obama administration's emphasis on teacher evaluation systems, and the expansion of charter schools. But then again, he thinks every state should act for itself. Ah, he loves the Harlem Children's Zone, but not the federal program that is helping to create them. And early childhood is a plus, but he wouldn't know any federal initiatives that he'd like to steer money to.

At least on one thing, he is totally clear. He hates unions. Could it get any worse?