Duncan Read the Handwriting on the Wall

Arne Duncan has read the handwriting on the wall that says "You are weighed in the balance, and the Federal Department of Education is found wanting....."  (Bet you didn't know that 'epharsin' means "Fed D of Ed, right?"

So he begins the counter-attack.

Citing the need for “global competitiveness” and an “international benchmark” for assessing how American children are faring in core subjects like math and reading, the chief of staff to Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday that it was dishonest to allow each state to set standards.

Oh, really?  Jimmuh Carter's Massive Payoff to the NEA (a/k/a the Fed Department of Education) has been in existence during the time period when the US' "slide" in achievement has been most pronounced.  So yah, it's obviously worth retaining this Behemoth of Bureaucracy. /sarcasm.

Every State in the Union has its own Education department; some of them are worth having.  It is now, and always has been, the province of the several States to see to the education of their children.  The Feds haven't added a damn thing except considerable cost and "flavor-of-the-day" programs.

Dump it.