Newmark's Door

Pamela--related to Professor Peter Gordon, I presume?--argues that "perhaps the worst cronyism involves the public schools". 

She's got that right.

Jonathan Chait, Liberal--very Liberal--explains why this is a really bad idea. The title pretty much says it, but here's the lead paragraph:

Bernie Sanders today is announcing the foundation of his K-12 education plan, which is to crack down on public charter schools. If enacted, the Sanders plan would snuff out one of the most successful social policy innovations in decades, and close off a lifeline of opportunity for hundreds of thousands of poor urban children.

I've thought for a while that we could, for most students, cut a year out of high school and also cut a year of college. So I like the idea of this a lot.

A reason why there's been so much reform but so little change.

By Megan McArdle, very nicely done:

But the biggest question I have is simply: Why spend federal money on this? College graduates are the best-off people in the country, in almost every way. There are probably better candidates for new spending -- about two-thirds of the population, in fact.

More sad craziness from what we're pleased to call "higher education".

Just sad.

See also "Busting the charter school myth".

I'll enthusiastically second this.

Vocational education is the better option for a substantial portion of students who will never earn bachelor’s degrees. It’s time to rethink our priorities.

By Jeffrey Flier, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, and Higginson Professor of Medicine and Neurobiology.

That constituency should not have to fight this political battle alone. Those of us who believe in the merit principle, and who have seen firsthand how these schools can improve the lives of the students who attend them, should raise their voice in defence of the current system.

That would include me.

Related: "The real issue on elite high school admissions".

Well, not everything, but it's a start.