Duncan dumbed down Chicago, now blames George W. Bush for it

[tonysam]

This is about the CNN interview Arne did with co-conspirator Bill "the Greek" Bennett:

One of the things that Chicago reporters who paid attention came to know within a year or two after Mayor Richard M. Daley made novice Arne Duncan the "Chief Executive Officer" of Chicago's public schools in July 2001 was that Duncan lied, almost all the time. When Duncan wasn't lying directly, we would simply make up facts or say "I'll get back to you on that" when asked a question he wanted to avoid when the TV cameras were on. No matter what the question, Duncan never got back, because he didn't have an answer. During the years Duncan was 'CEO' of Chicago's massive (400,000 students; 600 or more schools), the lies just grew, from budget claims to test score gains. It got to the point where when people would ask me about the latest outrageous claim, I'd just say "The best way to tell when Arne Duncan is lying is when his mouth opens and words come out."

Duncan was a novice at running a school system, but a master at repeating the lies he was fed as part of his programming. He was eventually warned never to go off script, because when he did (as the country recently learned with his remarks about Hurricane Katrina being good for New Orleans) anything was possible. The only prominent Chicagoan who would be more ludicrous off script was the man who created Arne Duncan, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

...

On March 9, 2010, as U.S. Secretary of Education and Bennett's successor (at a distance) Arne Duncan appeared on CNN and told the nation that it was time to "stop lying" about test scores.


Like Bennett before him, Duncan left out most of the facts. And the most important facts left out by Duncan — and ignored by CNN — was that Duncan had been the main liar on behalf of those test scores that had gone "up" all but one of the years when Duncan headed Chicago's school system.

Substance News

Duncan and Bennett, the latter the culprit who pushed the fraudulent "A Nation at Risk" report in 1983: two peas from the same rotten pod.

[FBaggins]

1. Pot calling the kettle "black"

Between Duncan/Obama and Bush... there's more than enough blame to go around.

[Catshrink]

2. Arne Dunkshot.

He got his job byplaying basketball with the President.

[alp227]

3. Well, he's right that Bush started the destruction public ed

but he's wrong to say "it wasn't me"!

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Interesting comment:

By: kugler
Duncan is Guilty

he can not live anymore with the fact that he destroys thousands of lives and contributed to the murders of chicago children....now he tells CNN the whole Chicago scam he spent eight years perfecting was 'lying to children'

Arne Duncan, United States Secretary of Education and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, was interviewed on Face the Nation September 6, 2009

Duncan: Obama Aims to Motivate Students

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/06/ftn/main5291048.shtml

CQ Transcript: Education Secretary Duncan on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’

Finally, Duncan got around to a central theme coming out of the Education Department now — "lying to children." What are the lies? Claims for success in Chicago when there was little or none? Charter schools that were never held accountable while Duncan was head of Chicago's schools? Using so-called 'standardized' tests to measure everything from children and their teachers to whole schools (but not charter schools)? No. According to Arne Duncan the "lies" America has to worry about are test scores that lull children into thinking they are proficient when Arne Duncan insists they are not.