(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
I have been contacted about the Report Card on American Education that I coauthored for the American Legislative Exchange Council by people who have drawn a mistaken impression from a quote from Winston Churchill included in the book. We are dedicated to not taking ourselves very seriously on this blog, but I do want to be serious about this. The people who have made contact with me are sincere, so I wish to be very clear about this issue.
I graduated from public schools and universities, and thus I am indebted to public education. As the son of a former public school educator, I appreciate the self-less dedication and invaluable talent of our nation’s educators. As a board member of a public school and a father of children who are in public schools, I am completely invested in the success of today’s students and schools. To use a poker term, I’m all in.
The Winston Churchill “End of the Beginning” quote was solely intended to communicate that America is at a turning point in the continued struggle to equip all students with the knowledge and skills necessary to reach their potential. I sincerely regret any interpretation linking our nation’s educators to those who carried out many of the horrific events of Churchill’s era. I did not make such a link and moreover I did not intend for anyone to draw such an inference.
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