At the moment I’m undoing years of neglect of my computer and other tools for communication. This post is being tapped out on my new android phone because the computer is being cleaned up. I much prefer doing this on a keyboard.
I got two interesting calls today. the first was from Loren Martell. It was a message clarifying what I had told him over the phone a week ago. He wanted to make sure he quoted me right for his next column.
I told him I was sure he was correct and to quote away. The last thing I told him might be misconstrued so I’ll explain myself here.
I told Loren that paying teachers more for working in our more challenging schools would be like “hazard pay.” I can think of lots of justifications for doing this but on a practical level can’t support it.
My Second call was from City Pages out of the Twin Cities. They wanted my take on Senator Wiger’s bill.
They expected me to say it was none of his beeswax but I commended him. I also expressed skepticism that such a law would remedy the problem of “social promotion.” After all, we apparently already have that policy which Wiger’s law addresses but still kids are being promoted without the requisite skills.
I said much more but I really hate typing on my phone.
