On the Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog, Anthony Cody, a longtime science teacher, offers some words of warning to Democrats:
Lastly, the November mid-term elections are fast approaching. Democratic party turnout is likely to be lackluster, and a huge reason is the administration's insistence on following a failed model of reform for our schools.
If Democrats do as poorly as projections indicate, they will need to do some soul-searching about this issue. Teachers and parents pushing for a change in education policy cannot be easily dismissed as ?the professional left.?
We offer, potentially, some of the most powerful grassroots support a political party could have?but that support will be largely absent this fall. Professional Democrats will have to decide if they can afford to continue to do without that support in 2012.
Politicians are getting wise to this, and are starting to speak their minds. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said about the Obama administration's signature education initiative, Race to the Top:
?You leave no child left behind. You race to the top. Next year, you race to the bottom. Next year, you race to the side. Everybody's racing to something. Why can't you send us money to build our schools . . . All the teachers know that these are just political slogans. We should end it.?
?Liam Julian, Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow