A new video game for the Nintendo Wii gives new meaning to "college prep."

According to New York Sun reporter Elizabeth Green, Flypaper is among two-dozen education blogs being monitored by the city ed department's new "Truth Squad," composed of press secretary David Cantor, five of his deputies, and a deputy communications director, Melody Meyer. Ms. Meyer seems to have drawn the plum assignment; she's on the Flypaper beat.

I've already been set aright once by Mr. Cantor himself. Here's wishing Ms. Meyer a light workload in the future.

While we're on the topic, Checker had this to say of the New York City ed department's new Truth Squad (from the same New York Sun article):

"I'd rather see them use their money to fix NCLB or to give a kid a voucher," Mr. Finn said. "But I really do see this as a kind of natural evolution of a long-standing government activity."

I'd like to see that, too. On the other hand, I'd argue that the ed department's aggressive PR machine serves an important, under-appreciated role.

Readers of the Sunday New York Times find each week a rented column by union head Randi Weingarten, a space in which she typically appeals to the newspaper's wide, influential readership to oppose sensible reforms. The Times and the city's other dailies also run her (usually preposterous) comments any time Mayor Bloomberg or Schools Chancellor Joel Klein propose new ideas, a great many of which have real merit. And while Flypaper unequivocally has just cause when it elects on rare occasions to pillory a proposal out of the Big Apple, it's equally clear that many of the bloggers falling under the Truth Squad's watchful eye are guilty of employing the same warped logic that Weingarten wields on a regular basis.

Considering the proven power of unions and their supporters to wage effective media campaigns against important reforms in public education, it seems to me we should be asking not Why does the department of ed have such a big PR office?, but rather, Why has it taken this long for the department of ed to adequately staff its PR office?

Karl Priest comments on Liam's recent post:

If you thing evolution is "modern science" you need a healthy dose of reality?

With all due respect, if Mr. Priest thinks the above sentence is coherent as written, he needs a healthy dose of Strunk & White.

From the Los Angeles Times: "California mandates testing every eighth-grader in algebra--ready or not"

Re Coby's post: It's worth noting that if frat houses throughout the country substitute video game beer pong for the real kind, then it stands to reason that fewer drunken antics will ensue. And why all this beer bashing, anyhow? George Will writes today that beer has, in fact, saved civilization.

The article to which Coby links??leaves the important questions unanswered, though, such as, Does a player's accuracy decrease as the game wears on and??the number of his cups dwindles? Can one choose from a variety of virtual partners, each with his own characteristics and ratings in various categories (accuracy, alcohol tolerance, etc.)? There are??a lot of ways to get creative here, and I hope the game's designers took advantage of them.

Test scores are up.

Re my post about a national service academy, Jonah Goldberg makes some fine, related points in the Los Angeles Times by arguing against what he calls "national service mania." His piece has attracted some 360 comments, which shows that this subject resonates. National service is surely good and something worth encouraging, especially in schools. But it can be taken too far.

Update: Over at The New Republic blog (yes, they have a blog... and yes, TNR is still hanging around and publishing a magazine), Eve Fairbanks responds to Goldberg's article and totally misses the point.

That's how this Investor's Business Daily (IBD) article describes Senators Barack Obama and John McCain when it comes to education.

While both senators have tried to build an independent image on other issues, on education they are staunch partisans.

Well, not exactly. By all accounts, John McCain strongly supports No Child Left Behind--which isn't exactly a favorite of the GOP base. And Obama has gone out of his way to promote merit pay and charter schools, which are anathema to the teachers unions. It's true that McCain supports vouchers and Obama supports more spending--typical partisan positions--but for better or for worse, education politics are still too mixed-up and fluid to define along party lines.

Ah, the revered IBD. First it got it wrong on beer, and now this.

Mike writes??that merit pay and charter schools are "anathema to the teachers unions." They're not at all anathema to the Democratic Party, though.

Update: Checker wants examples. Off the top of my head: I remember George Miller, a very liberal, establishment Democrat, sparring publicly last year with NEA President Reg Weaver about merit pay. And the Center for American Progress, a think tank loaded with establishment Dems, is in favor of merit pay and charter schools. Bill Clinton, too,??liked charters, didn't he? There are lots more instances. Maybe the NEA doesn't speak for the Democratic Party anymore??(via Russo)? One might make the point (and I have) that??clashing with??the NEA is not synonymous with clashing with the Democratic Party, or with bipartisanship or post-partisanship or whatever we're calling it.

Update II: I appreciate Checker's post, but my defense of Dems comes in response to Mike, who believes that when a national Democrat goes against merit pay he is stepping out of line with his national party. This is simply untrue; it's entirely okay for national Dems to be in favor of merit pay and charter schools, just ask Andy Rotherham. So, I??balk when??a Democratic candidate??(or Mike) points to his support of merit pay and charter schools as evidence of "bucking the party" or of bipartisan- or postpartisan-ship. Cory Booker (a nationally known Dem)??has supported vouchers for Pete's sake!