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Phi Beta Cons

The Right take on higher education.


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Iowahawk on Krugman’s Test-Score Comparisons

Right on the money. Some minor profanity.

New on Phi Beta Cons. . .


COMMENTS   2

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   03/03/11 16:21

Iowahawk wipes the floor with "Mr." Krugman. Nobel prizes are clearly overrated.

I too had questioned relying on SAT and ACT scores as a measure of teacher quality. These scores do give us information on how well academically motivated, college-bound students perform, but they tell us nothing about those students who don't sit for the tests.

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George C. Leef
   03/04/11 09:58

Yes, Iowahawk tears Krugman apart. It's delectable. A few additional points.

Krugman isn't stupid. He's venal. He capitalizes on his supposed academic preeminence to make intellectually feeble or dishonest arguments to shore up the crumbling support for mega-state liberalism. Here, he readily assumes that the superior basic test scores of students in those states where we have union control is because of that union control. Now, Krugman would jump up and scream if someone tried to pull the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy against his leftist allies. But it suits him to try it himself in this dispute.

The fact is that education reformers regularly point to union opposition as the main obstacle to improving basic education. Ask Milwaukee's Howard Fuller about it. Some of the most dedicated and effective teachers you will find work in small private schools where there are no unions to protect the lazy and incompetent -- or demoralize the eager and competent.

But since the teacher unions funnel vast amounts of money into the campaigns of statist politicians, Krugman is against anything that could reduce their power.

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