Friday, September 24, 2010

What Do Oprah, NJ Governor Chris Christie, and Facebook All Have In Common?

Earlier this week Oprah did a show on Waiting For Superman, and again today her show had a definite educational angle:

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker will make a surprise appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show Friday to announce an unprecedented restructuring of Newark's school system and the gift of $100 million from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, two officials with direct knowledge of the plan told The Star-Ledger tonight.

Christie and Booker will proclaim that the long-troubled Newark schools, which have been under state control for 15 years, are going to be placed under Booker’s authority. Together, Booker and the school system will embark on a massive program of educational change long opposed by teachers unions.


Here's to hoping that the children of Newark now have a chance at a better education than they otherwise might have had.

4 comments:

  1. scott mccall5:51 PM

    this is definitely an experiment. it's going to show whether more funding can really have a bigger impact than the family environment at home. i hope it does.

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  2. This is the school system that spends upwards of 24K per year per student on education. Just how much money is enough? And isn't their graduation rate something like 50%? Is the failure because of lack of money? I don't think so.

    Why couldn't Newark just shut down the schools and pay for all of the kids to go to private school - wouldn't it be cheaper?

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  3. Then what would happen to all those union jobs?

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  4. I would say what they could do with the union jobs...but I'm too much of a lady! :0)

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