Dr. Bill Cosby for Kerry's U.S. Sec. of Education! Who's with me?

[iconoclastic cat]

That would be a dream. Who saw him w/ Rev. Jackson Sr. last night?


(on edit: I love causing trouble. Is that bad?)

[skooooo]

1. uhhh...I dunno about that.

Cosby is a little too...something, I dunno.

[Radical Activist]

2. Howard Zinn

would be better. :D

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. i 2nd Zinn!

[Blue Wally]

3. Difference

Between a spokesman and an administrator. While I agree with Cosby, you really need to go for administrative competence over ideology in cabinet selections. Note the Clinton had Republican Cohen as SecDef while FDR had Republicans in his cabinet.

[trumad]

4. Yes...but would Cosby have kids suspended because of their names?

[CharlesGroce]

6. after that rant a few days ago...

I'd say Cosby is a little out of touch, Republican, if you will, to handle being Sec. of Education.

I mean, he's tired of blacks blaming other people for their problems, they need to rise to the challenge and be successful on their own...

This guy doesn't seem to realize that the prison population has doubled in the last ten years, and the stats for blacks are insane, something like nearly 1/3 black men aged 18 to 35 in prison during 2002. Think about that. Sounds like an assault on blacks to me. And you're damn right someone is to blame: members of our government establishment and their prison industry contributors.

Did you know that the prison industry is a $40 Billion industry? I bet Bill didn't know that.

[wurzel]

11. That means 2/3rds didn't go to prison. Why?

Everything you have said is true. But what Cosby had to say is true too. Black men are not going to get out of their appalling situation by blaming the government or the prison industry even if everything you have said is 100% true. Their ONLY way out is through education. The very thing most of then affect to despise. Thus totally playing into the hands of the very people the hold most to blame.

[Loonman]

7. Cosby supports positive change

I would support him.

[wurzel]

8. I'd go with that. Crosby has the guts to tell it like it is.

The fact is a lot of civil rights workers spilled a lot of blood to get people the right to an education. And people who now have it are spitting on their dead bodies. The same is true of union organizers who got us health care, the forty hour week, overtime pay etc. It has all been so soon forgotten. At at an incredible cost to society in general as well as the amnesiacs.

[LuminousX]

9. Every person who has a message doesn't deserve a Gov't position

Let them be independent of the government, let them avoid politics and stick to the things they know best. Let them be advisors to the government.

[jeffrey_X]

10. Only if he does something proactive rather than call out the poor blacks..

from behind his podium.

[LWolf]

12. I have a short list for that spot.

Of course, as an educator who's struggled under the neocon public ed for a new american century, I have an ax to grind. But here's my list, in no particular order:

1. Dr. Gerald Bracey http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/bios/bracey.htm

2. Alfie Kohn
http://www.alfiekohn.org/managing/biography.htm

3. William Cala
http://www.educationrevolution.org/williamcala.html

4. Stephen Krashen
http://www.sdkrashen.com/main.php3

5. Gerald Coles
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/authors/1411.asp

6. Susan O'Hanion
http://www.susanohanian.org/

7. Richard Allington
http://www.coe.ufl.edu/school/bios/allington.htm

8. Monty Neill
http://www.fairtest.org/staff.html

I could add to it, but this is a good start.

[bread_and_roses]

13. Are you kidding?

After his comments recently? I would say he shows a lack of awareness of the social toll the total neglect of our inner cities, the insane drug war, the disparity in school funding for rich/poor communities, etc. has taken on poor people and particularly on communities of color.

Not only that, he shows a contempt for the energy, vibrancy, and creativity so many young people show even in the face of such obstacles because their names and music don't happen to meet his cultural preferences.

Blaming individuals before correcting the the conditions that imperil so many young people is reactionary. Talk about individual effort AFTER at least the kids in our inner city schools have books and desks and floors without holes in them.