“…the Ivies don’t have a monopoly on wisdom. Or even necessarily know what it is.”

Posted by A Voice in the Wilderness

November 19, 2008

B enjamin Barber discusses possible candidates for Obama’s cabinet and cautions about making judgments based on their IVY League status:

Like Summers and Klein, a number of the wannabes are arrogant and unlistening. Known for what they know and where they went to school (like Harvard and Yale).

On Joel Klein, Barber adds:

Joel Klein’s career as chief education honcho for New York City has been marked by a similar disrespect for teachers and parents, and a techno-corporate approach to education that, while putatively wedded to equal opportunity, has been completely tone-deaf to the communities he supposedly serves. He knows a lot and knows it. But he lacks elementary judgment.

I like the ‘tone-deaf’ analogy.

Read more from Benjamin R Barber