Jesse Berney at the DNC blog had a great post yesterday about Education Secretary Rod “Teachers are Terrorists” Paige’s clumsy appearance at a high school in St. Louis.
In all likelihood, Paige probably thought these were just public school kids who would let him off easy with a few generic questions about school funding. Instead, the students expected substantive answers to questions that Paige couldn’t answer.
Craig Szczesiul, 18 and a senior at Metro, told Paige that St. Louis school officials were studying budget cuts of $23 million, including cuts in support for gifted, art, music and athletic programs.
“Everyone agrees there are problems, but we have no idea what to do. Can you help us with ideas about how to fix the problem?” Szczesiul said to thunderous applause.
Paige replied, “I think you stumped me with that question.”
The man is an embarrassment to himself. Paige is the nation’s highest-ranking education official and when some teenager asks for some leadership, he’s “stumped.” How this man keeps his job is a total mystery.
Paige went on to say that issues surrounding public education should be figured out by the residents each state. He noted the success of Atlanta in attracting the Summer Olympics in 1996 of after people of all races and economic and political backgrounds worked together.
After Paige concluded his answer, he said, “I didn’t get any applause.”
Of course not. As usual, he didn’t say anything worth applauding.