Monday, March 17, 2008

Declaration of intent

Good social science happens when three things get together:

  • good questions

  • good methods

  • good data

  • You can learn about good methods and data in grad school, but you have to find good questions for yourself. This blog is about opening a dialogue to find good questions -- especially about American education policy.

    My goal is to get in touch with people and talk through important policy questions, starting from a variety of ideas, experiences, and perspectives. That includes friends, students, teachers, principals, parents, politicians, policymakers, and anyone who's ever been to a school and wondered why education is what it is.

    I expect this conversation to be a quest for places where reasonable people can reasonably disagree about the right way to do things in society. Conversely, it will be a conversation about finding the common ground that people share regardless of the policies they favor. Hopefully, this map of consensus and honestly held disagreement will lay out a route toward better discussion, better research, and eventually better policy.

    Looking forward to your replies
    - Abe

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