Zero Insight

Christina Hoff Summers, via RCP on the latest whitewash of underperformance among boys by Sara Mead of the Gates Foundation, in the Washington Post. (Also John Leo) (Some previous posts here and here.) Note this:

One looks in vain in Ms. Mead's report for any indication that anyone is undermining girls. She seems to think that concern for boys means shortchanging girls. But it does not--because education is not a zero sum game.

Why must liberals always view issues as a win-lose, zero-sum game? Whether it be economics or education, everything takes a back seat to partisan politics. Many liberals like to think of themselves as intellectuals, when they are just intellectually lazy hacks.

UPDATE: Tribune editorial (on different numbers on the high school dropout rate and significance.):

Why all the different numbers? It depends on who gets counted and how they're counted. Federal officials ask public schools to report only how many students are in 9th grade and how many diplomas, including GEDs, are handed out each year. The Manhattan Institute says that's misleading because students who fail to graduate on time, even if they go on to earn a GED, do not do nearly as well in the job market as students who finish high school on time. High school dropouts are far more likely to end up in poverty than are high school graduates.