William Marvel: Disingenuity 101

For decades, now, I’ve felt that our public schools warranted more community scrutiny than they are accorded. That belief originated in differing opinions about assorted educational issues, from pedagogical style and curricular emphasis to academic rigor and insidious forms of ideological indoctrination. Closer attention also seemed justified for economic reasons, because the more ineffective or inessential educational innovations often seemed to be the most expensive and inefficient, especially in required manpower. Only in the past decade or so did I begin to notice that my philosophical differences with local educational leaders were being aggravated by an element of mistrust.

During most of my tenure as the education reporter for this newspaper, Harry Benson served as the local superintendent. I found him extraordinarily straightforward on topics that might have caused him a lot of trouble had I taken advantage of it, but his candor relieved me from wondering what scandals were being covered up.