after his racially charged remarks on abortion and crime sparked a firestorm of criticism. Bennett abruptly resigned last week from the education company K12 Inc. Bennett goes before the Senate this week to be confirmed as the first “drug czar,” school officials and drug education experts will be among those listening most carefully to his testimony. 13, 1988)Īnti-Drug Efforts Need Resources, Those in the Trenches Advise ‘Czar’ Bennett said in a recent speech before the National School Boards Association.

Bennett has provided a preview of his forthcoming “status report’’ on American schools five years after the release of “A Nation at Risk.” His update of that landmark critique will conclude that the nation’s education system “is getting a little bit better, but it is nowhere near where it should be,’' Mr.

16, 1987)īennett: Public Schools Haven’t Earned an ‘A’ Bennett and Mary Hatwood Futrell, president of the National Education Association, has escalated in the past year. The Washington stop was the second of eight on his tour of the nation’s classrooms to highlight successful school reform efforts and honor the teaching profession. Bennett was in Washington on the first day of classes last Tuesday to teach a group of 27 advanced-placement history students about one of his favorite topics, the Federalist Papers. 16, 1985)īennett’s History Lesson Earns Passing Grade Berns, an investigator for the House subcommittee that examined allegations of discriminatory hiring practices at the National Endowment of the Humanities under Mr. “He’s like Reagan: he can be very charming but he doesn’t change his mind on anything,” says Kathleen M. Bennett say he has opinions about nearly everything and he takes strong stands on the positions he believes in. Bennett to be the next secretary of education and ordered him, following his expected confirmation by the Senate, to conduct a study to determine whether the Education Department should be abolished or reorganized.

He also pushed for increased school choice and often battled with teachers’ unions.īennett Named to Education Post Is Told To Study Reorganization

Bennett advocated higher academic standards, improved teacher evaluation, and what he deemed model curricula.

Although Bennett entered the office of secretary of education believing that the department should be diminished and his role demoted from a Cabinet-level position, he became a strong advocate for school reform and a vocal Cabinet member.

Fun Fact: He wrote a children’s book, The Children’s Book of Virtues, which was turned into a show for children on PBS.

Secretary by Mary Kathleen Benet