Missing the Big Picture

In comments below, a reader trots out a main pillar of the Sol Stern Ayers-does-too-matter argument: "Ayers serves a prestigious role in THE association for education professionals." By which Mr. / Mrs. Anyonymous means: Bill Ayers was recently elected "Vice President of Curriculum Studies" for the American Education Research Association. 

Let's be sure to clear this up in the short time we have left before everyone suddenly stops caring: AERA is THE association for education researchers. Thus, the "R." It's large and conducts an annual meeting every year in which lots of research is presented, some of it good, some not.  I've been several times and always learned something. But while they pick a different annual "theme" (2008: "Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility," 2007: "The World of Educational Quality," etc.) the real big theme every year is actually "How Can We Get Policymakers and Pratictioners to Pay More Attention to Our Research?"

The truth of the matter is that the VP of Curriculum Studies at AERA has about as much influence over your average public school classrom as the VP of Whatever for the American Political Science Association has over your average Congressional committee hearing. I'm not saying that's good or bad (probably both, depending on the circumstances), but that's the way it is.