The New Yorker Magazine is one of my favorites, and I have been a faithful subscriber for at least twenty years, and probably longer.

I could not believe what I saw when I opened the latest issue — an advertising supplement from The University of Phoenix reporting on a recent New Yorker panel on “American Education In The 21st Century.” The “highlights” in the magazine were absolutely awful, and I certainly couldn’t bring my self to go to see the video of the panel online.

Of course, the panel did not have any teachers on it, or anyone who even works anywhere near a school.

Here are some of the quotes:

“We need good teachers, high expectations, and an effective feedback loop to measure success. By and large, we fail at all three,” said a retired CEO of Intel. Note to Mr. Barrett — how about if we don’t critique you on how to make a microchip, which most of us don’t know anything about, and you don’t tell us how to teach, which you obviously don’t know anything about?

“…there’s no relationship between money and student achievement,” said the Vice-President for Education Policy from the Center For American Progress. Ms. Brown, I’d encourage you to read The Best Sites For Learning That Money Does Matter For Schools. In looking at her biography, it does not appear like she has ever taught a student. That, of course, is obvious by her comment.

” We also have to think about the business community as the primary investor and innovator in education, K-12 and post-secondary. University of Phoenix and other institutions are the people who are reinventing the model,” said former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Can I suggest she read The Best Posts & Articles Explaining Why Schools Should Not Be Run Like Businesses. Of course, it would have been nice if The New Yorker had mentioned that she’s a paid lobbyist for these for-profit colleges.

Oh, New Yorker Magazine, how could you?