Between the United States’ debt ceiling crisis and some Republican’s unwillingness to compromise, and a similar feeling on the part of a number of so-called “school reformers” (and a little of that from a few people I consider to be allies in the fight against their actions), I thought it might be useful to put together this kind of “The Best…” list.

Coming from a nineteen year community organizing career, the whole point of public life is to get to the negotiating table and strike a deal, so I’m always perplexed by ideologues who don’t seem to “get it.” It also seems to me to be an essential skill to master in order to become an effective teacher, as well (and not a bad way of operating to model for our students, either).

You might also be interested in The Best Posts Discussing Arrogance & School Reform.

Here are my choices for The Best Posts & Articles For Learning About Compromise:

I’ll start off with a few previous posts I’ve written on this subject:

The Art And Value Of Compromise

The importance of being unprincipled

The Art & Importance Of Compromise

Five Quotes That All Of Us (Including Self-Righteous School Reformers) Should Keep In Mind

Here are articles from other sources:

Obama Cites Lincoln As Model Of Principled Politician Who Compromised is from NPR.

Ben Franklin on compromise is from TIME Magazine.

What The Word ‘Compromise’ Really Means is from NPR.

NPR has a nice story on the head of the Humane Society and the head of the Egg Producers group reaching a compromise on national legislation. It would have been nice if the two sides also had to have broader interaction between their constituencies to reach the deal. That might have happened, but the story doesn’t say anything about it. Nevertheless, I’m adding it here.

Feedback is welcome.

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