I made a trip down to Little Rock with Jay Greene today, and for lunch we met up with Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times and Warwick Sabin of the Oxford American. As you would expect, this meeting of the minds lead to some pretty spirited discussion of education and politics in Arkansas. I found the conversation quite enjoyable, and it appears both Jay and Max did as well.

The four of us found much common ground over some excellent burgers at the Copper Grill. We seemed to agree that there are some glaring inequities in education opportunity, and that schools need more flexibility to recruit and retain the best and brightest teachers (rockstar teachers as Jay puts it). We also agreed that high standards are a must and that rewarding students for their achievement shows promise.

I hope that this initial conversation leads to some more lively discussions in the future. Next time you guys are up in Fayetteville, drinks are on me.