I had the privilege of listening to an interview with Michelle Rhee earlier this year. It was fascinating. She was articulate and funny and it was obvious that she was highly intelligent and driven to succeed. So reading a book about her life and the difficulties she faced while trying to address the issues of the Washington School System seemed like an easy choice.
Unfortunately, Richard Whitmire’s book is more of a personal journal than an unbiased accounting of Rhee and the events of her experience in Washington. Whitmire seems more of an admiring fan than an objective journalist. The author often discusses his interactions with the principles, teachers and students of the school district without any effort of disguising his admiration for Rhee and her drastic actions. In fact, I was amazed at the number of times that he blamed failed attempts at change to the parents, teachers and administrators rather than Rhee’s unilateral decision making and rash, broad strokes and cuts.
It is true that Rhee took on a big problem and only a person with her kind of energy and drive could pull off the daunting task. But I would like an unbiased account of the actions taken by Rhee and her staff and the full ramifications of the changes that continue to shake the Washington school system to this day.
This is an interesting book but not one that I would suggest to a friend. You might just want to get the movie, “Waiting for Superman” for a more interesting telling of the tail.
And honestly, I never figured out how bees figure into the story.
