An ed-tech trade publication has taken an unusual step in endorsing Democrat Barack Obama for president.
It’s an interesting move for T.H.E. Journal, a small monthly that relies on corporate advertisers for practically all of its revenue.
“It’s not something we did lightly; it was something considered deeply among our editorial staff,” Geoffrey H. Fletcher, the editor of the journal, told me in a recent interview. T.H.E. Journal is a competitor with Education Week’s Digital Directions.
He said the endorsement is based on the differences between Obama and Republican John McCain on the journal’s core mission: to increase the use of technology to address the needs of K-12 education.
In his article endorsing Obama, Fletcher outlines that candidate’s multifaceted plan and McCain’s plan, which is centered on giving families more school-choice options, including several online-learning initiatives.
Fletcher, who between 1985 and 1996 served as the Texas official most responsible for K-12 education technology in that state, dubbed Obama “President Ed Tech” because "[i]n the face of Obama’s forward-looking education strategies, McCain’s approach is too narrow to bring the breadth of change that the educational environment needs.”
You can read my article comparing Obama and McCain on ed tech. But you won’t find a presidential endorsement in Education Week, Digital Directions, or, for that matter, this blog, due to longstanding policy here to report on the issues and let readers decide for themselves.
