Potomac Confidential

Washington's Hour of Talk Power

Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher, who looks at the latest news with a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.

Today's Column: The Folly Of Measuring Character By Race

From Catholic Schools to Charters: What's Left? ( Raw Fisher, April 2)

Fisher was online Thursday, April 10, at Noon ET to look at the good and bad of getting to and from Nationals Park, why the Catholic Church can no longer afford to run inner-city parochial schools and more of what people in the metro area are talking about.

Check out Marc's blog, Raw Fisher.

In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.

Archives: Discussion Transcripts

A transcript follows.

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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks.

When does race matter? What should schools do to teach morality? Do racial and ethnic groups vary in how well children make moral and ethical judgments? Fairfax County's school system stepped into a mess by taking on these questions and choosing to report data by race and ethnicity. What do you make of the school system's decisions and where should they go from here?

The jail in Prince William County is overflowing as police continue to take illegal immigrants into custody on various charges--and the county's financial situation plummets, thanks to the foreclosures crisis, but also exacerbated by the expense of the crackdown on illegal immigrants. Is this what the county's residents wanted?

Guns in the boys' restroom at Einstein High in Kensington, mice at the brand new Gaylord resort hotel in Prince George's County, another scary delay on the part of D.C. emergency responders--so much to cover today. And what do you make of the weak crowds this week at Nationals Park--is it just the chilly weather or do the Lerners have a whole lot more work to do to sell the game of baseball to a market that grew up without the sport?

Virus, mice--what's next at National Harbor? (Though the D.C. tourism industry is chortling about the whole mess; there's no love lost between the District's hospitality industry and the big new upstart in Prince George's.)

On to your many comments and questions, but first, let's call the Yay and Nay of the Day:

Yay to Metro for having the spunk to put their bobblehead Pope promotional video up on YouTube. Metro ought not to have backed down when church officials complained that the bobblehead Pope was improperly attired. This is not a question of sacrilege--after all, the archdiocese itself is out there selling pope souvenirs. Metro's new advertising approach, last seen in its video starring peeps as passengers in a promotion about getting to Nats Park, is a breath of fresh air and at least implies a new, more customer friendly attitude.

Nay to D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty for his mounting love affair with security cameras. Shades of the Soviet East Bloc's fascination with surveillance: The mayor's latest announcement that the District will begin centrally monitoring all of its 5,000-plus security cameras, whether they are on street corners, in schools, or in public housing, is simply ignorant of history. The money and manpower it would take to watch and sift through all the images collected by those cameras is just overwhelming; those officers would be far better heading out to the streets, where they are a far more effective deterrent to crime than any camera up on a lamppost could ever be. The fall of the Berlin Wall came about in good part because the communist governments were buried under the weight of their own domestic intelligence apparatus. Is that really the model we want to adopt?

Your turn starts right now....

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Washington, D.C.: Mr. Fisher:

Your piece today on Fairfax County's reporting on behavior by race was poorly reasoned. You agree that "it's important to break out test scores by race" in order to "push underachieving students." But you disagree with the same kind of reporting about behavior because "discerning right from wrong" is "not something that you can reduce to a number." Why not? You don't come anywhere close to proving this. In fact, right and wrong are well-understood and are embodied in our laws. Indeed, right and wrong are much LESS subjective than slippery notions like IQ and cognitive ability. I think you've gotten it exactly backwards about what can and what can't be "reduced to a number."

Marc Fisher: Please read it again--I do not agree that it's important to report test scores by race. That's the view of School Board member Tina Howe, which I reported in the column but do not agree with.

I'm all for testing and accountability; I don't see how you can effectively run a school or school system without them. But this is a matter of emphasis and priorities, and I think it's fair to say after more than six years of No Child Left Behind that the pendulum has swung so heavily toward testing as the cornerstone of public education that we have lost sight of the far more important goal of instilling in kids a passion for learning.

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Vienna, Va.: Marc, I'm 33, white, good job, good but sheltered life, thought race relations were improving without any sort of actual involvement on my part. No kids so I don't take that great an interest in the school system, other than that I know it's supposed to be pretty good. And now this appalling "moral conduct" report, coming on top of the mean-spirited efforts to curtail hard workers who do necessary jobs and simply want to be able to provide for their families has just blown me out of the water! What on earth can they possibly have been thinking? And how and where can I get involved to end this nonsense once and for all, or is that even possible?

Man, what an eye-opener! But if it opens enough eyes such as mine, maybe at least a little good may have come of it.

Marc Fisher: Fairfax and any other school system, for that matter, benefit enormously from having taxpayers--even those without kids--watching what they do and how they do it. So the more active you become in your local schools, the better it will be for the governance of those schools. But to your question about how and why they did this--I see it as the natural result of an education system that has moved headlong into a belief that the schooling of children is a task that can be packaged and quantified like any factory process. What's most demeaning and destructive about the No Child Left Behind regimen is that it forces teachers to do what they know is wrong; it requires them to put aside lessons that engage and inspire to make room for more drill on stuff that is crammed into kids for the sole purpose of boosting a test score.

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Franconia, Va.: Just last night, I re-viewed Senator Obama's thoughtful speech on race from last month in Philadelphia. I don't think this Fairfax report, prepared obliviously on auto-pilot by people who have apparently not given a minute of thought to the complex subject of race relations and community differences, was what he meant by reopening a dialogue on race. How can I possibly look at it as a white person and find common ground and a way to bring the community together, when its whole impact is to try to tear us apart? About the only common ground I can see is a shared feeling that the Fairfax report writers were idiots, and that is not a very positive point of commonality.

During my growing-up years there were endless court cases about the disproportionate number of minority kids who got into trouble in school and the disproportionate punishments they received. This is an old issue that responsible people have tried to address over decades, but that apparently sailed over the heads of the educators in Fairfax County.

washingtonpost.com: The Folly Of Measuring Character By Race

Marc Fisher: I'm hearing from some readers who argue that these numbers should be reported as is, to show that some ethnic groups end up getting in trouble more than others. Well, ok, we know that. But while that's an important social question--what do those facts mean? What's the correlation between social misbehavior and economic status? What role does discrimination play?

Those are all legitimate questions, but when it comes to the teacher-student relationship, I think they're pretty well irrelevant. If you're a teacher in a classroom and you have some kids who don't know how to do the right thing and who are cruel to their peers, you have to deal with those kids individually, and knowing or thinking something about propensities in whatever demographic group they might be part of really doesn't do you any good. The more we let schools and other institutions define us by some group that we may happen to belong to, the less ability we all have to see and treat each other as individuals.

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Baltimore, Md.: You ask why break this data down by race. Well, what happens when comparative data comes out showing that Fairfax students are more "moral" than, say, D.C. students? Before, people would probably say: we need to see what Fairfax teachers are doing right and D.C. teachers are doing wrong. But what these data suggest is that much of the difference is going to be driven by demographics. Now, armed with this knowledge, we can avoid fruitless "morals education" reform fads.

Marc Fisher: I'm all for avoiding fruitless morality education fads. And that's another reason to be highly skeptical of the Fairfax initiative. As Hone says, we already know how to impart values, and if the schools see a need to do that, the great works of literature, philosophy, history and art are available for teachers to use to confront kids with the essential questions in life. But too often these kinds of studies and initiatives lead to an avalanche of faddish nonsense based on phony studies that try to prove that kids are who they are because of the pigmentation of their skin or the nation in which their ancestors grew up. Moral character is universal and the lessons used to cement it should be too.

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Rockville, Md.: I would not be so quick to attempt to dismiss assessing character by race -- we seem to have no problem assessing academic results by race, so why not character, assuming an objective way can be found to do so?

Marc Fisher: And what might that objective way be? The tools Fairfax is using to measure ethical and moral judgment are ridiculously broad in scope--percentages of suspensions, proportion of kids in a particular group whose attendance is lousy, that sort of thing.

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Fairfax, Va.: With regards to the Fairfax Study I am not surprised by the results. I think behavior issues correlate with socioeconomic factors and since certain racial groups are over represented in lower classes that is why there is the disparity. Ideally the parents would be passing on these skills but it makes sense for the school to step in. Otherwise society as a whole will be paying a higher cost when the students become adults.

Marc Fisher: Schools are constantly being asked to step in to fill the gap left by inattentive or destructive parents, and while that's not the core mission of a school, the classroom is really the main tool society has to address problems that can easily expand to hurt us all as troubled kids grow up to become anti-social adults. But schools have struggled with this assignment for decades without much success. Some small scale programs that really let kids assume entirely new lives have shown considerable success, but they are small by nature and expensive, too. In your average school, there are numerous efforts to instill good values in kids, and not the greatest track record to show for such efforts.

If you know of race-specific methods that have worked, let's hear it, because I've never seen any such thing, and failing that, I just don't see the efficacy of turning this into a question of ethnicity.

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Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C.: Marc -

On your blog you wrote: "The bottom line is clear, says Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl: The Catholic Church can no longer afford to run a full complement of inner-city parochial schools serving a population that is, by an overwhelming majority, non-Catholic."

Did the Archbishop explicitly connect the scaling back of the school system to the fact that most students are not Catholics?

Marc Fisher: Yes, but only as a secondary factor. He made it quite clear that this is primarily a resource issue. The archdiocese simply can no longer afford to maintain all of its schools. So the next step is to look at where Catholics are making the most use of parochial schools and that turned out to be in the suburbs, where much of the Catholic population has migrated.

The church has maintained its inner-city schools for a great many years even though the vast majority of students are not Catholic. Defenders of those schools argue that a good number of those students become Catholics later in life, and the archbishop readily concedes that that's an important mission and one the church is loathe to back away from. But he says they have no choice but to do this. Obviously, supporters of those schools vehemently disagree.

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Catholic Schools: I am Catholic and attended Catholic schools.

Years ago, nuns, priests, brothers, or monks may have taught school and they received a small allowance for personal items. My parents and others were volunteers and not the 20 hours a year variety either. Volunteers raised money through school dinners, painted the interior of the school, served lunch, etc. Most of the students were parishioners at the Catholic Church. I remember we had a parent bring a llama and a lion cub to school. As I recall, a Catholic school was built to provide religious education and schooling to its school-age members of that particular Catholic Church.

Today, many Catholics live in the suburbs, the religious orders of nuns, etc., can no longer provide teachers with low pay; both parents work so volunteers are minimal, these factors make running a school very expensive. IF the purpose of a Catholic parish school is to religiously educate the parish's children and the parish's children no longer attend should the Catholic school exist if it is economically unfeasible? If a Catholic school filled with Catholic students is not economically feasible should it still exist?

Marc Fisher: The role of religious orders in Catholic schools is severely diminished compared to half a century ago, so if you're asking just what it is that makes a Catholic school Catholic, you have to go to questions of curriculum, program and the leadership of the school. But it's also a matter of who goes to the school, and that's where many in the church see an important difference between the city schools and the suburban ones.

The bottom line question is, is the purpose of a Catholic school to provide a Catholic style of education, or is to educate Catholics? We may hear more on this from the pope next week, as he is expected to speak on education, mainly focusing on colleges, but the message may have some resonance for primary education as well.

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Arlington, Va.: Marc,

I was reading your transcripts from several weeks ago where you indicated that you did not see the news value in covering annual marches, and used the Right to Life march as an example, because their numbers are static and they are not changing the opinion of this country or doing anything out of the ordinary as opposed to new protests and events. I thought it was the job of the Post -- the dominant local paper here in the D.C. metro area -- to report the facts? If 5,000 or 50,000 or 500,000 people march for whatever cause, the Post should report on it. Your "news value" judgment will only encourage violence and lawless behavior as groups compete to meet your "newsworthy" standards. Go back and watch Dragnet -- your readers want "just the facts!"

Marc Fisher: Well, sort of. Yes, if 500,000 people converge on the capital city, we ought to cover that, pretty much no matter what the topic or result. But if we're talking about something of more moderate size, editors have to make choices. There are only so many reporters, and ever fewer of those as the newspaper industry's uncertain future unfolds. My argument is that it very much matters what the protestors are saying, how new or distinctive their message might be, what context it is delivered in, how it is received, and what else is happening. Those are editorial decisions, yes, and they involve judgment calls. "Just the facts" sounds easy, but any form of media involves making choices and they ought to be made with good reasons.

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Laurel, Md.: Marc, as a certified liberal, I do remember my disappointment when research findings were rejected for not conforming to various political interests -- such as the report showing RU-486 didn't encourage teenage sexual experimentation.

So, (assuming the Fairfax report is competent and scientifically valid) what is gained by pretending not to know the results?

A lot of conservatives think the press has a certain viewpoint about race relations, and withhold racial information if it won't encourage the "right" viewpoints. Is race somehow an exception to wanting an informed populace?

Marc Fisher: I'm all for putting out info and letting chips fall where they may. But there's a difference between good info and lousy, flimsy info, and in this case, take a look for yourself at the Fairfax report and see what you think of the sources the county school system used to measure moral character. Do you really believe that a survey of high school kids' attitudes and a review of attendance records should be key elements in a determination of moral and ethical judgment? If so, then you should go ahead and support the compilation of these stats.

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Half Street, Natworld: Marc,

The biggest surprise to me regarding the Nats' attendance has been the empty seats behind home plate. At $350 a pop wouldn't you think that you'd find someone to go to the games if you can't use the tickets? How about agreeing to raffle them off to a different high school each game so that an honor roll student and his family could go to game in style? If everyone in that section agreed to such a system, the seats would be filled and what a great incentive for students and their families.

Marc Fisher: This strikes me as a big marketing mistake by the Nats, but an easily corrected one. You're absolutely right, the super-high roller seats right behind home plate--we're talking $325 per seat--have been largely empty. That means that the main picture viewers at home see on TV is one of empty seats. Surely it's got to be a struggle to sell those seats, but wouldn't it be in the Nats' best interests to fill them anyway, to invite more lowly fans to go sit there, at least in the second half of the game so as to present a more interesting and enticing picture? Yes, that's image massaging, but it benefits everyone, no?

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The new stadium. . .: is quite a place. I was there opening night and stayed to the end (booed Bush also). I heard about the problems of food, so my wife and I pre-gamed. It is way to early to make judgments based upon attendance the last couple of games b/c April is a slow month in baseball and the weather has not been great. Of course the team starting to look like chocking dogs does not help. I always wondered whether the team was counting on the stadium carrying them this year and not being serious about the quality of the team overall.

Marc Fisher: Well, the team is rebuilding, and the hitting is well ahead of the pitching, so we may be in for a rough ride. But wouldn't you think that curiosity about the new stadium would fill the place for the first few weeks at least? It's really not that cold out. Certainly all the publicity about the possible difficulty of getting to the park may be suppressing turnout, but the fact that it has so far proven to be relatively easy to get in and out of the stadium area ought to counter that.

Let's see what happens this weekend. If they don't come close to selling out weekend day games, that's not the greatest sign.

This from reader Miles Grant:

Last year, the Nationals played their third home game against Florida on a Wednesday night. Attendance at RFK - 18,835.

Last night, the Nationals played their third home game against Florida on a Wednesday night. Attendance at The House That Zim Built - 23,340.

Not exactly a huge boost from the $600 million stadium.

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Nats vs. Caps: Marc,

Outside of the club seats in the OF, and the seats behind home plate being a horrible value, people will show up if the team starts to show promise. Look at how the view of the Caps has changed among the major sports media. The Verizon Center used to be looked at as a joke filled by opposing fans, now ESPN is saying it will be the hardest place to play.

Marc Fisher: Yes, success breeds fans, no doubt. But that may be a couple of years away, and perhaps even more.

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Nationals Stadium: Went out to my first game last night, and won't comment on the team's performance. But I did want to mention a couple of observations. First, I like the stadium a lot. I like it's open feel and the some of the little features that seem a little old-school baseball to me. Also, music is MUCH better this year.

But...what's the deal with setting off fireworks for a HR when the score is 7-2, NOT in our favor? That is lame. Please tell them to save the fireworks. Second, where is the player's stats from his previous at-bats in the game? I couldn't find it, and that is a must-have. Finally, the lower level is very poorly represented. I seriously hope Kasten comes up with a plan to fill those seats with other people than just the non-showing wealthy/upper-class.

Marc Fisher: The music has a long way to go in my view. They've dramatically increased the amount of country, which is a woeful misreading of this market. Take a look at radio ratings and music sales and you can see that this is anything but a country market.

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Section 416: I saw a helmet sundae at Nats Park last night. But, it was for the Atlanta Braves! I was so excited to see the helmet sundae -- but for the wrong team?

Marc Fisher: Hmmm, that's odd. I know the helmet sundaes are there, but it's been too chilly to seek them out. That's a mission for my next trip to the park.

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Nats economics: If the $350 seats are hard to sell, wouldn't standard economic theory say to lower the price? Just a suggestion from someone who hasn't take an economics class in 25 years.

Marc Fisher: So you'd think. Or at least reduce the number of seats priced at that level.

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Crystal City, Va.: Going to the 1st day game Saturday; what's the food option with the best value and service? Missing 30 minutes of baseball for a good sandwich and beer is not an option

Marc Fisher: Go early if you want to avoid the queues. The best food has the longest lines, but look at the menu boards--you'll see that some of the most-wanted items are available not only at the stands that feature those foods, but at other spots as well. Also check out the stands behind the first base/right field seats; lines there are much shorter than out in left field.

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Washington, D.C.: Marc,

I'm a practicing but not extreme Roman Catholic (I'm pro-choice) and I was put off by the Pope video, not because of his clothes, but mostly the singing in Latin in a chant like at Mass. That was pretty eh to me. The rest of it was funny and made the point, I just thought the chanting in Latin was in poor taste, though definitely not on purpose.

Marc Fisher: Making fun of religion is always a tough way to go, so maybe Metro had it coming to them. I just like the fact that they tried.

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Bobbleheads: As a general "Use Metro" ad, I agree the Metro video was kind of clever. However, according to the Post article, the diocese didn't ask to have the video pulled--it merely pointed out the error in attire.

However, this video was targeted at DEVOUT CATHOLICS to get them to take Metro to the Pope's mass. Using a bobblehead to depict the man your target audience reveres as God's special representative on earth is probably not going to inspire the good feelings Metro wants them to have. As such, it was a pretty bad piece of marketing.

Marc Fisher: Yes, good clarification about the church's role, thanks.

I don't think the intended audience was limited to devout Catholics, but rather was all Metro riders. The idea was not merely to direct those who would use Metro to get to the Mass, but to let all potential riders know that Metro is trying to be on top of big events. To that extent, it was a nice stab at sending an untraditional message.

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Baltimore, Md.: Re contemporary Catholic education: I come at this from an unusual perspective, because my older brother and sister went to parochial in the 1940s and 50s, even though our family was not Catholic. (We lived near the school and my Midwestern grandmother had a great respect for nuns.) Anyway, you can bet that, back then, it was a Catholic education with a capital C. My sister once told me that one of the nuns at her school was well known for telling students that she was a "bride of Christ" and she would even bring in an old, tattered wedding dress and display it to her kids to prove that she was a "bride." Not much of that going on today, I don't think.

Marc Fisher: I wouldn't think so. But those who support a rigorously traditional concept of Catholic education may well get a boost from the pope next week, as some believe he will take a stand against the secularization of Catholic education, and especially of Catholic colleges, in his remarks at Catholic University.

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washingtonpost.com: Pope Bobblehead Video

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Charlottesville, Va.: Marc,

The archdiocese wants me at Nats Park no later than 8:30 a.m. next Thursday. I'm assuming security will be as tight for him as it was for the Nats' opener. What time should I really get there in order to get through security and to my seat before everything starts?

Marc Fisher: If the security is similar to that provided for the president, and I would expect it will be, you should allot a good two hours for getting through. Also, be aware that the theoretical main entrance to the stadium is around the back, where almost no one goes. Keep that in mind as an alternative to the backup at the centerfield gate, the one closest to Metro.

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Arlington, Va.: If you build a ballpark and nobody goes, does it really exist?

Marc Fisher: Well, nobody is a bit extreme. The place has been about half full, which seems awfully low to me, but it's hardly nobody. It's definitely up from RFK, but it should be up a lot more.

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Adams Morgan: Stop complaining about Nats attendance and GO! We have been several times, getting there has been a breeze (Metro has done a fantastic job, honestly), the seats are all great, and the stadium is just wonderful. It has a real carnival feel to it, and I mean that in a good way. Lots of community feeling and children. Just nice stuff. No lines for food last night. People, there are $10 tickets available and they are wonderful seats! No joke. Get there early and wander around a bit and just enjoy the evening. No, I am not affiliated in any way with the team or anything connected to it, just someone who is tired of whiners and thinks everyone should 1. Stop complaining so much and just relax (in general, not just about this) and 2. Go to the game and be thankful we have this wonderful game in a great facility. Life is really pretty good for most of us when you think about it, folks.

Marc Fisher: Nicely said, thanks.

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Go early if you want to avoid the queues: This is what is wrong with D.C.'s attitude towards these things. In my hometown of NYC, there are lines that form for food/beer whatever but at Yankee Stadium it moves FAST. At a game you should NEVER be waiting more than 10 minutes for food. I waited 35 on Monday night... would never happen in the Bronx (and I was at Sunday's Yankee game, heck of a lot more fans there than at Nats and much faster lines)

Marc Fisher: It's clearly a management and supervision problem. There does not appear to be a shortage of workers, but there is a shortage of workers doing their jobs with any alacrity.

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When I'm famous: I hope someone makes a bobblehead of me and uses it in a commercial! Then I'll know my plan to become a cultural icon and household name worked.

Marc Fisher: And here we don't even know your name. Tragic.

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Empty Nats Seats: I used to work at a (live) theater. When attendance was really low, just before show time, the ushers -- on the go-ahead from management -- would bring everyone from the top tier down to a lower tier or even the main level. Win-win situation: performers didn't see huge swaths of empty seats and those who'd paid less got an upgrade. Rarely did the folks who paid a higher price grumble.

Marc Fisher: Exactly. No harm done, everybody wins.

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Washington, D.C.: I can't buy the argument that the area around the Nats stadium is going to be bustling like Chinatown. Chinatown has an arena that can host an event every day of the year. With the Nats Stadium, 82 is the minimum.

BTW, when will we hear about who's going to get the naming rights for the stadium?

Marc Fisher: As soon as some bigs cough up the mega millions to buy the name. Which means, no one has as yet.

I was hoping for Post Park, of course, but I'm not holding my breath. Who are the natural suspects? Geico? Marriott? There aren't a whole lot of locally based companies left that have the wherewithal to make that kind of investment. Of course it doesn't have to be a local company (witness FedEx and Verizon.)

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Alexandria, Va.: I have a first grader at a Fairfax County elementary school. There are 3 boys who act up in his class consistently. One's white, one's Asian American, and one's African American. The teacher does all she can (with the help of a parent volunteer) to keep these boys in line. It's hard when she's got 19 kids in the class. I can't argue that lack of "moral behavior" is more likely in one racial demo than another. But gang behavior is more likely among certain groups. Perhaps the school board is trying to tie this report in w/the gang issue?

Marc Fisher: Good point, but there's nothing in the report that even hints of that. And that just further proves how flimsy this thing was--there's no effort to connect the findings to any other evidence or programmatic efforts.

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RE: Is race somehow an exception to wanting an informed populace? : But why do we NEED all this data? We can data ourselves to death and still not get anything practical done. Are people starving because we don't have enough data? Are individual kids failing in school because we don't have enough data? Do teens start using drugs because we don't have enough statistics? I am not advocating giving up on data, but c'mon. It's overkill already. I feel like we spend all our energy and time on reports and data, and end up getting nothing useful done.

Marc Fisher: Data is easy. You figure out a plan, collect the numbers and the computer spits out analysis. It keeps the central office workers employed and it makes the politicians look like they are doing something. And private industry loves it because they can create whole new classes of consultants out of each such initiative. But mainly, it's just a whole lot easier than teaching a child one on one.

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Falls Church, Va.: Ben's Chili Bowl Stadium

Marc Fisher: The way the line at their stand is going, they'll be able to do it soon enough.

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Laurel, Md.: Actually, I think empty $350 seats ringing home plate is the perfect symbol of modern baseball. Haven't most of the stadiums since 1990 reduced that capacity? (I know Camden reduced Memorial by about 10,000 fans.)

There's more money in luxury boxes than in letting fans see games.

Marc Fisher: I like your cynicism, but the facts don't really back you up. Baseball is the only pro sport with $5 and $10 seats, thousands of them at every game. And overall attendance in the sport is higher than ever.

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So, Marc: You taking the buyout and leaving the Post?

Marc Fisher: I love what I do. A couple hundred of us have a decision to make in the coming weeks and it's a hard one. More than that, it's just terribly sad to see the work that we have devoted our lives to slipping away as technological change and economic transition force a redefining of the industry.

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Ballston, Va.: So another D.C. media site quotes you as saying you're weighing the Post's buyout offer. Even though today's column was one of your worst, you're generally well worthy reading. I hope you stay. The paper would be worse for your departure, and heaven knows the blog section of washingtonpost.com would take a serious hit without "Raw Fisher."

Marc Fisher: Thanks very much to you and all of the others who've written in along these lines. This hour we put on together, as well as the comment boards on the blog and the column, have become an important part of my work and my journalism and that will certainly weigh heavily as I make this decision.

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Sponsor for the Nats Park: Bill Clinton Field! He's got the dough and why should he keep wasting it on his wife's campaign?

Marc Fisher: And you think he'd give it to someone else because...?

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Nationals:: Here's the real question: Are we now supposed to assume that Teddy Roosevelt will NEVER win?

Marc Fisher: I am increasingly convinced that that is indeed the case. Never.

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Fairfax County, Va.: Dear Marc,

I'm a little peeved that Ken Cuccinelli forced a recount last election time and now he's decided to move on to a "better" job. Can we bill him for the cost of the recount?

Marc Fisher: Sure, send him a bill and copy me on his reply. Please.

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Damascus, Md.: The connection with assessing character by race and assessing academic results by race (or more accurately, culture) is that there is very likely to be a link between the two. For example, while individuals in all groups run the full spectrum regarding the level of effort put into schoolwork, it is likely true that the more effort an individual (and collectively, a cultural group) puts into doing homework and studying for tests, the better the results that will be achieved.

There seems to be a huge mystery for many as to why different racial/cultural groups perform differently in school, while getting the same level of instruction. The answer may well be that this is correlated with the collective levels of conduct, effort, and tardiness by students in each group. Admittedly, this can be difficult to accurately measure, but it should not be dismissed out-of-hand.

Marc Fisher: Let's assume you're right and there is a strong correlation between behavior and performance in school--certainly that makes a lot of sense just off the cuff. If you're misbehaving, you're likely not doing a whole lot of studying (unless you're really bored because you're smarter than the teacher cares to notice.)

Ok, now what? What is it about being lumped into a racial or ethnic category that gives the teacher or school some special knowledge or strategy that can help get you on the right track? Seems to me that that piece of information only detracts from the ability of the school to find a way to connect to you. It's a distraction, a smokescreen, a lie: There is no special way of teaching or relating that connects to white or Latino or black kids in particular. No, the way to grab a kid's attention and get them engaged is individually crafted, and a focus on demographic factors only diminishes the chances of that individual connection being made.

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Friendship Heights, Washington, D.C.: How about a nay of the day for the small oppose-everything crowd in Tenleytown that used back channels to get the library site removed from the proposed Public Private Partnership at Janney elementary thus precluding any efficient use of land and resources at this site?

Oh, and we cannot forget the D.C. government where multiple agencies have handled this entire process with expected but unnecessary secrecy but with surprising levels of stupidity and incompetence.

Now we are on course for a two-story library with surface parking across the street from a Metro station at an intersection badly in need of a dramatic facelift.

Oh, and the modernization of the school still has not been moved up but I doubt the NIMBY's are too concerned about that as most of them don't have school-age children.

Marc Fisher: Just today, a senior D.C. official bemoaned the state of that development to me, saying that "Every time I look at downtown Silver Spring or Ballston, I see the terrible power that we have given to a handful of NIMBYs who have taken control of Tenleytown and other development opportunities at our Metro stations. It's a terrible shame."

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Washington, D.C.: Regarding the Fairfax school data, I think you are promoting a false dichotomy. Of course teachers must treat individual students as individuals. But county-wide information looks at group data in order to spot trends. You don't like the grouping, and the trends trouble you. Fine. But don't act as though treating individuals as individuals is inherently incompatible with the collection and analysis of group data.

Marc Fisher: Sorry, nice try, but no: The trends don't bother me by themselves. They are just numbers and if they were based on decent research, I'd accept them and think about them. But you'll notice that not a single person has come up with even the suggestion of a way in which that information could help teachers improve the moral or ethical judgment of kids--and shouldn't that be the key point here?

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Alexandria, a.: Marc, can you put on your radio man hat for a moment. Do you know what has become of some of the WGMS on-air staff that did not make the move to WETA?

Marc Fisher: Morning man Dennis Owens retired to Florida, but can still occasionally be heard doing voiceovers on ads in this market. His successor, James Bartel, is now at KUSC in California, doing a fine job there. Not sure about the others.

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Twinbrook, Md.: Marc,

I'm the one who wrote you about the geese at the Twinbrook Metro parking lot. Well, they've returned! There's one nasty little bugger who honked at all the cars as they passed him this morning. So I honked back, and I swear he acknowledged me with a shake of the head. He didn't charge at my car like the last time.

Marc Fisher: You're civilizing him. Nice work! Why don't you offer him to Metro as the star of their next ads?

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The Pope: Hi Marc,

Think about it...if an important figure in Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Hinduism or any other -ism, came to D.C., would Metro dare to create an ad such as the one depicting the Pope? Never.

Marc Fisher: I would hope they would. Billy Graham bobblehead? Might run into some trouble on the Muslim front, however. As our Danish friends would testify, there appears to be some sensitivity on that front.

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Reston, Va.: When I was a kid going to school in this area (long, long ago), you were graded on "citizenship." This really meant something like --talking in class, making fun of the teacher, getting into fights, not answering questions, or any other reason that the teacher didn't like you. Do you think that "morality" is just another word for "citizenship"?

Marc Fisher: Well, but wouldn't that require schools to go back to teaching civics and patriotic songs and the like? I'd like that.

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Buyout: Is The Post trying to thin the ranks or replace you with lower paid newbies? Is this a major step in newsroom's thinning? What are the broader economic and cultural implications beyond your own expereince?

Marc Fisher: As more and more readers consume Post journalism online, the circulation of the print paper is declining, though less than at most other papers. The good news is that more people read our work than ever before; the bad news is that the revenue model doesn't work as well as it once did. Result: cutbacks. So no, there's no move to bring in younger, lower-paid workers. Rather, there've been a series of buyouts aimed at reducing the head count in the newsroom.

The broader implications are very serious. We are living through the dismantling of much of the nation's news-gathering apparatus, and while the blogosphere is an exciting and growing place, that is a very different kind of work--a world of partisan argument and reporting that doesn't come close to having the reporting resources of large news organizations. Will society choose to forge ahead without those large news gathering institutions? And what impact will that have when some midsized U.S. cities find themselves with no daily paper and no reporters covering the school boards, city councils and state governments? We may find out quite soon.

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Arlington, Va. -- Why you cant lower the expensive seat price: It's economics. The seats are seen as "cool" and "great" in part because of the price. This is Economics 101 you learn in business school. Land Rover would sell a lot more cars if they cost $30,000 instead of $80,000. But studies have shown they wouldn't have the cache they do again because of their price point.

Marc Fisher: Ok, but if those cars just sit on the lot for month after month, they too come down in price--or the automaker makes fewer of them. Which may be in order here.

Or a smart car dealer puts some of the cars out on the road, just to spread the word about how cool the cars are. That would argue for moving fans down into those seats. The seats are far more enticing if they're full than if they're empty.

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Annapolis, Md.: This will probably be much too late for your Chat...but reading that the teacher had such a hard time maintaining order with only a few parents to help because she had 19 (nineteen, count them) children in the class.

I went to 12 years of Catholic School in Los Angeles in the 50's and 60's, My smallest class in grade school was 87 students, one sister -- no parents -- and I can assure you there were no discipline problems. Maybe that is why we should keep the Catholic schools open.

Marc Fisher:87 students in one class? I bet you got a lot of personal attention, huh?

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C-A-P-S: Are you excited about the playoffs. Any chance you show up at the phone booth this Friday and take in the playoff atmosphere?

Marc Fisher: I'd love to but can't make it this Friday--I'll try for another night. Sounds like it's quite a scene these days. The Red thing is really catching on.

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McLean, Va.: Marc Fisher Bobblehead!!!

Marc Fisher Bobblehead!!!

Marc Fisher Bobblehead!!!

Marc Fisher: I'll preempt the inevitable responses: They couldn't possibly make them because the tops would slide against each other.

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Re: Fairfax schools: Marc: One questioner referenced Barack Obama when posing his question to you, which led me to this thought: If Barack Obama were a Fairfax County student, would he be listed as black? Even though his mother, his only parent, was white? How many kids of mixed race are now in the system who also have to be categorized in some similarly illogical way?

Marc Fisher: Just shows the folly of such categorizing as we move into an era of far less fixed racial and ethnic identities.

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Triangle, Va.: Nay to the Nationals for continuing to play "Sweet Caroline," even while other franchises, such as the Mets, are getting rid of it. If the dancing usher (who apparently will be one of the "celebrity" ballpark tour guides) can't learn another song, that's his tough luck. I've had a Nats 20-game plan since the team arrived, and the team's complete and utter lack of originality in in-game entertainment (e.g., ripping off the Milwaukee sausage race with the presidents) is bothersome. Can't they hire people with imagination, people who don't simply copy what other franchises do? As much as I hate to say it, because I love the new ballpark, the Nats deserve to have it half-filled.

Marc Fisher: Yikes, they deserve the low attendance because of Sweet Caroline? I loathe the song, but really....

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Marc Fisher: Way over the time limit, so I'm outta here. Apologies to the great many I couldn't fit in this week. Come on back next time and give it another try.

Thanks for coming along. More on the blog every day, plus Raw Fisher Radio explores some of the issues surrounding the pope's visit, Tuesday at noon, here on the big web site. And the column is back Sunday.

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