Lots of people wondering why The (Great and Honorable) Oprah chose to focus on several high performing public charter schools as proof that things could be a whole lot better in American publiceducation, but didn't take the the time to call them "public charter schools." Some see a conspiracy.

Charter Blog's Andy Smarick offers his view on this here, and gets a response from his boss, Nelson Smith, here. The Gadfly's Checker Finn, on a sabbatical, nonetheless weighs in as a guest over at Eduwonk.

My take is that the most important service The Oprah can provide for the couch potatoes of America is a wake up call about the condition of our education systems. We're not even close to being able to settle on a solution, because so many people have no idea how bad things have gotten. The Oprah and The Gates can help change that. I just hope that if we ever get around to having serious discussions about solutions, that Dr. Phil is out sick that day. Like nails on The Chalkboard...