Educating the Secretary

National Journal's Brian Friel has an amusing little anecdote in the magazine's "Inside Washington" section this week about Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. We're all in the same publishing family here, so I'm going to reprint the whole thing:

What would you do if your teen who normally got As and Bs came home with a surprising D in science? Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, around the time she was being confirmed by the Senate in January, marched right up to her daughter's public middle school in Northern Virginia and met with her teachers. By the next grading period, her daughter Grace had raised her science grade to an A. Spellings told the story at a National Council of La Raza meeting in July, and again at a teachers conference in June, to illustrate the importance of parental involvement. "Afterward, my daughter said, 'I hated that you were in my school,' " Spellings recounted. "I told her, 'You get your grades up, and I'll get out of your school.' " Staying out of her mom's speeches is no doubt further encouragement for Grace to keep her grades up. Like, oh my gosh, how embarrassing!

That's my definition of courage: A teacher who gives the daughter of the incoming Education secretary a D.