BEYOND QUESTION: LEARNING THE ART OF THE INTERVIEW

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 434.

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The following passage is excerpted from the New York Times article “For Education Chief, Stimulus Means Power, Money and Risk” written by Sam Dillon just after Mr. Duncan was confirmed Education Secretary of the USA.

Identify the direct and indirect quotes, including partial quotes, from Mr. Duncan that appear in the passage.

Think about a list of questions you imagine the reporter asked to get these quotes. How do you think the reporter got Mr. Duncan talking? How did Mr. Dillon get Mr. Duncan to provide the information and quotations?

The $100 billion in emergency aid for public schools and colleges in the economic stimulus bill could transform Arne Duncan into an exceptional figure in the history of federal education policy: a secretary of education loaded with money and the power to spend large chunks of it as he sees fit. […]

“There's going to be this extraordinary influx of resources,” he said in an interview. “So people say, ‘You're going to be the most powerful secretary ever,' but I have no interest in that. Power has never motivated me. What I love is opportunity, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something special, to drive change, to make our schools better.”

Mr. Duncan said he intended to reward school districts, charter schools and nonprofit organizations that had demonstrated success at raising student achievement — “islands of excellence,” he called them. Programs that tie teacher pay to classroom performance will most likely receive money, as will other approaches intended to raise teacher quality, including training efforts that pair novice instructors with veteran mentors, and after-school and weekend tutoring programs.

The positions of deputy secretary, under secretary and chief of staff and dozens of other senior posts at the Education Department remain unfilled, so Mr. Duncan is relying on help from career officers and consultants. He has appointed teams to develop procedures for distributing the stimulus billions quickly, and many aides, he said, have been working evenings and weekends to begin organizing the effort.

“I want all of us to work hard enough and smart enough to take full advantage of this, because it'll never happen again,” Mr. Duncan said last month in his first speech to hundreds of civil servants at department headquarters, as the outlines of the huge stimulus package were taking shape in Congress.

Urging department employees not to be deferential, he described the reception he got on his first visit to his headquarters.

“It was like, ‘Hello, Mr. Secretary-designate-nominee,' and it didn't feel right,” Mr. Duncan said. “My name is Arne. It's not Mr. Secretary. Please just call me Arne.” That line drew a standing ovation.

Study the following interview“The School of Hard Drives,” published by Deborah Solomon (September 16, 2010). She talks to Education Secretary Duncan about the need for computers in the classroom and his views on the state of American education. Pay special attention to the questions asked and discuss them with your groupmates.How do you think this interview was conducted?