If I had to choose one individual for the title of Most Polarizing Educationist, that person would certainly be Michelle Rhee.

(You know– educationist— the genuine article, like the Rolexx watch or Louis Wuitton handbag.)

Though Rhee has received much press in venues including Time, the  Harvard Political Review, the Washington Post, and the New York Times for being “polarizing,” the problem with being polarizing is that those with influence might like to read about you and talk about you, but because they are mindful of their own career climbing (as many educationists and politicians tend to be), they won’t want to be closely identified with you.

Sure, in your only year as the single teacher in the classroom, you might tape children’s mouths and cause them to bleed— and later joke about it to a group of first-year teachers– and never be called…