Anyone scouring the headlines these days has come to expect the usual messages of doom and gloom.  It’s particularly refreshing, therefore, to find some editorials articulating somewhat more hopeful messages, especially on the topic of education.

Editorials from newspapers on the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum sprang up last week, in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, both addressing the education crisis in our country with guarded optimism.  In one corner, The Gray Lady’s own David Brooks touts Obama’s stimulus spending on community colleges as an appropriate response to address the real problem of community colleges—their high dropout rates, not their affordability.  The Obama initiative, Brooks writes, will allow for more innovation, higher standards for remedial education, better outcome tracking and online education, and more thorough job training.  All in all, Brooks thinks that this plan offers real promise, a significant step up from the usual tactic of throwing money at a problem.

But in a move that is likely to be less palatable to Obama-supporters and one of the largest and most influential blocs of the Democratic Party, teachers’ unions. Some states and districts have made moves to increase the number of charter schools, which receive public money but are free from many of the rules and restrictions that govern traditional public schools. Most surprisingly, much of this talk is coming from legislators who have changed their stances of fierce opposition to charter schools.  Although these moves have shocked some, it may be an indication that initiatives like innovative charter schools and merit-based teachers’ pay are rapidly becoming legitimate options for those seeking for a real solution in closing the education gap.

To read up on education-related news outside the US, check out NYT’s Thomas Freidman stirring account on visiting a school in Afghanistan, and the acclaimed novel, Three Cups of Tea.