The Education Of Eva Moskowitz September 26, 2017 There’s no column today because (a) there’s so much to watch from yesterday’s Oslo Freedom Forum post, you need the extra time; (b) the dog ate my homework. The dog, in this case, was a book party celebrating publication of Eva Moskowitz’s memoir, which you should buy here. There are now 46 Success Academy schools in the New York area serving 15,500 scholars. If they were all bunched together as a single school district, they would be the 7th largest in the state, out of nearly 700. Populated mainly by kids of color from low-income households who are “selected” by lottery, the Success Academy district ranks, out of all nearly 700 . . . are you ready? . . . #1 in student achievement. As I’ve written so many times before, it is a thrilling story that points the way toward breaking the cycle of poverty, crime and despair. Great for those 15,500 kids — and their kids — but also for society as a whole. Imagine the social, civic, and fiscal/economic impact. Yet boy is it ever hard to get entrenched interests to accept change and embrace success, as Eva recounts here. Spread the word. Some charter schools suck. Many are mediocre. But when you find a public-school formula that works so spectacularly well? And has been proven in not just one or two schools for just one or two years, but now 46, some of them for a decade? C’mon, people! Speaking of embracing a good idea, have I ever mentioned WheelTug? (Ahem.) Several of you forwarded this article (“British Airways Using Remote-controlled, Electric Tugs At Heathrow / Roll-out across entire narrowbody network planned”). It’s good to see interest in improved ground operations, but Mototok, as the tugs are called, cannot do what WheelTug will: allow the pilot to back out without waiting for and connecting to and then disconnecting from, a tug; or “twist” at the gate to allow boarding and deplaning from both front AND read rear doors. So the all-important time savings WheelTug should provide — meaningfully adding capacity to airlines and airports without their having to buy a single new plane, hire a single new crew, or build a single new terminal — cannot be matched, or even approached, really, by Mototok. We inch forward. There having not been a column today (Tuesday), this must be tomorrow’s! Have a great day.