Dear Deborah,

I hope you and your family had a happy Thanksgiving, and I wish the same to all of our readers and friends.

The struggle for control of American education continues to evolve at a dizzying pace. I read that Bill Gates advised the Council of Chief State School Officers to eliminate seniority and tenure and recommended that schools stop spending to reduce class size and stop giving teachers extra money for master's degrees. He wants teachers to get paid based on "perfo...