The Road

© CORBIS

By Paul Watson It was a road some said couldn't be built. Most of the men ordered to make it happen were black American soldiers sorted into army units by the color of their skin.

Newsreels	A letter home from Evelio Grillo

President-elect Barack Obama today formally announced Chicago schools superintendent Arne Duncan as his choice for Education secretary.

Duncan has built a reputation over seven years for improving test scores in the nation's third-largest school district. He has also closed failing schools and replaced ineffective teachers.

"If we want to out-compete the world tomorrow then we're going to have to out-educate the world today," Obama told reporters in a televised news conference this morning at the Dodge Renaissance Academy, which was once closed as a failing school.

Duncan reopened the school as an academy where candidates for advanced degrees in education could gain practical experience in classrooms. Obama and Duncan, who often play basketball together, visited the school three years ago and hailed it as a successful model for teacher residency programs.

"I just wanted to dispel one rumor before I take questions," Obama said this morning. "I did not select Arne because he is one of the best basketball players I know. Although I will say that I think we are putting together the best basketball-playing Cabinet in American history."