George Packer, a New Yorker staff writer, points to the danger of clarity, observing that seemingly simple and tough-minded words blow out as much smoke as the jargon of the Pentagon of decades past. Nowhere is this smoke thicker and trickier than in the lingo the corporate-politico-media squad uses when talking about public schools. At first glance, their talk seems plain and to the point: failing schools, caring about education and education as war. In contrast, education progressives befuddle the public with authentic means of assessment, decision-making processes and triangulated learning. But the simplicity is deceptive. The expression failing public schools has a lot in common with war on terror. What follows are refrains about schools plucked from the news--not always unique statements but phrases repeated so often they have become jingles framed around a common theme: Make sure the public can't think about public schools without thinking about failure. In this article, the author presents the structure designed to encourage people to look closely at the rhetoric used to describe schools.