Petrilli (a reformer): Democratic Education may not be for the Poor.

Now I'm sure Mr. Petrilli would like to argue that this is not what he means.  So first, here's what he said.

What Kohn refuses to wrestle with is the argument—made by Core Knowledge creator E.D. Hirsch Jr., among others—that progressive education might work well for children of the affluent but tends to be disastrous for children of the poor.

Democratic decision-making, self-directed studies, internal motivation, and the like are wonderful aspirations. But when it comes to lifting children out of poverty, heavy doses of basic skills, rich content, and clear expectations have been proven time and again to be more effective.

Of course he follows this up by making a comment that he doesn't want poor students to have a boring education.  However, does that take away from the above comment that, as a reformer, he appears to state that "Democratic decision-making, self-directed studies, internal motivation, and the like"will not benefit poor children?