Just before the new year kicked off, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan took to Twitter with a tweet causing educators around the nation to respond. 

What if every district committed both to identifying what made their 5 best schools successful & providing those opps to all their students?

— Arne Duncan (@arneduncan) December 30, 2014

According to an article on WashingtonPost.com, "what followed on Twitter in reaction to that tweet was probably not what he had hoped to see. Critics sent some of their own 'what if' thoughts to Duncan #whatif."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers responded with this tweet:

#Whatif teachers were respected rather than disparaged by this country's wealthy and elite

— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) December 31, 2014

Another Twitter user, @TeacherReality, who is a Florida teacher and public education advocate, tweeted Duncan this response:

#WhatIf the public realized that our @usedgov has plenty of money to properly fund schools but they choose to channel $ to corps instead?

— TeacherReality (@TeacherReality) December 31, 2014

Almost a week later, teachers continue the conversation on Twitter, retweeted and favoriting each others tweets and sparking conversation

Washington Post reporter Valerie Strauss also included comments she found interesting from her original post in a follow-up. One was from the user "sides with the kids."

"What if we had a Secretary of Education who realized hundreds of school districts–maybe even a majority of them–are rural or small suburban districts that don’t HAVE 5 schools?" the user said. "While the majority of schoolchildren in the country probably go to large urban schools where it is possible for a student to change schools if there is a problem and for schools to differentiate in programs, probably the majority of school districts are like the one I live in–1 early learning center for all preschool through grade 1 students, 6 elementary schools to which students are assigned by neighborhood and either walk to or are bussed to, one middle school for all students, and one high school. The district to the west as one K-3 building and one building in which 4-8 occupy one wing and 9-12 occupy another. The district to the north has one building for all students. There are districts in the far West in which, to be big enough to afford different teachers for each class, some of the students travel an hour or more each way on a bus. Duncan, like most educators, has a “one size fits all” mentality."

Read the full story and comment below. Share your #whatif tweet if you had one.

Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor