ELECTIONS

Ken Burns criticizes Johnson on education

Bill Glauber

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Last week, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson weighed in on what he called a "higher education cartel" during a WisPolitics.com forum in Milwaukee.

In this Nov. 2, 2013, file photo, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns walks through the entrance of the Georgia home used by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt during a tour by site manager Robin Glass in Warm Springs, Ga. Burns details the connections between two distantly related American presidents in his new documentary series. The 14-hour series unfolds over seven days on PBS, starting Sunday.

In a discussion that concentrated mostly on student debt, Johnson discussed how the "power of technology" could change higher education through online courses.

As an example, Johnson said: "If you want to teach the Civil War across the country, are you better having tens of thousands of history teachers who kind of know the subject, or would you be better off popping in 14 hours of Ken Burns' Civil War tape and have teachers proctor over that excellent tape."

Early Tuesday, Burns, the documentary filmmaker, tweeted a response to Johnson's comment. Burns said: "I'm here to support teachers, not replace them."