Mixed Feelings About "Donors Choose"

Once in a while, things just sort of blow up over at my Chicago blog, District 299, and this week was no different. But I think some good may have come of it in the end.

It's not a local story, really, since Donors Choose is all over the place. It all started when I posted that I had some uncertain, ambivalent feelings about the program, an Internet-based philanthropy (and media darling) that allows individual teachers and donors to match up without an intervening organization or foundation.

So far, so what? I wonder about things all the time, and everyone knows I'm the cranky and suspicious type. However, the post was rebuffed vigorously in the comments section as an unwarranted attack on a helpful and innovative effort. And that was only the beginning (Mixed Feelings About Donors Choose). Take a look -- 30 comments so far -- and see what I'm talking about.