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Good Look: 'The civil rights issue of our era'

In his recent, seemingly short-lived campaign emphasis on education policy, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney deemed inequality for students in color

In his recent, seemingly short-lived campaign emphasis on education policy, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney deemed inequality for students in color in public schools "the civil rights issue of our era." To open last Saturday's show, Melissa went beyond that rhetoric and looked at the substance of the solutions Romney is offering -- an overhaul of national public education that could sideline the Department of Education for good, and place a good deal of faith in charter schools.

An intellectually and ideologically diverse panel which featured Umoja Student Development Corporation founder Lila Leff, Bloomberg View columnist Jonathan Alter, and Philadelphia City Paper reporter Daniel Denvir went on to examine the effort to privatize Philadelphia's public schools -- an effort that shares a a lot of common threads with Romney's proposals, and remains unpopular with many in the city. Denvir, the author of perhaps the definitive look at the crisis, brought a decidedly different point of view to the panel than did Alter, and...well, I don't want to ruin it for you.

Watch the segments, all of which are embedded below. Make a little more time than usual to watch this one before we launch a whole new show for you tomorrow morning at 10am ET. See you then in #nerdland, folks.