[Chicago, December 16. Image via Getty]

US president-elect Barack Obama (C), flanked by vice-president elect Joe Biden (L) and nominee for education secretary Arne Duncan (4th R), poses for a class picture with students and teachers at a local school, the Dodge Renaissance Academy, in Chicago on December 16, 2008. Obama earlier nominated Duncan, the tough-minded Chicago schools superintendent, as his education secretary with a mandate to overhaul failing US schools. At a news conference, Obama vowed new funding for schools plus new demands on teachers and parents, arguing it was 'morally unacceptable for our children and economically untenable for America' to allow standards to slip further. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

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