Nation: Carter's Choice

A judge for Education

For his first Secretary of Education, President Carter said he wanted a ''strong, creative thinker." He also wanted someone independent of the ubiquitous education lobbyists in Washington. Last week he announced his surprising choice: schoolmarmish Shirley Mount Hufstedler, 54, a federal appeals court judge in California.

Because her chief school ties are trusteeships, including ones at California Institute of Technology and Occidental College, her nomination was greeted coolly by professional educators. Said Phyllis Franck of the American Federation of Teachers: "She is a rather curious choice, but we are...

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