In case you have forgotten how to answer that question;
In case you are befuddled by the nonstop attacks on public schools and those who teach in them;
In case you don’t remember the history of education in the past fifty years:
Please read this statement on “The Public Purpose of Public Education” by Jan Resseger.
It is one of the best, most concise summaries of the issues facing public education and our society today.
Please share it with your elected officials.
Please share it with those who are responsible for our schools today.
I love it! John Adams: “There should not be a district of one mile square without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.” Are you listening Bill Gates? Michelle Rhee? Arne Duncan?
The character of our country and our self concept are being eroded by those who feel “American Exceptional-ism” is defined by how well we impose our will and the force the “free market” upon the world. Instead of investing in the freedoms, vibrancy and accessibility to the democratic process that made this country great, a small circle of wealth and power have been allowed to define us and our path forward. They and their undeserved arrogance are making us all look bad.
Where did this failure to comprehend the distinction between public institutions and private enterprises come from?
No one could have accused my public, parochial, and military school teachers in Texas and New Mexico during 50s and 60s of indoctrinating us into communism or socialism and gotten away with it — fighting words like that would have gotten the accuser nowhere but pushing up bluebonnets in Boot Hill or yuccas on the wild prairie — but all of them without exception taught the fundamental difference between a political system like democracy and any economic system you might name, like either capitalism or communism. Looking back, I think it may have been the very pressing danger of the Red Scare that led them to hammer (not sickle) home the point.
So it must have been something that happened after that.
I talked to a school board member in my town the other day. He told me that the NEW federal guidelines are now in place when it comes to the lunches in our school. The Board was not happy about the Feds dictating what to serve up for lunch but the Super. reminded them that they get $200k/year from the feds and they’d cut off that funding if we did NOT comply.
If the schools will sell their soul for $200k/year and allow the food police to dictate what the kids eat for lunch, they’ll sell their soul for anything.
Until we cut the bureaucrats OUT of the equation, they will continue to destroy public education in the name of reform. How many more years do we have to endure this before we figure out the problem?
A large percentage of the posts here are about how terrible public education policy has become because of the actions of our elected officials. Another common theme is that education must be controlled by those very same elected officials. The two families of posts seem to be in opposition to each other.
I think most commentators have been clear about the forces creating the distortions in representation.
Representative democracy means that elected representatives are elected to represent the interests of the people who elect them, not to serve as sales reps for corporate agendas.
The ever-increasing swamping of even the most humble local elections by short-sighted corporate interests is suborning what is rightly the sacred duty of our elected officials — converting our government from a One Person One Vote Democracy to a One Dollar One Vote Oligarchy.
We are going to have to fix that if we want to keep our Republic.
Printed that article out, copied it and sent it to the school board members. In a couple of days, I’ll put a copy in all my school’s administrator mail boxes. Next week, I’ll have to send some copies to the sup and asst sup.
Ha-Ha, have to be a bit sly. I wish they would read this blog but I know they don’t.
I just sent copies to my school board. Most of them are up for election this year. Some friends of mine have a few questions for their campaigns, our association is sponsoring candidates nights with the current board’s opponents. This could be interesting.
I’d love to read it, except the link appears to be inoperative
The link works for me. Here it is: http://www.ucc.org/justice/public-education/pdfs/Message-13-web-version.pdf
THIS is worth our all tweeting it, etc. Of course, I’m assuming “we are up to reading 9 full pages. Thanks, Diane, as usual–for spreading the word.
“I’m assuming “we are up to reading 9 full pages.” Kind of disappointing and irritating that we even have to think that nine pages would be too much to read. No wonder I can’t get folks to read Wilson’s dissertation (245 or so pages) “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error.”
Teachingeconomist (above) makes an interesting point. The “who should decide what” problem is complex. And Democracy has no sure-fire one-size=fits-all answer to it! But unless we are careful it does sound at times as though we accept the idea that politics is necessary a bad term, even though democracy requires politics–and politicians! Worth discussing. Maybe “I’ll decide” is my default position–and I insist on a rationale for not leaving it at that. Somethings I don’t want–even in a democracy–to delegate to others, even democratically elected others. But, obviously many things have to be delegated–and then the question is “to whom”? Elected representatives? Elected by who Experts? Who decides on the experts? When it comes to educating our children I think it should fall to those who know the child best and are closest to the “educational setting” itself, EXCEPT for…? Hmmmm
What would Dewey do?
Some thoughts on that below …