Dear Dr. Ravitch,I was composing my own letter to Frank Bruni early this morning, and didn’t see your post until later. Thanks, as always, for your advocacy. Below is a copy of the letter I emailed to Mr. Bruni this morning.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Poyourow
Dear Mr. Bruni,
While I usually enjoy your opinion articles, I was dismayed by yesterday’s article on parent trigger laws. It seems to me that you do not know much about the issue and are relying for your talking points on the PR campaigns of the groups that support them, ironically not grass-roots parents’ groups but primarily astroturf groups with financial, policy, and personnel links reaching back to groups like ALEC (groups which you are certainly no fan of when it comes to their impact on other policy areas).
You seem to take for granted several ideas I would challenge you on: (1) that American public schools and teachers are failing, (2) that middle-class families should desert urban, public schools, (3) that charter schools are the answer to any problems in the current public educational system, and (4) that parent trigger laws would a helpful tool for remedying problems.
For the record, I am a parent with two children in my neighborhood public school in Philadelphia. Our school manages to hold together and serve well a coalition of low-income, blue-collar, and middle-class families with striking racial as well as socioeconomic diversity in a Philadelphia neighborhood–61% of our students are economically disadvantaged, 45% white, 45% black, 5% Latino, and 5% multiracial and other designations. We are not a rich school and cannot stage fundraisers such as the ones held by the Upper West Side public schools in NYC profiled in the NYT earlier this summer. In fact, we (and all public schools in PA) were hit hard by the education budget cuts enacted when a wave of extremist state legislators came into our state government in 2010. $1 billion has been cut from public education statewide in PA, and it has impacted our school heavily, raising class sizes while stripping the school of necessary teaching and support personnel, contracting the curriculum (music and language teachers were cut last year, and the school had no money previously for an art teacher), and leaving kids behind academically without the tutoring previously provided.
Yet our school remains strong, continuing to make AYP and to attract neighborhood parents, primarily because of the cross-class coalition using the school. Even if we haven’t raised $1 million for our school, many parents volunteer, run after-school clubs, and try to solicit community resources to help the school provide what has been eliminated because of cuts at the state level. The reward is that our children get to attend an integrated, academically sound public school in our city neighborhood that is open to all. We are part of a growing movement in several cities (including NYC) that has parents choosing to invest their time and energy in public schools, not only for their own families’ good but to strengthen the fabric of their neighborhoods and cities.
Which brings me back to your op-ed. I am a public school parent–not a teacher and not a union employee. I find the representations of the state of public education in the U.S. promulgated by films such as “Won’t Back Down” and “Waiting for Superman” to be harmful and inaccurate depictions of the current dilemmas faced by public school students, parents, and teachers.
Private schools have done a good sales job over the last decade or so, feeding the cultural panic among middle-class parents, creating anxieties in them that they cannot use the public schools and must purchase high-priced private schooling, tutoring, etc. at any price if their children are to succeed in life academically and economically. However, it is the class and educational background of parents that is the most critical variable in children’s success. While many currently make the claim (which you echo) that U.S. public schools are way behind other countries, when socioeconomic class is taken into account, American students do as well or better than the countries we say we wish to emulate. It is poverty that is our greatest problem. Middle-class children who attend urban public schools, even those in schools with very low average scores, do fine. If we want to solve the educational crisis that does exist for kids from low-income families, then creating jobs, stable health care, and an economic security net for their families is one key–and finding ways to create schools integrated by race and socioeconomic background is another–and providing appropriate funding, early childhood education, and smaller classes is a third.
The voucher, charter school, and parent trigger movements aim in precisely the opposite direction by draining public schools of funds desperately needed in this climate of scarcity and creating a two-tier system of schools, segregating kids even further by race, class, English language learner status, and disability. Indeed as the CREDO study by Stanford University shows, charter schools do not provide better educational opportunities; many provide worse. The people behind the push for parent trigger laws are not idealistic parents but chain charter operators hoping to expand their profits at the public expense–and their right-wing backers hoping to undermine our understanding of education as a public good. I hope you do some research on this topic and reconsider your opinion.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Poyourow (a usually appreciative reader) |
Totally amazing response to Bruni! As a public school teacher and parent I thank and applaud you.
What a wonderful letter.. We need to share this far and wide. I hope you don’t mind, but I will be sharing this on my blog as well.
please do!
feel free to reproduce anything posted here.
One of the points stated by Ms Poyourow is the cutting of programs. The public school, where I teach, has cut some very popular art programs. Not only does this take away the one area of school some students enjoy, it might very well be the one area they excel and makes school enjoyable for them. The other result of cutting such programs is the wealthier districts will not be cutting any of these programs, so when my students apply to the same colleges as those from wealthier districts, my students don’t have the same background course work, thus making acceptance into these colleges more challenging. Then the cycle of unequal education continues and has effects into adult life.
That’s a letter that will be going into our graduate education course on parent, community, and school partnerships. WOW. Thanks for posting it!!
This really hits the nail on the head. Rebecca really sees what needs to happen to improve public education. When I taught special education in the inner city, I always made it a point to talk with my students’ parents on a regular basis because I felt that they played a significant role in ensuring my students received the best education. Oftentimes the students who made the most progress were those with the most involved parents.
Thanks Rebecca, as a public school teacher, we need to have your voice heard loud and clear.
Thank you Rebecca, your letter is absolutely brilliant. I will be using this to educate my fellow teachers in our rural area as to why this is important to all of us. I too usually enjoy Frank Bruni and was so dissappointed when I read his article. He was obviously repeating carefully planted talking points by the astroturfers. After CNN Randi Kaye’s embarrasing slant along with Fareed Zahkaria’s and several other jounalist on CNN, MSNBC, NYT and WP who are obviously letting someone else do the thinking for them or not doing their homework it is nice to hear from a parent who is living it. It drives me crazy when these journalist say “Parents want” or “Parents think” or “Parents need” without talking to a real samnpling of informed parents, not hand picked ones to promote the corporate movement.
Bruni reads like a run of the mill, i.e. same same teacher and union bashing. Not heavy on new thought or research. Then again why bother with research when he may come up with some inconvenient truths that won’t fit his preset aims. Maybe it’s time for HIM to find something else to do.
Wonderful letter by Rebecca Poyourow! No doubt she speaks for thousands of parents. We just need to get the outcry growing.
Thank you Ms. Poyourow! It is SO refreshing to read your insightful response to Mr. Bruni’s piece. You also make a point to mention that the school your children attend is integrated. I am always excited to hear and see school that are. I think it is also key to improving not only our schools, but our society. Thanks for sharing…
Rececca’s email is wonderful and I am so glad she it’s reprinted here. I posted a comment on the NYTimes site last night, and notice this morning all comment were closed after@50 comments all objected to Bruni’s column. It was one sided since not one real parent was quoted in the story.
As we both know, Florida parents fought diligently against this legislation and won. Yet Bruni purposely left out that bit of information in his column.
This column, the NYTimes’ editorial a few weeks ago and the Kaye interview all have one thing in common—bias with a lot of sprinkling from DFER.
One does not have to see this movie to know it is glorifying this legislation. One does not have to see this movie to know ALEC is behind it. One does not have to see this movie to know that the union is being blamed for policy teachers are forced to follow.
And why is it the movie trailer specially shows uncaring teachers??
I will not pay to see this movie and I suppose in order to write fairly about it, you must.
I must add my name to the chorus of “Thank You!” to Ms Poyourow!
And thanks Dr Ravitch for posting her letter. I will share it with my colleagues.
Why are so many journalist towing the party line on education reform? Arn’t journalist supposed to dig deeper, really look into a story? How about considering the motives behind those pushing the story. I have read so many editorials, heard so many news reports (on NPR even!) that uncritically, unquestioningly swallow and then regurgitate the whole reformer agenda including every buzz word and talking point.
Sigh.
It just makes this teacher so sad.
Wow! All I can say is “wow”! I will also be sharing this beautiful letter. I am also a parent and from one parent to another I want to say please consider running for office.
Great letter. It’s always hard to know where to begin.
After reading Bruni’s column, I was struck by the lays of flawed assumptions that seemed to pile on top of one another. Much of his thinking is tautological, i.e. finding facts to fit his preconceptions.
Here are some questions that challenge his assumptions:
Why are poor parents at poor schools?
What makes a school poor?
Is it fair for poor parents to go to a school that is poor?
Is it fair for poor parents to live in poor neighborhoods?
Is it fair for poor parents to be poor?
Is it fair for us to consume goods and services that pay poverty wages?
Are accountability and better teaching going to solve these issues?
Ms. Poyourow, thank you for taking the time to write this response to express the views of many parents, like me. I have a question though about your school. Are the needs of all children in your school being met, or just the middle class and above? I hope readers don’t take this the wrong way. I’m a strong supporter of public schools and it’s teachers. But, until we address the needs of all children and educational equity, public schools are still going to be deemed failures and teachers will continue to be blamed.
If her school is making AYP, as she states, than the answer to your question is yes. Although, another part of that is “are the needs of the gifted kids being met?” is something that many schools (including my own) are struggling with during this high stakes testing time.
My thoughts exactly, though stated with more grace than I can muster. Thank you for writing this.
Excellent couldn’t have said it better !
Way to go, Rebecca! We are proud to have you in Pennsylvania’s grassroots movement fighting for our public schools.
Thank you to everyone for your kind words. It’s a little unnerving to see what started as a from-the-gut response upon reading a poorly written (yet potentially damaging) Sunday morning op-ed take off this way. I should say that Frank Bruni is a writer I usually like, and I was impressed that he emailed me privately to talk over points in his piece–we had a worthwhile email exchange.
One commenter above (Pamela Harbin) asked a critical question, which is whether the school my children attend serves all children equally well. I would say that it does a very good job with the resources it has, although obviously there are always battles to fight in arenas large and small. For several years, our school has made AYP with no racial achievement gap in scores, which is something to celebrate (regardless of what one thinks of testing in general). I know several parents with children on the autism spectrum who sought transfers to our school because of its strong autistic support program. The school has been home to a well-regarded Head Start program with families moving smoothly from that program into the K-8 years. The PA budget cuts have hit hard, and one of the casualties last year (across the city of Philadelphia–not just at our school) was after-school tutoring for students in need of extra academic support. In response, I and several other parents at the school formed an education committee to approach local universities to create partnerships to bring college students in as tutors, which we hope to see take off this fall. This is certainly not comprehensive data, but that’s what I can tell you from my parent’s-eye view of the school.
My thanks go out to all the teachers and parents and community members who post here for all your efforts to support public education in the classroom and beyond.
What a beautiful response! I will be sharing. Thank you, Rebecca.
Wow! Rebecca totally nailed it! What an awesome letter!
Thank you for an outstanding, well written and supportive response. It feels wonderful to know that there are involved and informed parents who support public education and teachers.
“Middle-class children who attend urban public schools, even those in schools with very low average scores, do fine.”
Wishing it were so does not make it true. We are falling behind in mathematics, sciences and like all Countries, we don’t treat the humanities with the respect they deserve. But the worst part of all is that we have kept a public school built on factories and worklines (complete with bells when you are ready to move) and wonder why we are falling behind all these other Countries!
We have a wonderful people like Sir Ken Robinson, Conrad Wolfram and others that offer ideas on modeling, creativity and a complete revamping of HOW we teach and they are ignored as if it doesn’t matter.
The “new” economy doesn’t rely on our old types of educations. Jobs used to go overseas if people would “just work cheaper”, but now they are bright overseas and while a surgeon must remain in the operating room, the radiologist can be in Bangalore. That means that not only “high school diploma” type jobs, but post-graduate jobs are also moving off-shore. Yet we still send our kids to factories.
We have great teachers, great parents and throw our hands up trying to figure out why the equation isn’t working – it’s not the teachers and it’s not the parents (not all of them anyway), it’s the curriculum. It’s time to leap over the chasm and re-design the entire educational model. And I’m talking about the entire thing.
Ever ask your self (as Sir Ken Robinson does) why kids are sorted by grade in age order? It’s not like a 13 year old necessarily understands concepts of geometry better than a 9 year old. Get rid of everything you THOUGHT you know about education and start listening to some of the people that do!
For those that would like to listen to the people I’ve listed:
/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
Its the administrators, actually. They drive the curriculum. I would love to teach science with more math, more tech and more engineering. But getting admin to see the strength of this, the connections to our precious standards, the connections to strengthening both math and reading is like trying to get blood out of a stone.
And the guys you mention have good ideas, but to say they know more about education than teachers and parents is a stretch. Sir Kenneth’s ideas are good but in practice there are myriad issues. The same can be said of Conrad W. There is no such thing as a silver bullet for education.
You are correct and I misspoke. I should have said that they know more about MATHEMATICS or SCIENCES, etc.
Coming from a family of teachers (my father, brother and a few others) and a product of public schools myself (as well as a parent), one thing I’ve come notice is that at the end of the day, they are teachers and not mathematicians that are delivering the information.
Being good at imparting information isn’t always the same as knowing which information is better and more productive.
It’s not a judgment call against them, the teachers I know are doing amazing work – but, at the same time, they only know what they know.
I have seen Ms. Poyourow address the SRC (our school board) in Philadelphia, and she is always eloquent, passionate, and well-informed. Diane is right: she should be on every talk show possible telling the TRUTH about those who are trying to steal our public schools. Great job, Rebecca!
Thank you for your response. I am a Philadelphia school teacher and while I can attest that we have suffered from the recent budget cuts your efforts are an example of what is needed to be successful in public education. The teachers and the parents represent the true grassroots movement in education reform (not the politicians, although they certainly have an impact!). You obviously have a community of engaged parents who know that people are more important than things and resources and that support can make the difference between a poor academic climate and one that is thriving. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Ms. Poyourow. I wish all communities had parents as vocal as you.
I’ll throw in another THANK YOU to Rebecca!
Reading the comments made me doubt that anyone saw the movie mentioned. It glorifies and respects teachers. Don’t judge based on rumor