Believe it or not, the Chicago Tribune published one of the best articles I have read about the disaster that is called education “reform,” but in fact is education destruction.
I say, believe it or not, because the Tribune has been one of the nation’s loudest cheerleaders for the policies that this column decries.
Robert C. Koehler is a syndicated columnist, not an education specialist, but he sees clearly the damage that the education destruction movement–NCLB and Race to the Top–is doing to students and our society.
His column is titled “The Warping of Public Education.”
He writes:
“…high-stakes testing, in tandem with “zero tolerance,” militarized security and sadistic underfunding, has succeeded in warping public education beyond recognition, especially in low-income, zero-political-clout neighborhoods. And the result is kids in prison, kids on the streets, kids with no future.”
And he concludes:
“The time has come to declare an end to this entire era — of militarized racism, violent solutions to everything, the ever-widening schism between “us” and “them.” Any politician who kowtows to this simplistic agenda, or “bargains” with it, has made himself or herself irrelevant to a sustainable and healthy future, and should be declared thus.
“We have to undo the damage that has turned public education into a crisis. That means dumping the pretend science of high-stakes testing and valuing rather than criminalizing students of color; it also means moving from punishment- to healing-based systems of maintaining order, taking police and armed security guards out of the hallways and learning to value and respect young people more than we value metal detectors and surveillance cameras.
“Before we can do anything else, we have to get our future out of the pipeline.”
Diane, I agree. He has got it right — It is more than high-stakes testing. Kudos to him for his insight into some of the most alarming trends in poor communities where people of color reside.
These glimmers of awareness showing up on websites and in newspaper columns give me great hope that people outside of education are catching on.
They are catching on because children are starting to suffer. I think things could get bad enough that teachers were forbidden to leave the profession, and those with low VAM ratings were pilloried before being hung in the public square, without the public giving a damn.
My comfortably, white, middle class existence suffered serious bruising after I went to work in an large lower socioeconomic community dominated by minority students. The high school where I taught saw almost daily fights and a celebration of gang culture that supported the increasing violence. The introduction of metal detectors and the use of security cameras among other measures was a relief to most people, teachers and students. School could be a (relatively) safe zone. However, the punitive, no excuses, discipline policy was less than appreciated. The nonsense I was supposed to report and document with endless incident reports was much better handled within the confines of the classroom, which is what I did as a general rule. Patience and humor goes a long way to defusing potentially explosive situations. I had never heard the term insubordination until I came to that school. The “powers that be” used it freely not only in connection with student behavior but for faculty behavior as well. Anything you did that did not strictly follow their interpretation of the rules and regulations, intentional or not, could lead to a charge of insubordination. On occasion, I saw a teacher escalate a situation simply by jumping to an outraged accusation of insubordination. I don’t remember those tactics as being particularly effective in calming the waters. The underfunding goes without saying. Access to personal textbooks was limited to students in the college track. Other students were lucky if there were enough books in the class set to share with the other four sections a teacher might teach. I spent two years copying student materials that were supposed to be consumables but were beyond the budget of the school. I could go on forever as, I’m sure, others on this blog could. Let’s hope the voices of reason grow louder and stronger.
I am a cynic as far as those who helped create the educational mess we’re in, either by advocating the destructive policies and multilayered attacks on teachers, unions, etc., or by advocating the “solution.”
Maybe this journalist has seen the monster of what is being done at an ever increasing rate of ruin, but it would be a strange conversion. The whole corporate inspired attack
in the name of education, but really in greedy quest of draining monies from public
institutions, beit the military (Black water), the schools or, as it now appears the post office; its all about control, money and destruction of what has served us so well before the hounds of Wall Street were given the keys to the kingdom! Time will tell if this person is truly genuine, or just another one who admits a small truth to gain credibility.
Most of what I’ve read over the years by Koehler is pretty much on target.
Unbelievable especially from the Tribune, I would have expected this from the Sun-Times. Great article, I just read it. He is dead on the target, just like Robin Hood. The end result is what we call the “Prebirth-Prison Pipeline.” We believe it begins before birth in fact before conception if you study the causes which appear later. This is confirmed by the research done by the nationwide Sheriff’s organization studying this subject which is chaired by L.A. County Sheriff Baca. I have talked with Sheriff Baca on this subject and we have the same basic views and data. Every failure in K-12 comes through in the criminal justice system in the same basic proportion. K-12 and the criminal justice system are directly linked every way you look at it seriously.
THANK YOU CHICAGO TRIBUNE FOR PRINTING THIS STORY.
George Buzzetti is one of the finest researchers and spokesman for
the truth. He leaves no prisoners in his all out war to restore common
sense, reason, integrity, truth and honor to our country and how it treats it’s children and each other. His words alone are high praise for the writer, the story, and the Chicago Tribune for turning a page
on time and printing what could be a new birth of media honesty and attention to one of the greatest Civil Rights threats of our times.
Bravo! Chicago Tribune, Mr. Koehler, and Diane Ravitch, George Bruzetti, Fran Rice, and all of the children’s freedom to find a future fighters everywhere…and all of you. From where I work in the inner
city this article and this blog are gifts of uplift.
This exacty states the problems we are facing
Teachers in my school were told at a staff development over 10 years ago that the State projected the number of prison cells it would need by the number of third-grade boys who were more than a year behind in reading & math.
Absolutely the truth!!!!! Thanks for putting that out here Cheryl!
This is the email I wrote to Mr. Koehler of the Chicago Tribune.
Dear Mr. Koehler,
I read your article from Diane Ravitch’s blog, because you see, I dumped the Tribune after subscribing for over 30 years. I was fed up with the anti-education, anti-teacher drivel that was spewed far too frequently from the Tribune.
Your article, however, gives me hope. Hope on two different levels. 1.Hope that a conservative local newspaper is finally seeing the day of light on the awful ‘educational reforms’ that have been detrimentally imposed on students, teachers, families and communities, AND has the courage to report it. 2. Hope that perhaps the tide is turning on this awful reform movement.
Interestingly enough, it took a horrendous tragedy to turn the tide on the verbal teacher bashing in the country. No longer do we hear ourselves referred to as ‘thugs’ because our profession reaps a pension. Sadly, this is the level to which legislators, supposedly our leaders, have stooped to in this country when talking about teachers.
I could go on and on. Pending legislation in Tennessee that penalizes families on welfare if the child does not meet their learning goals. The enormous profits the testing industry is making on tests that measure so little of a child’s potential, yet because we let uninformed legislators dictate policy, these tests are creating shame and fear-two emotions that have powerful detrimental effects on the learning relationships we so desperately try to forge within school walls. And, we are just beginning to see the truth behind the for-profit school industry. Louisiana is already a billboard for what we do not want for our children in this country.
Hopefully, the Tribune will continue to model for the rest of the country how to discourse in an intelligent manner, as your article does, so that we might stop the harm that is being inflicted on our precious future, in the name of ‘reform.’
I am someone who has devoted my entire life to education. I love it. I breathe it. It has been the source of some of my greatest joy. Right now, it is the source of my greatest sorrow, because I witness daily the toll these uninformed reforms reap upon kids.
Again, I thank you.
Val Pientka, EdD
A lifelong educator
Hi Diane, I nominated your blog for a One Lovely Blog Award. Your blog is one of seven I consider exceptional. Please view the post on my blog. Congratulations, I like your passion, energy and commitment. While we disagree on many points, I respect your experience and continued hard work to bring about positive changes in Education for all, particularly, the poor. Thank you. Cheers, Angela
Thank you, Angela!
No one should agree with me all the time.
Sometimes I don’t agree with me either.
LOL
Bet this article wouldn’t have been printed in the Tribune if Murdoch or the Koch brothers owned it.
You read my mind, CT! That having been said, The Chicago Tribune has printed some very fine and fair education reporting from Noreen S, Ahmed-Ullah. They also had an excellent editorial in 2011 titled “New Trier’s ‘F,'” clearly questioning the validity of “standardized” testing, since N.T.–and the other schools named–are stand-out schools here in Illinois, but they did not make AYP due to their special education sub-group scores, which were approximately 2-3%age points off to pass! How parents must
have chuckled when those “choice school” notices came home!