A reader explains the logic behind North Carolina’s budget cuts and other school “reforms”:
“They cut millions in education in NC to give corporations $365 Million in tax cuts.
“So with Citizens United, they have financed their own re-election campaigns for next year by giving the corporations the money to donate.
See how Teabagastan Politics work?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Same thing happening in several states. Sad.
Yeah, and in every state, the bought-and-paid-for
politicians justified this with the promise that
the tax breaks would lead to the corporations creating
thousands and thousands of jobs. In Wisconsin
and elsewhere, the states have actually lost
jobs as a result… the only thing that “improved”
was the profits of those corporations.
Since this blog has an audience of “educators” its sad to see have uneducated contributors are.
We can start with calling citizens concerned about “words” like freedom, liberty, individual rights referred to as “tea baggers”.
Or states which are doing what they can to get by as against educating its children… while Washington, let by a president who has proven he is incapable of doing anything more than paying off his patrons in labor, select industries and the public sector while more than 23 million Americans remain unemployed…..including Blacks with an unemployment rate more than twice as much as the nation.
Its nice to have a venue for those interested in education, lets not make a partisan soap box.
It is ‘uneducated’ to describe tea partiers as tea baggers. An educated observer would depict them as donut baggers.
Well, I stayed off the blog for 24 hours and curiosity got the best of me. So here I am.
And here I go with my analogies again. I interpret the world through analogies, and recall it through song.
NC is very much a country club state. Raleigh is full of them. Charlotte is full of them. Even Asheville has a strong country club scene.
10 years ago, most clubs still did not allow blacks, Catholics, or Jews to join (in NC). In fact, Michael Jordan was not even allowed to go to the club where his college roommate was a member and so the reception was held at a different club, which Jordan could attend, but he could not play golf there. Not so now. The clubs have realized that is not good business and they welcome any of those sub-groups, so long as they can pay the initiation fee and the membership dues (and the monthly food minimum and other fees).
Country clubs are private, so they can do what they choose. And as members of country clubs, there is some say in who else is a member.
From what I know by personal experience, there are two types of country clubs: member owned, and not member owned. Older clubs are generally member owned, whereby the members are shareholders in the club. Many newer clubs have owners, management companies, and members take part in what is offered, but are not responsible for the club decisions from an owner/business standpoint.
Let’s compare and contrast schools to country clubs. Country clubs thrive when their members use the club, take part in the activities and use the facilities, speak up about ideas and motivate change, and encourage others to join. In my opinion, schools are the same way. The more you invest, the more you get out of it (and hopefully, your child too).
In terms of public schools, we cannot decide who attends (much like we can’t decide who is a member of our society, unless they are convicted law-breakers and they get locked up). Even a menace can remain a member, and can participate in all the offerings members are allowed. As in a country club, if you step over bounds a little (public drunkenness, late on your bill), you will get a letter letting you know you need to get it straight or else.
Privately owned clubs are more like charters or private schools to me—you just use what is offered and pay your dues and you don’t own it. That has its strengths and weaknesses: if a hurricane hits your club, you are not responsible for making sure it gets rebuilt. Member-owned club owners would be.
In my opinion, because we cannot choose who is a member of our society, we should embrace public schools as being more like member-owned clubs: participate, contribute, support; and a good institution will result. But of course we can’t choose who is a member or who will use it (and in a club you can’t have full say—it would take a lot of the membership to block or keep out someone).
As a society we have tried to let schools be like country clubs too often with trying to control who can be there. I thought integration had taken care of that problem. But of course white flight occurred and from what I’ve been reading was even encouraged by business and sometimes by civic leaders. And now we are trying to decide if schools are to be operated like member-owned clubs, or like not member-owned clubs.
To me, if you want to control who you spend time around somewhat, then join a country club. They are great.
But meanwhile we should understand that public schools reflect the society at large (the beauty of America. . .give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free), and if we treated them like member-owned entities (which they are—all members of a society own their public schools), they would likely thrive.
To me, handing schools over to charters and vouchers is like a member-owned club having to sell out to a club-owning company. It would be admitting failure. It would be admitting defeat. It would be admitting that it’s time to sell the farm. It would be welcoming the end.
I love Bob Dylan’s “Times they are a changin’,” but I believe in this instance NC is just giving up on its member-owned schools. We don’t really have to sell the farm. We don’t have to welcome the end. We just have to participate, support, motivate change from within, and encourage others to participate.
And if you don’t like the other members, you might ask yourself what it really means to be American. Or, join a country club. But let’s leave the schools that are public, in the hands of the public and those who have been trained and apprenticed on the public’s behalf. If it isn’t good enough, see how you can change it from within, by participation, motivating change, and encouraging others.
Now. . .off to try my new driver.