Patty Williams has been an active advocate for good public schools in Wake County. The second of her two children just graduated and is off to college. Does this mean she will abandon the public schools? No way! In this article, she and her husband David Zonderman explain why good public schools are important for our society, our communities, and our economy. Whether you have children in the public schools or not, you benefit by making sure that all children get a good education and that all public schools provide one.
They write:
“Better schools produce better-educated students who get better-paying jobs that allow people to make a better life for their families and pay taxes for more investments in our schools and roads and parks – there is that virtuous cycle again.
“This fall, we have elections for our state legislature. Most candidates will go to great lengths to tell you how they support public education. But we all need to look beyond the rhetoric to the decisions they made. Ask those running for office whether they supported budgets that froze teacher salaries and cut money for classroom assistants and textbooks and supplies. Ask whether they endorsed the nearly complete deregulation of charter schools and vouchers that give our tax dollars to private and religious schools that can discriminate against children. Ask them whether they have a long-term vision for protecting and enhancing public education in our state. Actions speak louder than words in supporting strong public schools for all children in North Carolina.
“We all have a stake in making North Carolina’s public schools the best they can be. These schools are essential to building healthy communities, a vibrant democracy and a prosperous economy.”
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/18/4080529/all-of-nc-has-a-stake-in-strong.html?sp=/99/108/374/#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am a 34 year Independent School teacher/administrator and I completely agree with the need to strongly support our public schools in every district. I also believe firmly that the best education happens in communities where strong public schools and strong independent schools complement and stimulate each other.
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Arne Duncan Declares Victory in War on Schools and Teachers – Alan’s Latest Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/arne-duncan-declares-vict_b_5699255.html
Well…he is a mouthpiece for big $$$$$, pure and simple.
This is the reply I want to post to a person EVERY SINGLE TIME I hear the, “I send my child to a private school/don’t have kids in school so I shouldn’t have to pay taxes” argument. It’s short sighted and very self centered. Who’s to say the cure for AIDS, cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s or SMA isn’t in the brain of a child born in to disadvantaged parents. Educate him or her so that maybe someday, we can all benefit.
I have always said that Public education’s problem has never been the teachers. I have had many when I was in school who have influenced me. The problem is that it seems that the funding, which is miniscule at best to begin with, has diminished every year, according to “numbers”. In other words, at least in Iowa, the number of students dictates how much funding the schools get from state and federal sources.
This, I have always thought, is unfair to the rural, small town America, schools that have a limited number of students to begin with. It is also unfair to the inner city schools which have seen either a drop in numbers because of lack of resources and prospects for students. In fact, it is unfair to all of the country. some of your best students, some of your brightest, come from these areas. But they are judged either by color or the size of their school.
removing funding from the coffers of smaller or less “appealing” schools solves no problems. Privatizing schools solves nothing. Those who need the most still pay the biggest price. It is the same with forcing schools to cut back or phase out parts or all of their arts programs. What if we took away football, basketball, or wrestling from the bigger schools? (I am not advocating this, nor do I believe in removing ANY program.) Would this really solve a problem? No. It just serves to create a new one.
Take away the arts, or any other program, and you take away a child’s creative outlet. Creativity is something you really cannot test. Not through any standardized tests. I have never seen, in all the times I was forced to take the ITED tests, a segment on drawing, true creative writing (fiction, not essay), music, or basketball/football/soccer/cheerleading/wrestling/ sports in general. I have, however, seen math, some of which is never used in everyday applications unless you work in manufacturing (and then, it is in limited use) and science that we, as writers or laymen/women, rarely use in our everyday lives…and many, now days seem not to really pay attention to.
I am not saying that the teaching of these subjects are not necessary, I am saying that recent comments from public figures-namely our politicians-reveal their lack of knowledge, which I attribute to not paying attention in High school biology, math, geography, etc. We have whole generations now that are completely ignorant. How they come into public service is beyond me. I even had contact with one who had atrocious spelling problems.
And these are the same individuals trying to “reform” our educational system. Why? They aren’t educated enough to call any shots, as far as I am concerned. Besides, true reform would be the way the government FUNDS schools, not the curriculum.
Investing in public schools is investing in our future, the children of those schools. It is in the interests of everyone to support the REAL public schools whether you have kids in the schools or not. We all (or most of us) have benefitted from having a public school education, so we should continue to support the schools long after we have graduated from high school or our kids have graduated from high school. It would be totally selfish and short sighted to abandon public schools after we ourselves have benefitted from public schools.
How can anyone claim the democratically run public schools are not doing the job they are trusted to do? Only an ignorant fool or a crook would think or allege they are not.
For instance, U.S. Bachelor Degree Rate Passes Milestone—New York Times, February 23, 2012.
“More than 30 percent of American adults hold bachelor’s degrees, a first in the nation’s history, and women are on the bring of surpassing men in educational attainment, the Census Bureau reported on Thursday.”
Translate that 30 percent into a number, we end up with more than 73 million Americans with BA degrees and this doesn’t count AA, Masters and PhD’s.
Yet there are almost three who have BA degrees or better to every job that requires a BA degree or better.
There are about 140 million full-time jobs in the United States for 140 million workers. That means that more than half the adult workforce has a college degree but almost 70% of those jobs do not require a college education. In fact, about 26 percent don’t even require a high school degree.
Here’s a pull quote from one of my Blog posts: “According to bls.gov, if 100 percent of Americans were college educated, then most would be overqualified for 67 – 77 percent of the jobs [96.5 to 110.9 million], and 26 percent of those jobs [37.4 million] don’t even require a high school diploma or its equivalent. In 2013, 143.9 million Americans were employed in the civilian labor force.”
I’ve always considered public education to be part of the public trust, and the promise of democracy. The only way to make public schools equitable is to change how they are funded and redraw district lines to reduce concentrations of poor students in any given school Through this approach all schools will be safe, clean and adequately funded. Maybe poverty should be a civil rights issue so schools will be forced to integrate socioeconomic levels. We need to depoliticize curricula. Governors and billionaires are not experts in teaching and learning. For that, we need to look at the best practices and stop scapegoating teachers and their bargaining units. We need to value public teachers, give them room to teach, and support in their efforts. The whole charter movement has been a miserable failure. They have been 17-18% successful and have caused undue harm to children and their families. At their core they are undemocratic. They smell of corruption and crooked deals. We need to change our laws so that no public schools are defunded to benefit private entities. Public schools are our future and should reflect our best efforts..
And the investment is more than just jobs, too. One of the main reasons for public schools to begin with was to create informed voters. That still rings true today, because we need better informed voters more than ever. Unfortunately, one of the products of “reform” has been to cut history, geography and civics. I’ll leave it to you to decide if that was an accidental or purposeful result.
Grew up thinking this was all a given; something everyone would clearly agree on.
Really having to do a lot of reading, talking, being pensive and finding ways to engage folks who have abandoned this notion that strong public schools are in the best interest of all citizens.
Strange times.