A reader sent this:
I just found this poem in a tattered copy book kept by my grandmother, who was born in Sweden in 1887 and came to the US as an infant. It appears after a few pages of Swedish lessons an outline of US history and geography, grammar rules, and music notation, among other patriotic poems.
Given that public schools are currently under siege, reading this appreciation from over 100 years ago reminded me of all that they have meant to so many generations of American citizens.
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL
1.
When Freedom flung her banner high
In triumph o’re the land
‘Twas like a rainbow in the sky
A pledge by heroes planned:
Fair Wisdom’s form came then in view
That all might learn in lessons true
The creed of Liberty
Hail, hail, hail our fortress strong
Hail, hail, hail the foe of wrong.
Bright, bright, bright beam thy beacon light
God bless the public school.
2.
The tyrant’s power melt away
When Truth and Right appear
No more Ignorance obey
The dictates of her fear
For knowledge elevates mankind
Makes clear the golden rule
And gives the blessings that we find
Within the public school.
Ohio ed reformers are blocking charter school evaluations:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/08/22/republican-vote-could-block-charter-sponsor-evaluations.html
It’s not just the fact that they’re reneging on their promise to reform charter schools. It’s the fact that our lawmakers in Columbus have now spent the last 2 years focusing exclusively on charter schools. If they’re not promoting and marketing charters with “summits” they’re expanding charters or reforming charters. They’re now blocking the reforms they just spent a year on.
It never ends. There isn’t ROOM for improving public schools in ed reform. They are so ga-ga over charters no amount of time or money or effort is excessive.
Utter and complete capture of the entire state establishment.
Wonderful poem.
Sadly funny how little things change at heart. We still have tyranny, but in more subtle and insidious forms, and sometimes not so subtle!
And it will take more than just saving public schools. We have to remain human as technology and politics and jobs change. We have to be the better kind of human, though, not the lesser one.
Thank you for this inspirational poem. When I taught my ELLs, I always felt connected to the promise of this nation and democracy. While many of my colleagues dealt with picky, disgruntled American parents, my parents were so appreciative and so thankful for the opportunities this nation affords. When I retired, my ESL parents organized a huge surprise party with parents, children and former students. I had been in the district so long, I was teaching newly arrived grandchildren at this time. Parents made a banner in English and many other languages that the families had signed, It read, “Thank you, dear teacher.” I saved the banner to remind me of those whose lives I had touched and whose lives had been forever changed from the access to opportunity of public education. That is the reason I am a fervent supporter of public schools. I have witnessed the transformative magic of the power of a good public school system.
Just saw this publication. FYI:
Blog: Schools Matter
Post: Understanding KIPP Model Charter Schools: Part 3
Link: http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2016/07/understanding-kipp-model-charter_31.html
“For knowledge elevates mankind”
Too bad we don’t believe in teaching knowledge anymore. Common Core ELA boils down to the skill of finding supporting evidence. There is no real content knowledge in CC ELA. And because Common Core is almost everything in many schools, there is no real content knowledge in many schools. Skills seem to be pushing out knowledge in science now with the NGSS, and soon the same will happen with history. Someday we’ll wake up and realize that the failure to transmit knowledge makes people…ignorant. Instead of elevating mankind, our schools are unwittingly but actively conspiring to keep mankind in the cave. Because the current harebrained education orthodoxy holds that teaching knowledge is, if not totally passe, far less important than teaching skills.
What David Coleman and his ilk fail to grasp is that high-level intellectual operations depend on invisible basic knowledge embedded in long-term memory. Transmitting these essential ELEMENTS of high-functioning used to be the balliwick of ELEMENTARY school. Now elementary school forces kids into a farcical aping of experts’ behavior –as if the best way to teach a kid to play Beethoven’s Ninth is to have him START by playing Beethoven’s Ninth instead of scales and simple pieces. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
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