Mike Jones is a member of the Missouri State Board of Education. He expects that Governor Eric Greitens will not reappoint him, as he has been remaking the board to satisfy his privatization agenda. Greitens is currently under indictment for invasion of privacy, involving matters of sexual indiscretion. Greitens appointed a majority , who promptly fired the state commissioner Margie Vandeven. But his board has not been confirmed by the senate.
Jones published this thoughtful and insightful reflection on the state of education of Black children in Missouri. He is spot on.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Jones is a wise observer of the political landscape surrounding our current education policy. He understands that “reform” is not about improvement. It is about institutionalizing separate and unequal and calling it “choice.” He writes:
“What they are really about is dismantling public education for black children. They want black parents to choose different schools within the black community, all of which would be created and controlled by forces outside the black community.”
He cites Paolo Freire’s message that education is never neutral. Friere states:
“There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom,’ the means by which men and women deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
Separate and unequal treatment is a means to keeping people in chains. Not only are private “choices” designed to profitize young black and brown students, they are often administered by business people, not educators. They often get novice college graduates with six weeks of training from TFA as “teachers.” Now “reformers” are creating a watered down low level track for these so-called teachers that will offer fake credentials. All of these contribute to a separate, unequal track for mostly minority students. MLK stated that separate is never equal; education is a social justice issue.
AGREE, retired teacher.
Great article.
Love the ending:
At the core of every unresolved policy argument in education is the contradiction inherent in what is meant by education. Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire eloquently and succinctly summarizes this tension: “There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom,’ the means by which men and women deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
How we answer this question is the key to the future of our children.
School should be about inquiry, critical thinking, making connections, imagination, finding our passion for the common good, love, kindness, compassion, and understanding that the culprit, which hinders learning is poverty.
I should have made a distinction that this is my opinion (see above) and so I have put quotes around this sentence, because I don’t want to confuse:
“School should be about inquiry, critical thinking, making connections, imagination, finding our passion for the common good, love, kindness, compassion, and understanding that the culprit, which hinders learning is poverty.”
And we don’t need guns in schools.
Listing of NRA grants to schools on sidebar.
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/09/denver-public-schools-nra-grants/
Quote: The grants awarded to schools are just a small share of the $61 million the NRA Foundation has given to a variety of local groups since 2010. But it has grown rapidly, increasing nearly fourfold from 2010 to 2014 in what some opponents say is a thinly veiled attempt to recruit the next generation of NRA members.