Nancy Flanagan writes here about the assumption that whatever is “private” must be better than whatever is “public.” This may be a widespread assumption but she gives many examples of the public services and public goods that almost everyone agrees should remain public. She insists that public schools have a special place in a democracy and that they should remain public, not partially or wholly privatized.
The goal that is dearest to her heart, she writes, is saving public education. She is not looking for a return to some mythical “good old days.” She is devoted to:
saving public education from going under, totally, being dismantled and sold for parts.
Lots of truly ghastly things have happened to public education in the past couple of decades, the pandemic merely being the worst. Teachers have had large chunks of their professional discretion taken away, and their salaries remain in the basement. The accountability movement has turned the mission of public education from citizenship and job training to improving test scores.
And now, teachers are caught in the squeeze between the challenge of teaching students well, using uneven connectivity and tools they’ve not been trained to use—or exposing themselves to a deadly virus. It’s like the worst dystopian plot ever, set in the most prosaic setting: an ordinary classroom.
And the conflicting parties are not red or blue, conservative or liberal. They’re public and private.
There are some things that need to belong to all of us, be cherished and tended and utilized by all of us, each chipping in as they can, because we understand these things are best accomplished by communal resources and effort: Parks. Libraries. Roads. Hospitals. The Post Office. Museums, theatres and auditoriums. Schools. The people who keep our food supply safe and put out forest fires. And of course, things we must have, like the military, police and prisons.
Public things.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Public schools are community assets that prepare young people for their futures. They prepare young people to be responsible citizens and provide them with foundational education. Most public schools are an expression of local control and democracy in action. They serve all students regardless of background, color and socioeconomics . Our country is divided. We need public schools to bring different people together. Our fractured society needs more inclusion and less exclusion. Public schools are our investment in the future, and they are a collective reflection of America.
Thank you for this well-written, commonsense post.
Yes, and there are multiple voices who foretold the national division coming as a result of the notable re-segregation brought through test score reforms.