 |
| Image Credit: Flickr/ 77krc |
I recently read a piece by Sam Chaltain in the Huffington Post that had me shaking my head at the problem he exposes, and yelling "YES!" his suggested solution.
I find Sam Chaltain's piece to be a harsh reflection of reality, not just in the Ohio school district he writes about; but also in the school district where I live. People worry about educating their own children; but when it comes to educating ALL children...OUR nation's children...most people don't seem to care. Collectively, our society doesn't seem to worry about other people's children. Our education policy reflects that lack of feeling. That is why one school can be 30 miles from another geographically, but light years away when it comes to programming, achievement, and even structural integrity.
I find Sam Chaltain's piece to be a harsh reflection of reality, not just in the Ohio school district he writes about; but also in the school district where I live. People worry about educating their own children; but when it comes to educating ALL children...OUR nation's children...most people don't seem to care. Collectively, our society doesn't seem to worry about other people's children. Our education policy reflects that lack of feeling. That is why one school can be 30 miles from another geographically, but light years away when it comes to programming, achievement, and even structural integrity.
 |
| Image Credit: Flickr/reallyboring |
"Indeed, public education is our surest form of 'national security.' It provides the most likely path out of poverty, helps prepare young people to be successful workers and citizens, and reminds us all of who, on our best days, we aspire to be. And yet the reality is we continue to tolerate a system in which your zip code determines your access to the American Dream, and in which communities refuse to fund their schools because 'their' children no longer go there."Equality in education is something we, as a nation, thought we achieved in 1954 with Brown v the Board of Education. Yet as Chaltain writes, a Texas case in 1974 challenged the constitutionality of funding schools by property taxes because that process leads to unequal schools. The Supreme Court ruling decided that education wasn't a Constitutional right.
Maybe if we change that thinking, make an equal education a Constitutional right, then we can finally talk about "fixing" public education--by leveling the funding playing field. The pictures above are of 2 elementary schools in the same public school district--the Chicago Public Schools. The disparity in building quality is obvious from the pictures.
Think about where you live. Within your school district, are the schools in one neighborhood nicer than those in another? Shouldn't we be offering all of our kids the same opportunities and the same access to education?
Read the Sam Chaltain piece here: Sam Chaltain: Other People's Children
"The Supreme Court ruling decided that education wasn't a Constitutional right." Interesting. That explains how the U.S. (we the people) prioritize our own worth. We don't respect ourselves enough to say that every child has the right to a quality education.
ReplyDeleteI like President Obama's plan to make it illegal for children to drop out of high school until they're 18.
ReplyDeleteI thought that was interesting, too. One of the dissenting judges was Thurgood Marshall. Wonder where we'd be if we'd gone with his opinion.
ReplyDeleteI may have to write a post on that. There are states that have almost 50% of their h.s. students drop out, but in my experience kids will continue to drop out even if it's against the law. There are 15 year olds who drop out now. I've never encountered a 15 year old who went to juvenile detention for dropping out a year before the legal age. I've never encountered a parent who went to jail when their kid quit going to school. If we're going to make it a law, we have to be willing to enforce it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I personally don't think that making/enforcing a new law is the way to go. That's going to create a bigger school-to-prison pipeline for kids (especially kids of color.) Kids who are bored and unemployed will just have another "crime" to add to their rap sheets. I think the way to go is to change our schools. We really have to make schools a place where kids want to be. Schools have to become relevant, fair, equal, comfortable, and safe places. I think Race to the Top tried to bribe schools to do that, but there just isn't enough money for everyone, and the process of change is painstakingly slow. I know a lot of people want less government involvement in schools, but if we shifted the priority from gov't monitoring of test scores and changed it to gov't monitoring of equality (in spending, facilities, and maybe even demographics) I think that would do A LOT to help kids stay in school.
I'm not too crazy about the idea of enforcing education on children. Too many punishments, not enough incentives. Like you said, schools should be clearly valuable to the students and meet the needs. The income disparity in our public school system is what should be a crime. People cry for equality. Let's start with schools!
ReplyDeleteYES! I agree! Maybe you should run for office, Martha, and make it so ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think that making all schools equal would be the place to start leveling the socio-economic playing field. One could argue that a better education might translate to higher retention and graduation rates, more college admissions and degrees, better jobs, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty for many ... but we won't know if we don't find a way to do it.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually shocked that an education is not a constitutional right, but freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right to vote, all are ... how does all that work without having an education to make informed decisions? Makes absolutely no sense to me.
This is one of the things that gets my goat about homeschooling. If a school is so bad you can't send your own kid to it, why would you pull your kid out and leave the other kids floundering? And if someone is such a good teacher at home why aren't they sharing those skills with others???
ReplyDeleteYou know, that is a good point that I've never thought of. I am always bothered by homeschooling, but I assumed that my feelings represent the fact that I am a public school teacher. Really, you hit the proverbial nail on the head--why not work in the schools to make them better? share your skills? And like you said, how can you leave the other kids floundering if it's all that bad? Great comment!
ReplyDeleteI was shocked, too! That is the thing that struck me the most when I read that Chaltain piece on HuffPostEdu--that education is not a constitutional right. I've helped lots of kids through their required government classes, but it never ever occurred to me that education is not a right. It is a privilege. And it turns out that only the socio-economically privileged really and truly obtain the best educational privileges. It really, truly bothers me.
ReplyDelete