Wolves
In Sheep's Clothing. . .
Education reform is a hot
topic in modern America. The discussions around reform too often
center on how our public schools are failing students, how our public schools
are failing society, and how we can radically change the ways that our public
schools function (or even completely eliminate the existing public school
system altogether). The language of the
debate has been shaped by reformers to create an atmosphere of crisis and
mistrust around public schools and public school educators (especially those
that are unionized).
This language is almost
always grounded in a few main themes.
Each of these themes has been chosen to appeal to the "common
sensibilities" of the "everyday taxpaying citizen." They are designed to make the ideals of
educational "reform" seem logical and positive in nature. They sound good when touted by politicians
and sound good in advertisements and in media reports about education. Yet, when the ideas of "reformers"
are carefully analyzed and scrutinized their "common sense" nature is
exposed for what it really is, a vehicle for expanding the economic and
political power of a small number of individuals and groups.
These groups are the
"wolves in sheep's clothing", or the "Trojan horses" of
modern education. They say that they are
"looking out for kids and families", but the "reforms" that
are offered too frequently do little to actually help the students and families
that need the most support and assistance.
One of these themes is the
idea that our public schools have been a government run monopoly that needs
some competition to create an educational marketplace. This line of thinking taps in to the American
ideal of capitalism and free-market economics.
The idea is that if schools had to compete for students then they would
improve their practices and their service.
The expansion of the
voucher system is the major vehicle used to advance this idea and has been
pushed by conservatives here in Wisconsin. It relies on creating the perception that the
public schools are failing, that they are educational dinosaurs and that the
educators in these schools are self-absorbed and unwilling to meet the needs of
the students. The efforts to discredit
public schools are widespread and based on questionable data that does little
to really justify the use of public money to support private schools. This is especially apparent when the public
schools that are being attacked often perform as well, or even better than,
voucher schools on the very assessments that are designed by the
"reformers." Public schools
can beat the "reformers" at their own game and still lose funding and
political support.
The attempts to change the
ways that we run our schools to a more businesslike model alters the way that
we view the efforts of educators and the services that schools provide. Suddenly, we are looking at the bottom line,
and not at the needs of our students.
Schools are forced to justify every penny spent, but are not playing on
a level playing field.
Along with competition,
accountability is another theme that sounds great in a sound bite, but fails to
provide the benefits that "reformers" claim. No one denies that schools and educators need
to be accountable to the students and families we serve. The question is, just what does
accountability mean? Is it defined by
assessments, numbers and "hard" data, or is it defined in other, less
objective ways?
The harm that we are doing
to students through constant standardized assessment is becoming more
measurable. The damage done to schools
and our public education system is just as apparent. We are assessing our students and schools to
the breaking point, and getting very little in return.
Another theme of reformers
is the idea that our schools haven't challenged our students enough and the
work that is done by staff and students needs to be more
"rigorous." Because our test
scores are lower than we would like and because we have achievement gaps
between different groups, we need to increase the level of difficulty and
challenge each and every student to meet standards that may or may not be
developmentally appropriate.
Along the way to
increasing the "rigor" in our curriculum and our schools a few things
are ignored and/or lost. One of the
major problems with setting standards that all students must reach is that not
all students are prepared for this environment when they arrive in school. The idea that "Kindergarten is the new
1st Grade" is one that I often hear from fellow educators. Inserting children who aren't ready for the
challenges sets them up for failures that can haunt them the rest of their
academic careers. By creating a system
of "rigor" that doesn't account for individual circumstances and
different student needs we fail to create an environment where learning can
actually occur.
We also ignore the reality
that not every student, school or community receives equal support in the
process.
Finally, the
"rigorous curriculums" and new standards are not being developed by
educators. They are being developed and
promoted by people outside of the schools who don't always understand or
advocate for real students. A new "hobby"
of mine is to take materials that are given out during staff professional development
sessions at my school and research the authors and sponsors of the
articles. Too often they are linked back
to a small number of foundations, individuals and think-tanks with ties to
corporate reform efforts.
Testing,
"rigor", one size fits all curriculums and standards all are used to
attack public schools. Yet, these
"reforms" are all being imposed on public school educators. These efforts to "help" make
schools better may not be what they are advertised to be. It is up to us as supporters of public
schools to make it clear that real improvements to our schools come from classrooms
and communities, not from legislation and corporations.
Truth
in Reporting. . .
The battles in education
are mirror those occurring in other parts of our society as well. There is an obvious effort being made to
divide our society into competing fragments.
We are constantly being warned to look out for those who would take
advantage of safety nets and who abuse the supports that protect our most
vulnerable citizens. Just like in
education where the "reformers" claim to be looking out for the
"common everyday citizen/taxpayer", the debates around economic and
social issues sets up the same divisive mindset. There are those who work hard, and those who
live off the labor of those who work hard.
This isn't a new
phenomenon, nor is it one exclusive to American society. There has always been a tension between
different classes and groups in every society.
What makes the current conflicts so problematic is the reality that we
are living in a world where we are more dependent on each other than ever
before. We can't ignore the fact that
all of us need each other and our government in order to enjoy the benefits
that our society provides. There are
those who deny this and seek to restrict others' access to resources and
support.
While there is a natural tendency
to portray those who express more conservative beliefs in a negative light,
that line of thinking only serves to increase the sense of division between
segments of our population. Just like
educators, administrators, families and members of the community need to rally
together to promote quality public education, we need to see the same
coalitions forming to address issues of poverty, discrimination and injustice.
One of the major
impediments to building societal unity is the way that stories around policies
and events are covered in the media.
Americans have long touted the protections that our Constitution gives
our press, but we shouldn't forget that those freedoms come with significant
responsibilities. Responsibilities that
include doing more than just running superficial stories and that require
reporters and media sources to do their "homework" in order to
present accurate and complete information to the public.
One significant concern
that many Americans have is the increasing control of our society by a small
number of individuals and corporations.
This is true in terms of products we buy as well as in information we
consume.
Unions-
More Necessary Than Ever. . .
In the face of the
increasing consolidation of power in the hands of a small number of people, the
majority of us have two distinct options.
We can attempt to navigate the challenges we face as individuals (with
most of us failing to reach our political, social or economic goals), or we can
unite with other like minded people to utilize our collective power to make
change happen for us. Listening to a
conservative Madison
radio celebrity this past week I was amused to hear a call to work collectively
to resist the implementation of the ACA.
The tactics that were described sounded suspiciously like those that a
union organizer might use in organizing a workplace. They involved cooperative action, and without
using the word, a reliance on the solidarity of a large number of individuals
to accomplish a specific goal.
The philosophies that
support unions are both logical and popular.
What is missing isn't the ideals that unions espouse, but the formal
organizational structures. These
structures are often difficult to implement, especially in the current
anti-labor environment we live in.
The Supreme Court will
begin hearing the case where MTI challenged the Constitutionality of Act 10 on
Monday, November 11th. This case is of
vital importance for public education employees in Wisconsin, but also for unionized workers in
general.
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