The fatalistic rhetoric that our schools need "saving" and that joy and creativity are dead are far-fetched. I know that protests and rallies have their purpose (and, sure, I've participated in many myself!), but I couldn't help but wonder what this throng of people was gearing up for. Parents and teachers advocating for more community involvement in Washington? Posters blaming Arne Duncan and Barack Obama don't really accomplish much. Angry fear-mongering rhetoric clouds the real message that improving education is a national imperative, and reform ideas can percolate both downwards from the federal government and national organizations and upwards from local communities. First, though, the national conversation on education reform must move beyond ideologies, finger-pointing and false dichotomies. This CLASP piece on task forces on poverty and opportunity gives me hope that state-level efforts to move new ideas can have great impact.
This morning, I had the pleasure of meeting Dorothy Stoneman, founder and president of YouthBuild, a comprehensive support program in communities across the country for low-income young people to work towards connecting to education and the workforce. She is an incredible advocate in the arenas of youth development, civic engagement, and service-learning, and it was wonderful being able to sit down with her and speak candidly about this work. She expressed the growing tension between supporting programs that work and attempting to shift systems towards equilibrium change. Obviously, it's not an either/or question, but in the same way that prevention and intervention must be balanced, programs and systems must be balanced as well.
The CLASP report looks really interesting -- thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the SOS march, while every march will include some over-the-top rhetoric (I've probably used some myself), I do think there's a larger point to the march that's worth considering. Many teachers and others strongly committed to public education see the current wave of ed reform proposals and laws -- NCLB, Race to the Top, reducing the power of teachers' unions, etc. -- as fundamentally going against their belief in a strong public school system focused on equitable outcomes and broad social change.
I have some sympathy for this view, but I'm not entirely sold on it. But in the policy-making world, it feels like we don't hear it too much. High-profile speakers at places like HKS who focus on education tend to overwhelmingly be people like Michelle Rhee, Jeb Bush, etc. (just a few who I remember from last year) who are very much in the current ed reform camp. Despite the fact that a well-reasoned progressive critique of current ed policy exists, we don't hear it very much in the policy-making world, despite the fact that there are many speakers -- Diane Ravitch, Randi Weingarten, etc. -- who are strong advocates for this view.
So at the end of the day sometimes you march because you feel like your views just aren't being heard in the national ed debate, and I think that's what's happening here. The march may have been over the top at times, but I can definitely understand the strong desire on the part of a movement to push back and be disruptive when it seems like it is not being heard in the policy discourse.
While I agree with you in most areas, I think what most of us who have been raised in good public schools fail to see is the fatalistic attitudes of those in low income schools. Depression runs rampant for both teachers, students, and parents alike leaving emotions high and hyperbolic protests inevitable.
ReplyDeleteBut then again what I've learned working as an Americorps VISTA is that the impact of poverty spreads everywhere. While policy has a place we can't forget the emotional needs of those who live in economic and educational poverty.
Obviously, others write about this much more coherently than I do. I stumbled upon this earlier today, and it has more details about the contents of the rally:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tnr.com/article/93156/education-reform-matt-damon-arne-duncan