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The fun continues.
Thomas J. Mertz
Category Archives: National News
The Wrong Frame, The Frame of the (Center) Right
There is a lot of buzz on David Brook’s latest column and its topic — Obama’s pick for Secretary of Education and the direction of education policy in his administration (weigh in on the latter here). Many of the buzzers, like Brooks, simplemindedly frame the choice as between choosing a “reformer” and choosing a stalwart defender of the status quo (in Brooks’ case the latter is described as “teachers’ unions and the members of the Ed School establishment, who emphasize greater funding, smaller class sizes and superficial reforms”).
We’ve seen this in Madison before — the subtle “reformers as good guys,” others as uncaring, self interested or misguided defenders of a failed system. It wasn’t accurate or useful then and it isn’t now.
Much of the current discourse is derived from what Marion Brady in 2001 identified as a the narrowing of reform to “introducing market forces” via “standards and accountability” and the definition of standards and accountability as standardized testing and blaming teachers (and teacher unions), with a little privatization in the mix.
If it isn’t obvious to you how wrong and destructive this is, click the link and read what Brady had to say.
For myself, I’ll just hit a few very quick points. First, market forces aren’t what they’ve cracked up to be (pun intended). Second, the way to improve teaching is not by attacking teachers, teacher trainers and teacher unions…none of them are going away and all them are interested in improvement. Greater funding and smaller classes are not superficial, just look at the research or ask a teacher — oh yeah Brooks has dismissed the knowledge of researchers and teachers, pretty clever of him. Last, this crisis mentality is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We have many great schools and teachers, a system that works for most and desperately needs to be improved in order to work for all. I don’t see Brooks calling for Socialism or Communism as a fix for a financial and industrial system that is obviously broken; why call for radical changes in an education system that isn’t broken?
A couple of links: Jim Horn’s take at Schools Matter and Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler on this column and related failings in education reporting (scroll down).
Thomas J. Mertz
Education Tweak, Winter 2009
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Enjoy.
Thomas J. Mertz
Quote of the Day — The Bailout We Need
Our preoccupation with the immediate crisis of financial capital is causing us to overlook the bigger crisis in America’s human capital. While we commit hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street, we’re slashing our outlays for public education….
The result, across the nation: Teachers are being laid off and new hiring frozen, after-school programs cut, so called “noncritical” subjects like history eliminated, schools closed, and tuitions hiked at state colleges and universities.
It’s absurd. We¹re bailing out every major bank to get financial capital flowing again. But we¹re squeezing the main sources of our nation’s human capital. Yet America’s future competitiveness and the standard of living of our people depend largely our peoples’ skills, and our capacities to communicate and solve problems and innovate not on our ability to borrow money.
Robert Reich, “Of Financial Capital and Human Capital: Why We’re Bailing Out Wall Street While Allowing Our Schools to Get Clobbered.”
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under "education finance", Budget, education, finance, National News, School Finance
Quote of the Day – Priorities
If one accepts the reasonable principle of supporting the new president whenever he makes policy from the left or addresses basic social needs, shouldn’t progressives be cheering the White House as it rolls out the dozers, Cats and big cranes? Aren’t high-speed mass transit and clean energy the kind of noble priorities that best reconcile big-bang stimulus with long-term public value?
The answer is: no, not at this stage of our national emergency. I’m not an infrastructure-crisis denialist, but first things first. We are now at a crash site, and our priority should be to save the victims, not change the tires or repair the fender, much less build a new car. In the triage situation that now confronts the president-elect, keeping local schools and hospitals open should be the first concern, rebuilding bridges and expanding ports would come next, and rescuing bank shareholders at the very end of the line.
Inexorably, the budgets of schools, cities and states are sinking into insolvency on a scale comparable to the early 1930s. The public-sector fiscal crisis — a vicious chain reaction of falling property values, incomes and sales — has been magnified by the unexpectedly large exposure of local governments and transit agencies to the Wall Street meltdown via complex capital lease-back arrangements. Meanwhile on the demand side, the need for public services explodes as even prudent burghers face foreclosure, not to speak of the loss of pensions and medical coverage. Although the public mega-deficits of California and New York may dominate headlines, the essence of the crisis — from the suburbs of Anchorage to the neighborhoods of West Philly — is its potential universality.
Mike Davis, ” Why Obama’s Futurama Can Wait: Schools and Hospitals Should Come First in Any Stimulus Package.”
Thomas J. Mertz
Victory – Move on Up
Just move on up
and keep on wishing
Remember your dreams
are your only schemes
So keep on pushing
Take nothing less –
Never second best
And do not obey –
you must have your say
You can past the test
Curtis Mayfield, “Move on Up.”
The Madison school referendum, the Wisconsin Assembly, of course the Presidency and more — victories worth celebrating and building on.
As Curtis says, “keep on pushing.” This is just the start. We need to stay involved and active to in order to move on up.
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under Accountability, Best Practices, Elections, Local News, National News, Referenda, referendum, Take Action
Quote of the Day — “Most Powerful” Data
“I am not a number,” from The Prisoner.
It’s one reason why the most impressive data we used at the schools I’m most familiar with were the results of interviews with alumnae conducted years after they left us. But even that only helps us if we’re open to hearing what they say. For the possibility—however unlikely—that we may be wrong about this or that has to be uncomfortably confronted—over and over. Sometimes it’s small things and sometimes it’s the big ones. It’s this that I hope good schools do for both their kids and their staff—because this habit of what I call “skepticism” is what democracy rests on. The “data” that are the most powerful are not all the proxy data—like test scores—which we have been inundated with. What we need to be listening to are the real experiences of our students and our graduates, and over time their impact upon the larger world as well.
Deborah Meier, (hat tip, Jim Horn – Schools Matter)
Thomas J. Mertz
Moneyball
1969 Chicago Cubs, “Pennant Fever” (click to listen or download)
Willie Sutton supposedly once replied to the question, “Why do you rob banks?” with the answer “Because that’s where the money is.”
In his protests against the broken state school finance system in his state, the Illinois State Senator, Rev. James Meeks has shown a similar shrewdness. The first week of school he led Chicago school children to the rich suburbs to register for school; he went where the money was and the reporters and cameras followed. Now he has planned a protest outside the first playoff game at Wrigley Field (and here). Good for him!
I’m sure tickets are going for thousands of dollars, I know that a beer costs $6.00 at Wrigley. While the “haves” and others enjoy their good fortunes of having the opportunity to enjoy October baseball, it is a good thing that they be reminded that many of our children don’t have decent educational opportunities.
For more information on school finance in Illinois, see this page (and links) from the Access Network. Like Wisconsin, they have a broken school finance system. Illinois is also home to a very creative school finance advocacy organization, A+ Illinois.
For our readers in the Milwaukee area, the first home Brewers’ playoff game is Saturday at 5:30 PM. Not to late to get a protest together.
And for any who care, I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan who spent a good deal of my youth and young adult years regularly attending games at Wrigley. This post-season, I’m rooting for (in order) the Brewers, the Cubs and the White Sox.
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under "education finance", AMPS, Budget, education, finance, National News, School Finance, Take Action
Schools and the Common Good
Elsewhere, I’ve touched on the history of public education and the important idea of the “Common,” as in the Common School and the Common Good. My whole thinking about public education is that our schools are where we express our vision of a good society and try to create that society. In doing this we come together, finding common ground, defining the common good while preparing our children to contribute to a society where the common good is paramount.
This is by definition a secular project; church and state are separate. The creation of public schools was in part designed to secularize the notion of a common good. But religious groups and thinking are an important part of our society and those visions remain relevant. Earlier I posted some excerpts from the United Church of Christ on public education. Today I’m posting some thoughts from a recent document in the Catholic Social Action tradition, a tradition that has shaped who I am. These come from, A Platform for the Common Good, drafted and ratified by a coalition of Catholic organizations. One of the authors, Robert Beezat, will be speaking at Edgewood College on September 25.
Under the heading of “Promote the General Welfare” there are calls to action on a number of topics, including education. This is what the platform has to say.
Government Action Needed:
On Education
- Increase education funding and distribute resources equitably, with special attention to schools in low-income neighborhoods
- Pay teachers fair and adequate wages and institute programs to encourage teacher retention
- Provide more arts, music and other cultural enrichment courses
- Ensure that special education students have the resources and trained teachers they need
- Ensure that education includes life skills and vocational training to prepare students for jobs
- Provide free universal preschool/Head Start
- Fund educational mandates.
Individual/ Community Action Needed:
- As parents, be involved in our children’s education
- Hold regional school boards accountable.
Other education related planks appear elsewhere, under the headings “Establish Justice” and “Ensure Domestic Tranquility.”
- Work to lessen income disparities and to reform tax policies that favor the wealthy and corporate interests.
- Acknowledge that discrimination, including racism and sexism, continues to impact public systems and encourage public employees and others to engage in anti-discrimination training
- End discrimination in all institutional forms.Support and promote programs that promote a fair distribution of resources and serve vulnerable populations
- Support and promote programs and activities that address prejudice and discrimination
- Write letters to the editor and op-eds to encourage anti-racism education and better relationships within our communities
- Fund after-school programs, jobs for youth, and continuing education (GED, ESL) for adults
Many, many good and important ideas about how to work toward the common good. These ideas should be at the heart of the Church’s work, but often get lost.
Thomas J. Mertz
“Stools for Schools”
(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Yes, you read that right. In another sign of how municipalities must cope with the lack of community resources to ensure the necessary access of their citizens to a quality education. The mayor of Akron, Ohio
Has proposed leasing the city-owned sewage system to a private contractor for up to $200 million and using the money to finance college scholarships for Akron’s public high school graduates.
…
He said money for the scholarships would help students attend the University of Akron or a trade school in the city, and turning over the system to a contractor would include rate caps and service guarantees.
Plusquellic said the plan would address brain drain — a migration of talented students out of the city. The city’s population also has dropped 4 percent, to 207,934, since 2000 because of a decline in the manufacturing industry.
Plusquellic’s plan is a twist on programs in other U.S. cities, including Kalamazoo, Mich., that offer scholarships to students with the hope that they eventually stay. But the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators knows of no other program that leases a sewage system to pay for college scholarships.
Are band-aid solutions going to remain the “go to” panacea for public education in America?
Robert Godfrey
Filed under AMPS, Best Practices, National News, School Finance
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