Education Reform and the Battle Over Privatization
In the case of education, we are confronting an immense prejudice, inculcated by the education system itself. There is a long history of political intervention in schools in North America, and an even longer ideological history from the Reformation; the Scottish one, especially. Books could be written, and have been: But, in a single phrase, the notion that "education is too important to be left to chance" is so universally accepted, that the public at large is capable of overlooking universal failure. Our state schools, which were (contrary to myth) never all that good, have degenerated into dysfunctional propaganda mills.
We easily accept the associated notion that "in a democracy, public schooling is necessary to assure minimum standards for citizenship." That schools should provide the machinery for the indoctrination of the masses follows naturally from this. Think it through. The proposition actually reverses the first principle of democracy: that government should answer to citizens, and not citizens to government. And remember, that all "progressive" educational proposals require political compulsion.
The question is, "how do we get there?" Most conservatives favor privatization of education on some level, but have different opinions on how we achieve that goal. On one side, you have charter school advocates who believe that public schools are so engrained in the American psyche, we need charters as a middle step. The argument is that the public will be reluctant to go from completely public education to completely private education in one step. Authorizing charter schools will, theoretically, demonstrate to the public that privatization can improve the quality of education, and make them more willing to do away with public education all together.
On the other side, you have those that argue that because charter schools are still public schools, you will have the same indoctrination of students, and same bureaucratic nightmares in a charter. They believe we must take the big step to complete privatization in one fell swoop. The time wasted on the middle step with charters comes at the expense of the children who could be getting a better education. They also point out that charters don't give much more control to parents and students than the public school system.
Despite the differences, we all agree that education reform is necessary. I'm glad that movies like The Lottery and Waiting For Superman have opened the debate, and brought the issue to the attention of many Americans who weren't engaged.
Common Sense Solutions For Education Reform
Florida gets it:
Utah gets it:In Florida, the State Senate has proposed legislation in two committees to strengthen merit pay for teachers and end tenure.
The question is: Why doesn't Alabama get it?Utah has also taken a serious step in the direction of responsible education reform. The Utah State Senate passed a bill recently to ban the social promotion of first, second, and third graders who are not yet reading on grade level. The majority noted that reading skills are the fundamental building blocks of future learning.
Diane Ravitch and Charter Schools
In short, many charter schools come closer in aspiration and often in practice to the image that Diane has of what defines functioning schools. And more importantly, if we close down all the charter schools and wait for neighborhood public schools to improve, who pays the costs? Middle class parents will move to the suburbs or send their kids to private schools, leaving the burden of bad schools to fall on the usual less affluent victims.The book tells a depressingly familiar story of a field wracked by fads and innovations that have gone off the track. Her diagnosis of where we’ve gone wrong is often brilliant—although as noted she got choice and charter schools wrong.
AL House "Indefinitely Postponed" Charter School Bill
Vote was 13-2
Voting to "indefinitely postpone" were: Lindsey, Rogers, Bentley, Boothe, Buskey, Graham, Greeson, Kennedy, McLaughlin, Oden, Spicer, Taylor, and Thomas.
Voting to take a vote on the charter school bill were: Reps. Mac Gipson and Mary Sue McClurkin.
Thanks to Reps. Mac Gipson and Mary Sue McClurkin for standing up to Paul Hubbert and the AEA. Their commitment to bettering education in Alabama is much appreciated.
The only strange vote was Rep. Robert Bentley, who is also a Republican Gubernatorial candidate. It was not a wise move for Dr. Bentley in a republican primary where most voters favor more school choice.
Riley Asks State Board of Education to Endorse Charter Schools
Unfortunately, Paul Hubbert and the AEA are doing everything they can to make sure the state legislature doesn’t let a bill pass.
This is definitely an issue to watch in the coming legislative session.
The Promise of Charter Schools
The Promise of Charter Schools
“Alabama has a tremendous opportunity to quickly improve the quality of education outcomes in the state. If we want to answer the questions, “What does Alabama have to do to succeed in the next five to ten years?’ and “What do we want our education outcomes to look like in five to ten years?” with bold vision, it is obvious we need to take dramatic actions. Preparing our students for meaningful lives and 21st century challenges cannot be accomplished within the constraints of our current one-size-fits all public school model.”