These Two Articles Frame the Big Issues Destroying American Public Education.....

Two education stories got my attention over the last few days, and they both complement each other on the subject of modern public school climate. They also point to the two biggest issues that are destroying public education: 1.)  Apathy and failure to confront the real issues that are leading some schools to fail, and 2.) the disingenuous, hypocritical, insidious educrat mantra that proclaims education reform is bad --and all schools can be fixed if everybody will just get on the same page and howl for more taxpayer money.

The first article is in today’s Forbes.com, and it points out the blatant hypocrisy of education reform critics.  It’s a brief but interesting read- really thought provoking.  From “The Paradoxes of Education Reform Critics”

“Reform critics have embraced anti-democratic rhetoric to attack the Gates Foundation and other organizations that want to influence education. For example, Diane Ravitch has called them written before ”bastions of unaccountable power” that aren’t “subject to public oversight or review”, and who “have taken it upon themselves to reform public education, perhaps in ways that would never survive the scrutiny of voters in any district or state”.   That sounds a lot like unions to me, but education reform critics like Ravitch don’t seem to mind them one bit.  Likewise, Ravitch and other reform critics also praise the democratic nature of schools as something that is sacrosanct, but then insist these beacons of democracy shouldn’t be able to freely operate without negotating with unions. Which kind of sounds like we don’t trust these institutions very much at all.”

Walter Williams has a piece in today’s Pensacola News Journal that tackles the issue of social dysfunction impacting education.  Interestingly, this same piece (albeit longer and less sanitized) appeared on Townhall.com last Wednesday.  In this piece, Williams  cuts right to the heart of the issue in so many schools when he correctly points out that home-life conditions are what is driving poor performance in many public schools.  He takes it a step further when he also, aptly, states that demanding more and more taxpayer cash will not fix this problem---American families must step up.  I’m certain his correct viewpoint on this issue makes him a pariah in some circles…..From the article “Tragic School Stories”

“New York's schools are the most segregated in the nation, and the state needs remedies right away. That was Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch's message to New York's governor and Legislature. She said that minority children are disproportionately trapped in schools that lack teaching talent, course offerings and resources needed to prepare them for college and success.  Simply calling for more school resources will produce disappointing results. There are several minimum requirements that must be met for any child to do well in school. Someone must make the youngster do his homework, ensure that he gets eight to nine hours of sleep, feed him breakfast and make sure that he behaves in school and respects the teachers. None of these requirements can be satisfied by larger education budgets. They must be accomplished by families, or all else is for naught…The bottom line is that if nothing is done to affect the home life and cultural values that produce the non-learning attitudes and climate that are the subject of Linda Ball's "185 Days: School Stories," there's little that can be done to improve black education. The best that politicians can do is to give parents and children who are serious about education a mechanism to opt out of rotten schools. That option is something the education establishment fights tooth and nail against.”