The June 2011 issue of Atlantic magazine is a must-read for anyone who cares about the education of American children. Written by Joel Klein, former chancellor of New York city schools and the prosecutor who made Bill Gates and Microsoft cry "uncle," the article explores the real reasons behind the failure of American public education.
Klein fought hard to change the status quo in NY public schools. He lost.
Calling today's public education "essentially a government monopoly," Klein notes that "whether a school does well or poorly, it will get the students it needs to stay in business, because most kids have no other choice."
So, what IS the "business" of public education? Klein explores this with a cynicism usually found in people like me, commoners who have bucked the system for so long that we're usually deemed reactionary, unbalanced, or downright hateful.
"Let's start with the politicians. From their point of view, the school system can be enormously helpful, providing patronage hires, school-placement opportunities for connected constituents, the means to get favored community and business programs adopted and funded, and politically advantageous ties to schools and parents in their communities," Klein writes.
Klein goes on to describe an instance in which he argued before the NY state assembly to end patronage hires. Politicians pretended to be shocked but afterward Klein was told he could count on one committee member's future support if only he (Klein) would make sure a school principal in the member's district wasn't fired. So much for pleading ignorance of patronage, eh?
In another instance, Klein writes about his reorganization of the school system in which he minimized the power of 32 local superintendents. A local official called Klein and asked how he'd get "constituent services" once the reorg was complete. Klein replied, "What's that?" and the official said, "How do I get a kid into a school when I need to?" When Klein tried to explain that admission to the school system could not be preferential, the official said, "Go f**k yourself," and hung up.
I know, I know, you're waiting for me to explain what all this has to do with public education. Folks, what I've just presented IS public education, at least in New York City.
Without completely violating copyright laws, I'm going to quote a few other "revelations" from Klein's article. These little nuggets speak volumes:
* The gains we have made in improving our schools are negligible -- even though we have doubled our spending (in inflation adjusted dollars) on K-12 public education.
*On America's latest exams, one third or fewer of 8th grade students were proficient in mat, science, or reading.
*ACT, the respected national organization that administers college-admissions tests, recently found that 76 percent of our high-school graduates 'were not adequately prepared academically for first-year college courses.'
*The World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. 48th in math and science education.
*Politicians do what the teachers' unions want, not what children need.
*Substandard teachers are nearly impossible to get rid of, at least in NY schools.
*Teachers who are "burned out" continue to bide their time so they can receive uber-generous benefits upon retirement. They inflict their apathy and indifference upon their students.
*Charter schools that have been successful are derided as insignificant exceptions. Instead of trying to figure out what they've done right, teachers' unions and other invested public school proponents dismiss these schools as aberrations.
Klein also quotes former United Federation of Teachers president Al Shanker, exposing some hard truths about the grownups in charge of children's most important institution aside from their families:
"When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren," Shanker is quoted as saying.
Towards the end of the article Klein draws upon Shanker's words again, this time from a 1993 speech to the prestigious Pew Forum: Shanker said, "We are at the point that the auto industry was at a few years ago. They could see they were losing market share every year and still not believe that it really had anything to do with the quality of the product. . . I think we will get -- and deserve -- the end of public education through some sort of privatization scheme if we don't behave differently."
Klein's prognosis for public education isn't pretty. "Time is running out," he writes. "Without political leadership willing to take risks and build support for 'radical reform,' and without a citizenry willing to insist on those reforms, our schools will continue to decline. . . (T)he global marketplace will be very unforgiving to a populace that doesn't have the skills it demands."
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