The new governor of Florida has pissed off his state's teachers' union and a whole host of others whose livelihoods depend upon the continued enshrining of public education as THE only form of legitimate learning.
I say good for him.
Gov. Scott wants every child in his state to have a voucher so that parents or guardians can choose the school that's right for their kid. The vouchers would be valued at roughly $5,550 per student, the same amount spent on average to educate them publicly.
This is shocking in an age in which parents are expected to do less and less -- even encouraged in some cases to do less and less -- and where our Nanny State is often quick to remind us that IT knows better how to raise our children and not WE ourselves.
Sadly, too many generations have come to trust, and even style their lives around, this notion and our continued poor performance in several key academic areas is the result.
(The shiny new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released earlier this month shows American students lagging behind those of 12 other nations in reading, math, and science. As a nation, we get a "C," says federal Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, labeling the report a "massive wake up call" for the nation.)
And yet, AND YET, we are supposed to continue down a road that is not leading us anywhere?
That's apparently what the Florida Supreme Court and opponents of Gov. Scott's idea would like Floridians to do.
Read the quotes below from a report by Yahoo! News blogger Liz Goodwin to see what I mean:
The Florida Supreme Court has ruled private-school vouchers unconstitutional, concluding that they endanger the free public school system.
Education historian Diane Ravitch tells The Lookout Scott's plan could hold up in court if passed by lawmakers, despite the state Supreme Court ruling. "The real danger is that he sends a signal that it's politically fine to attack public education, which has been one of our most valued institutions and a bulwark of our democracy," she writes.
Heaven forbid we endanger the free public school system, the one that continues to demand more bucks even as taxpayers get less bang for them, the one that refuses to let go of its internationally unparalleled dependence upon standardized testing as the sole means of determining who is educated and whether they graduate (never mind the kids who pass these tests and STILL can't read or write or do math at grade level), the one that fights any and all efforts to make sure qualified teachers are in the classroom even as it makes some bad teachers bulletproof to termination.
Ms. Ravitch is a great writer and I admire much of her work, but I respectfully disagree with her that public education, certainly in its current form, is a "bulwark of our democracy."
How can it be anything of the sort when democratic values are undermined in classrooms nationwide? Students and teachers expressing politically incorrect views are routinely castigated. Remember the boys in California who wore American flags on their shirts one day and were asked to turn their clothes inside out or face suspension for "aggravating racial tensions" between white and Hispanic students? The teacher in that same state who had quotes from the Declaration of Independence on his classroom wall and was told to take them down? Or the news story that comes in at least once a year about some kid who wears a pro-life message to school only to have administrators foam at the mouth -- even as tolerance for homosexuality takes front and center stage in classrooms starting as early as kindergarten? Or, one of my personal favorites, the little boy with autism whose teacher actually thought it was a good idea to have his fellow classmates vote him out of class for behaviors related to his disability?
What's democratic about ostracizing ideas or perspectives we don't like? Patriotism, religious symbolism (student in New York earlier this year who wore a crucifix to school and was told to remove it), political views, handicaps -- they've all been fair game for public school administrators who either don't know the 1st Amendment or who don't give a damn whether it's upheld.
Bulwark of democracy? Really? REALLY?
Ms. Ravitch doesn't explain why giving parents a choice in their child's education isn't democratic, by the way.
Every time another report comes out decrying the achievement gaps between American students and those in places most Americans would never want to live, I cringe.
We are still the wealthiest nation in the world and we still can't seem to get it right. We are victims of a self-perpetuating bureaucracy that feeds upon itself -- and our children -- in order to survive. Survival of The System has become more important intrinsically than what The System produces, and the result is generations of children who spend 12 years of their life, give or take, locked into a way of learning that teaches few of them how to learn and lets few teachers actually teach in ways that are proven to nurture learning.
I applaud Gov. Scott for daring to challenge the long-held view that the emperor of public education is fully and fashionably dressed.
Restore parental authority, restore teacher autonomy, and in doing so, you restore democracy.
Nothing less will do.
And one more thing: It seems to me that if public education in Florida is so worthy of being preserved, the anti-voucher crowd need not be so vehement in its opposition. Surely parents will see that public schools are a better choice and will send their kids and their voucher monies there. Right? Right?
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