This....thanks in part to the Roberts court who weakened the legacy of Brown v Board and gave communities and policy makers (ambiguous) permission to use the proxy of "neighborhood schools" for "separate but equal" (which we ALL know can NEVER, EVER be equal).
This....despite the FACT that it is socially healthy and academically beneficial for our children to be educated together instead of apart.
This....(though, ....thankfully, the Office of Civil Rights will investigate the Wake County School Board actions)....as President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, high-profile big-city mayors, and a coalition of wealthy, politically powerful education reformers implement policies that, while well-intended and successful on some levels,....
....are nonetheless accepting segregation, or at least inviting a new age of sorting, and inviting turmoil in many urban school districts (plus possible overspending/inefficiency to negatively affect equity/adequacy) through....
....promotion of privately-run, publicly-funded charter schools at the expense of traditional public schools, learning environments focused disproportionately on standardized testing to measure student and teacher performance, exaggerated rant about "bad teachers," stiff sanctions and school closings, "churn" of administrators and management companies, ebb and flow of earnest, but inexperienced, teachers through organizations like Teach for America, encouragement of a "Waiting for Superman" atmosphere, selection of business executives and retired military leaders as chancellors and superintendents instead of experienced, highly qualified educators....
But....these leaders....curiously....are not strengthening federal policies (or advocating for state and local policies) that enable....1) racial, cultural and socioeconomic integration (including well-planned magnet programs, an inevitable victim of the Wake County decision with charter schools, that may promote more segregation and turmoil, reaping the benefit)...and....2) nurturing, dynamic, whole-child learning in ALL public schools (traditional and charter), the sort their own children receive in elite private schools and well-resourced suburban public schools, and the kind top-ranked nations provide for their children.
Moreover, it is disappointing that the word "diversity" is scarcely mentioned now by our elected leaders, on both sides of the aisle, when they discuss our shared values for public education. Even more disturbing is an avoidance of the word "poverty."
Where is all of this headed? It CANNOT be good for our country, not with our legacy of segregation nor the dynamic diversity that is our unique strength. And it certainly cannot be good for children. I don't buy the rhetoric of conservative politicians who assert these divisive policies are in the "best interests of families and children." I don't completely trust some in the powerful education-reform coalition who imply they "care more about children" than everyone else when it is their philosophies-cum-policies that are accepting segregation and inviting turmoil. Notwithstanding the OCR investigation in Wake County, why doesn't our President see how some of his education policies and rhetoric are contributing to this unfortunate path? I fought a similar battle in my community when I served on the school board. It raises the hair on my neck still today. I now fear that the country I love is moving backward, not forward. Funny? Not so much.
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| The Word - Disintegration | ||||
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