There are many here who comment on education in the USA. They comment from an informed position, often supported by many years of personal experience so forgive me for diving in on this subject.
I do not seek to explain this piece of legislation, or that; or it's ultimate effect on the developing minds of our young people. I simply seek to understand "Why"?
There's more
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My personal involvement in US education is brief, and mostly second hand. I have three children in 2nd through 4th Grades. I briefly worked as a Substitute Teacher (that's another Diary), my wife teaches High School Special Ed. and one of my brother and sister-in-laws teaches Elementary.
Daily I listen to Mrs Twigg's tales of how difficult it is becoming to actually spend time teaching. I compare the 5% enhancement she receives for the about 50% extra work she does just to stay on top of the paperwork and I understand that teachers all over this country are feeling the same way.
Then I listen to the reports of how both the Federal and State governments appear to actively make this situation worse. GW Bush with his No Child Left Behind, and even Barack Obama with No Child Left Behinder! It all amounts to the same. More demands placed upon teachers with more blame heaped upon them for all the ills experienced by the Public Schools. I blame the current President not for his achievements, which are substantial, but only for the lack of clarity and longer term vision while settling for "what can be done today". Give us something to work towards Mr President!
To coin a phrase. Never has so much been taught, to so many, by so few.
Education is under attack from the Right. I know that is stating the bleeding obvious but I am going to say it again, only louder.
The Right Wing in this country hate public education. They hate it with a passion that has to be seen to be believed. They hate it so much they will stop at nothing to seek out high performing schools, and destroy them. They hate Public Schools because they fear them.
They fear the implications of a well informed and well educated population. They fear that the people might see that the Emperor has no clothes. They are terrified that, with a little critical thinking, a young adult might just ask the simple question ....
"In what Universe would it be considered reasonable that a woman who has to publicly declare I am not a witch, is a woman suited for the US Senate"?
That is simply a minor topical example. More worrying would be the educated voter who asks why it should be considered appropriate that CEO pay should now average about 400 times the pay of the average middle class worker, when historically it has been much smaller? Why now, at this point in our history, do we need to transfer as much wealth as possible, into the hands of as few as possible?
These are not difficult questions, yet they elude the majority. Democrats, by the way, are often as guilty as Republicans for their rank failure to make these the issues.
My argument here is simply that those on the Right of Social and Economic issues simply cannot afford for the Public Schools to succeed. That would be akin to turkeys voting for Thanksgiving. Of course turkeys have little opportunity to change their fate, politicians are more fortunate and because they have a choice, they are also more culpable.
The assault on education is a necessary battle for the Right, in this country and in others. It is not simply a "policy difference", it is not a difference in philosophy. It is the very core subject when those who prefer totalitarianism to democracy, and make no mistake, the current Republican agenda is very much a totalitarian approach.
The country, as goes the thinking, needs a decently educated 25%. Beyond that it needs about an 8th Grade education for the rest ... the rest being those who will service the top 25%. They must be prevented from organising, they must never be allowed to strip the Emperors naked ... the status quo is not to be maintained,it is to be shifted even more towards concentrated wealth and power, and that cannot happen if students are taught how to think.
So when, in Oklahoma, it is suggested that you vote NO to SQ 744 ask why. Ask yourself what the State Legislature is doing to ensure funding that will raise the per capita expenditure on students above a rank of 48th, and what they are proposing that will raise teacher pay above a rank of 49th among the States. The simple conclusion is that they are doing nothing. They have, in fact, effectively CUT teacher pay this year, and reduced per student expenditure. Legislator pay in Oklahoma ranks 10th, by the way.
Oklahoma is the most poignant example of this process at work. They would have Intelligent Design ruin scientific exploration, they defeat Maths by sticking up to 40 kids in a High School math class, and other subjects suffer equally. Oh, I forget ... the football programs and the Bands really are very good indeed!
So there we have it. Just a rant much along the lines of many others here and elsewhere.
If you take nothing else from this just understand the one point:
They do not want to kill public schools, they NEED to kill them. It is not in their agenda, it is in their DNA!