Reply #177: After reading through this thread, I have several thoughts [View All]

[IrateCitizen]

First, the availability of equal opportunity through education is vital to maintaining our democracy. Such an education involves not only the teaching of facts and processes, but the teaching of how to question and think critically. One thing I have learned through my ongoing education is that facts are not nearly as important as the ability to ask the right QUESTIONS.

Second, we could debate for hours as to what the most efficient purveyor of equal education would be. Personally, I come down fully on the side of public education. I should state up front that both of my parents were public school teachers, my wife is one, and I am currently back in school to become one, switching from civil engineering to HS physics and mathematics. But I don't think that this is the reason why I advocate public schools. I advocate public schools simply because it is really the only way of providing equal opportunity to our kids.

However, the current system is geared heavily toward inequality. The area in which I live, Westchester County, NY, is one of the most affluent areas in the country. The right school district is a BIG deal here. The disparities between the "right" and "wrong" districts are tremendous. One big reason is per-pupil funding. Due to the fact that school funding is tied to local tax bases, there cannot help but be an inequity in funding. Currently, students in wealthy NY suburbs receive approximately twice the per-pupil funding as those in NYC and the poorer districts. State funding may be pretty much equal (we even had a lawsuit in NY to eliminate inequities in state funding, but that's another matter entirely), but that doesn't tell us all about per-pupil funding.

Furthermore, the Brown vs. Board of Ed decision by the SCOTUS 50 years ago was instrumental in desegregating schools. But today, we have a more insiduous, less overt form of discrimination taking place. As wealthier people have fled to the suburbs -- commonly described as "white flight" -- districts in poorer regions have been forced to deal with less and less resources overall. There is even a vast difference in curricula, with those richer districts free to ignore many of the testing mandates due to their ability to refuse the funds, as opposed to the poorer district which need those funds. The end result is often that poorer districts have to devote more time and resources to "teaching the test" as opposed to the more wealthy districts, which can actually spend more time and resources teaching critical thinking skills that kids need for a brighter future.

My parents saved an op-ed from the newspaper when they were either in FL or NC over the last year, which I think described the problem surrounding education to a tee. The knee-jerk reaction is to blame the teachers, but that isn't exactly correct. Certainly, there are good and bad teachers as is the case with every profession. But the main problem with education today is that it is a political football -- and in the end, the people determining policy WRT education are quite often politicians who know very little about education. Furthermore, WRT parents, many parents are either not sufficiently involved or fall into the trap of thinking they know more about education than they really do.

Additionally, teachers are often expected to be the prime shapers of kids' lives while being degraded as being "overpaid" and the problem with the educational system at the same time. Recently, at my wife's middle school (in a rather affluent suburb on NYC), some parents were calling the health teacher to talk about "rainbow parties" in her health class. Apparently, the new big thing for the 13-year old girls during bah mitvahs was to put on different colored lipstick and then "service" the boys, leaving them with "rainbows" on their organs. My wife's question was, "Why in the hell aren't the PARENTS talking to their kids about this? Why is it the teachers' responsibility?" You know what -- she's right.

Lastly, I have seen people talking about parents in lower-income districts getting more involved in their kids' schooling. That's easy for us to say behind a keyboard, but it's damned near impossible given the realities of the low-wage marketplace in which many of these parents exist. They simply CANNOT take time from work to go to their kids' schools. They simply CANNOT do homework with their kids every night when they have to work that second job just to pay the rent. To be quite honest, what we are dealing with here is an issue that lies outside of just the educational system, and is a much broader societal concern.

Frankly, I find the whole thing to be quite frustrating. I find it to be a sad commentary on our society as a whole the way in which we value wealth creation and militarism over our future generations. I mean, why don't we have fully-funded preschool for ALL kids -- especially those in at-risk areas? Why don't we have policies like those in Sweden where all women get a full year PAID for maternity leave, considering that this is one of the most important times for a child's development? It is simply a question of values, and when you view the educational system in a broader context such as this, it becomes apparent that children are a secondary consideration to our society. And it's a travesty.