Who Cares about Public School Education
2000; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 81; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1940-6487
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Education Studies and Reforms
ResumoHow does one come to the conclusion that public school education is not highly supported by the public? Let Mr. Hicks count the ways. DO YOU favor public K-12 education? If your answer is no, I might assume you really mean it. If your answer is yes, I might assume you don't really mean it. The reality is that nowhere in the country is public K-12 education a real priority. One county somewhere may be the exception. A Des Moines Register editorial on 13 October 1998 indicated that Iowa's public schools need billions in repairs and other improvements. The headline read, Who Will Pay for Schools?1 Implied in the question was the answer that local citizens have not paid and will not pay for high-quality schools. Citizens give lip service to their support of public education, and politicians love to feed them rhetorical syrup about education. The public licks its lips but attends to more important matters. It is amazing - a bit of magic no less - that the public school system has been one of the major reasons for the success of this country. With few exceptions, however, the greatness of the public schools has been by default - unintended, accidental, and based on just plain luck. How does one come to the conclusion that public school education is not highly supported by the public? Let me count the ways. 1. Historical Context The history of the schools provides a good starting point. Throughout the history of public education, economics has always taken precedence over children. It still does. At the turn of the century, and even up to the start of World War II, it was not uncommon in the rural Midwest for young people to end their formal education at the seventh or eighth grade. Helping on the farm was much more important than schooling. In the cities it was not unusual for young children to work in sweatshops rather than go to school. In 1900, 6% of 17-year-olds graduated from high school. In 1995, the figure was 71%.2 We can feel good about this highly significant change, even though further improvement should be a goal. However, in many schools today teachers don't have enough supplies, students don't have textbooks, the roofs leak, and bricks are crumbling. Meanwhile, voters continue to reject the latest school referendums. There were two periods when education in this country had some status. The first, and longest, was after World War II. The GI Bill might be labeled as the single greatest educational achievement of any culture throughout history, but the impetus for it was not a belief in the importance of education. Education was a vehicle for getting the economy in gear and GIs back to work. A second, but brief, upsurge in the status of education came because of Sputnik and the Cold War. Otherwise, apathy has been the dominant attitude. Yes, children should be educated, but no big deal. Forget quality; it costs too much. 2. Media The teacher associations used to focus on content, curriculum development, and helping teachers upgrade their skills. As economic considerations forced administrators to squeeze budgets, the number of unjustified pink slips increased. As a result, the associations spent more and more time in the courts helping teachers maintain positions and fight unfair school board decisions. This phenomenon, along with other factors, resulted in the media's labeling associations as unions. The media found it easier to prey on public school education than to direct their shots at the legal or medical professions. Education was more vulnerable and less important. For more than two decades, those who run the newspapers, periodicals, and television networks, as well as numerous independent authors, have been highly critical of public schools, teachers, and the performance of education in general. Most of this negative media campaign against the schools has been rooted in political attitudes, biases, and intentionally misleading information. An important voice countering the lies being foisted on the public about education is that of Gerald Bracey (see his Ninth Bracey Report in the October 1999 Kappan). …
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