Pity the New President
Here (go to: Dear President Obama) is the kind of nonsense (liberal nonsense?) that we’ve been living with much too long. If this sort of talk could only be dispelled from our endless educational chatter, and if only we could get onto the educational reality of our schools, then good things might begin to happen. OK, I know, that’s not about to be.
The writer, who is not named, of the letter to the President would have us believe that what is necessary to fix our schools is to identify “core principles that can guide our collective efforts … to ensure that all young people receive the same opportunity to participate in the American Dream.”
What are the “core principles?” There are four of them: 1) that every child deserves a 21st Century education, 2) every community an equal chance, 3) every child a “well-supported” teacher and 4) every child high quality health care.
Nonsense, right? What, for example, is the meaning of “deserve?” No matter what the child may or may not do he or she deserves? Really? Have you ever been a parent? I’ve always thought that you may deserve things that you’ve earned by your effort and hard work. But even then whether you get them depends on much else. A community’s ability to pay, a parent’s free time for example.
And finally does this writer really believe that there is any agreement at all in the community, let alone the nation, about the meaning of a 21st.Century education, an equal chance, a well-supported teacher, or high quality health care? Of course there isn’t.
It is very likely because of such notions as these of this unnamed writer that the costs of education (read schooling) continue to go up and up. When will we ever reach agreement concerning anyone of these notions to anyone’s satisfaction? We won’t of course. And more money won’t get us there. We should stop pretending and concentrate instead on what we can do with our kids, or better what they can do with our help.
