The Means to an End
After eighteen months of wishing the election cycle would end, now that it has, why do I find myself not feeling any better? Well I have a huge confession to make. Like no election season before, I have found myself completely obsessed with the punditry, constantly watching the cable news networks for every snit bit of information (real or unreal) that I could ingest resulting in many sleepless nights. All of this to the detriment of the many things I should have been doing, not the least of which, was my research and writing.
The good news is the election is over! However, now for the bad news, the uneasiness, I’m afraid, is going to continue for quite some time. I would be untrue to myself if were to say my uneasiness lies only with one issue, Education however, since I am an education blogger, my comments will be limited to just that.
Just the other day I read an online news article that was going through the list of possible cabinet appointees. It went down the list of open positions and the list of rumored front runners from which the President Elect might choose. All of the usual posts where listed such as Secretary of State, Defense, Interior, Attorney General, etc. However there was one cabinet post that was conspicuously absent. The position of Secretary of Education was not listed as one of the jobs the new President had to fill. However. there was a caveat that said since the President Elect mentioned throughout his campaign that the Department of Education would be abolished, there would be no need to search for a potential Secretary. My friends, if I had to point my finger on the spot where my uneasiness begins regarding the future of education in the United States, I would say it lands squarely on the total abolishment of the United States Department of Education. On this issue alone I could have enough fodder for my weekly blog for a year. While I realize that the rhetoric surrounding big government and the overall burgeoning federal bureaucracy has always been a huge part of presidential campaigns and has often tapped into the electorate’s economic fear but, is the education of our children and future workforce really the first place we want to start downsizing? My educated guess would be that I think we might want to take a closer look at any decision like that one.
It has been no secret that in my previous blogs I have made several suggestions regarding an overhaul of the Department of Education but, never its abolishment. A new United States Department of Education must be a more inclusive one that keeps its eyes focused on creating a citizenry ready to meet the challenges of the global marketplace. Please believe me, I in no way mean to be insulting however, I must tell you now that anyone who believes that the United States Department of Education can be abolished, has been seriously misguided and needs to reconsider their stance. There is still hope on this front. The fact is that, as I said, it would be nearly if not totally impossible to eliminate the Department of Education, this alone brings me solace. The other encouraging note is that I have not seen anything either officially or unofficially in writing that outlines a plan to take on such an impossible task, so far it has only been campaign rhetoric.
Where my genuine concerns lie is what I have seen on paper, albeit as little as it has been, regarding the infusion of billions of dollars into the, for lack of a better term, school voucher system. Whereby, an estimated $12,000 would be allowed for each student to attend a public or private charter, parochial or other approved school of their choice, that money would follow the student to whatever school they choose to attend. The plan loosely states that the Federal funding would be funneled to the individual states in the form of a “block grant”. “School Choice” what a wonderful idea! When uttered in an already cloudy campaign stump speech sounds so awe inspiring. The fact of the matter is that besides being unaffordable on the national level because of the different ways and varied levels of funding and costs at the local levels, it shows a total disregard for the current national achievement results. On the whole current charter or renaissance schools fair no better or worst than their neighboring public schools, in fact, many charter schools do not require “highly qualified” credentials for their teachers. I have said it before and I will say it again, we as a nation have invested far too much in our public school system to just give up on it now. There is no doubt that a national school voucher system, in a nut shell, would amount to just that. The public schools could no longer exist without solid and predictable enrollment. Our investment would be lost.
My friends please don’t be fooled by thinking that the grass is greener at the local charter school. Schools are what goes on between their walls, there is not always a silver bullet. We can certainly make what we already are doing better by working together in a positive and honest way!
