A Waiting Game

It has been over two months since I last posted an article. This short hiatus was no accident. After my last post regarding, up until now, the absence of a nomination for the position of Secretary of Education and because of all the campaign rhetoric about the abolishment of the United States Department of Education, I was compelled to put myself in a wait and see posture. Well the wait is over. The President-Elect has decided to nominate Mrs. Betsy DeVos a wealthy philanthropist for the position of Secretary of Education, in fact her confirmation hearing began last week, and I dare say much to the dismay of those of us in public education, her lack of true knowledge regarding the education of our most precious commodity is devastatingly apparent. As an aside, I write this article at precisely 12:00 noon on January 20, 2017 and in the absence of any television.

I watched with great interest the opening day of hearings on the confirmation of Mrs. DeVos as I have watched many other’s over the past forty years. However, this is the first confirmation hearing, in my memory, whose nominee had absolutely no experience or knowledge of, the huge department they would lead. In researching Mrs. DeVos, a billionaire investor, for any qualifications I could equate to the position she seeks, I only found one connection. One of Mrs. DeVos’s many philanthropic endeavors has been donating money to groups that advocate school choice, or more specifically school vouchers. The latter would give parents funding in the form of vouchers to help pay for non-public, private, parochial, or charter schools. Of course the sound of this Idea of being able to put your child into a school of your choice because, for instance, your local public school is not achieving is very enticing to parents who find themselves in a below average school district, and frankly I understand their concerns. However, as those of us who have been around public education for a while know the real reasons that drive school choice advocacy. School choice advocates want to strip the local school districts of control and bust the once powerful teacher’s union. This friends, is their real bottom line. Sadly, in all the rhetoric, I have rarely heard, if ever, the need for better preparing ourselves to compete in the global market.

While this along with other important reasons should be the focus of education reform, all I’ve heard so far is giving control back to those who in reality already have it. It is ironic though that throughout Mrs. DeVos’s testimony she continually circled back to her major talking point; leaving the education decisions in the hands of the “locales”. Because she lacks the basic knowledge of the American Education System she failed to realize that every local school board is elected by the people that reside within the school district’s “locale”. So the education of our children is in fact already in the hands of what she very folksy calls the “locales”. Apparently, she must not like that democratic system and would rather opt for the private or charter schools appointing who they want on their boards. Maybe it’s just me but, I’m not exactly comfortable with that system.

There are in fact many concerns with the future of education that now are closer to being made reality. Not the least of which is the total surrender of what has to this point is responsible for making America great. To give up on decades of work and literally trillions of dollars spent thus far is indeed reckless abandonment. Sure, there is definitely need for improvement. After all, we have always continued to strive for that paradoxical perfection. There is no reason now to think that abandoning that drive in anyway can be better. Surrender has never been the American way and to give up on ourselves would be an even greater disappointment.

I intend to, in the next several installments, begin to discuss some of the worst of the intended policy changes. This discussion is not intended however, to be a negative commentary rather, an enlightenment of what may be yet to come. Knowing what to look for is half the battle. If we in fact became knowledgeable about the issues, we can then make informed decisions about how to proceed forward. Navigating the misinformation and “fake news” will be important tools in our continued battle to reach that level of perfection that we constantly seek.