Monday, March 1, 2010

RTTT and Corey's ideas

Not bad Corey. In some ways, I agree with you especially concerning the vastness of the federal policies intended to address very local issues. In my mind, urban education is THE most pressing problem in all of education. If not the Obama agenda then what needs to happen to truly reform K-12 education in this country? We all could holler “here we go again…” another president, another program. As well-intentioned as RTTT is, it is likely that the American K-12 system will not look or operate much different than it does now, even after an anticipated second term in office. In a bolder statement, I might suggest we spend as much energy focusing on the forces interested in maintaining the status quo. There is silent opposition to educational equity you know.

My wife recently bought me XM radio as a gift. In my car last week I was listening to a town hall meeting in which the superintendent of DC public schools mentioned an enrollment lottery that caught my attention. She argued that our public schools would improve fundamentally if we placed the sons and daughters of Georgetown's elite in the worse schools in our district. I knew she was making a point rather than pitching a real proposal given that it would never pass. Too much opposition.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMarch 4, 2010 at 2:09 PM

    I agree urban education is the most pressing problem in K-12 education. Urban education, the schools in the nation's largest metropolitan cities, and the kids that attend the schools in these inner-city school districts have been neglected for way to long by government officials and educational policy makers that have the power the inflict change. As I stated in my OpEd piece, I think RTTT is a step in the right direction; however, I do not think it addresses the root of the problem. When will minorities in this country stand up and demand better schools, better technology and funding, and more qualified teachers in their urban schools. The K-12 school system has been lawfully desegregated for years and yet urban kids are still going to schools that are beyond repair and lack the classroom equipment for students to be properly educated and prepared to access college and compete globally for jobs. The US cannot continue "ration education" and dismiss African-American and Latino kids as "not being smart enough or academically capable”, letting the growing number of low-income/poor and minority Americans dwell in an undereducated status. Before we can start to fix the broken system of higher education, the government MUST address the long broken K-12 system.

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