Preserving Public Education, Not Public Schools

School Administrator, Sept, 1998 by Paul D. Houston

Public education is in a period of extreme danger. The threat comes not only from the critics and from those who would destroy public education through vouchers or other means. It comes from a dramatically changing world that allows students and parents to access learning without going to a formal institution called school.

In the words of technology guru Donald Tapscott, we have been "disintermediated," much as the church was after the invention of the printing press.

This dual threat--from those who would dismantle us in the name of improvement and from the simple reality of emerging alternative channels to learning--ultimately endangers not only public schools but our democracy as well. We cannot hope to remain America if we lose the values that have underpinned our democracy and that have been transferred through public education.

Heart and Soul

However, we must guard against a blind adherence to old ways of doing business. What must be preserved is public education, not public schools. Public education is the substance. Public schools are merely the form. We must remain open to other forms of delivering the substance. That calls for us to be open and creative. School system leaders must not stand in the schoolhouse door in an effort to block any idea or innovation that might threaten our old forms. We must continue to act as the heart and soul of the values that were once embedded in these old forms.

My father, who was a minister, used to tell me that his job was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted. I think this is the proper role of any leader. Therefore, we must continue to play our key dual role of helping our communities understand that our schools are better than they think and our staffs to understand they are not as good as they need to be. We have to be courageous champions, standing up for the needs of children. We have to be the community conscience, reminding the adults of their obligations to everyone's child, not only their own. We have to be battlers for equity, seeing to it that the playing field is a level one where all have a chance to reach the American dream.

We also have to be collaborative catalysts who find ways to blend the talents and powers of everyone toward a common end. There is much concern over the privatization of public schools and vouchers. We must continue to work against a system that would divide the "haves" from the "have-nots." However, I believe we can expect parts of the educational process to be privatized and our role is to act as brokers, ensuring that the quality of service is of the highest level and that all children benefit. This also should lead to finding ways of weaving the community together into a supportive web for all children.

A Systemic Organism

School systems exist in the intersections of most communities. We are centered psychically and geographically in the center of things and we have the opportunity to help build villages around children. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes real leadership to raise a village. Our modemmworld has burned the villages of our past and we must work to rebuild the sense of common good that once existed.

Finally, we must fight to help people understand that the interconnected nature of things is vital for success. While top-down reform has its place and bottom-up reform has its merits, something must connect the two, and that something is the system. Education is a living, breathing organism that cannot be taken apart or fixed in pieces, as one might fix a mechanical apparatus. It is organic and must be improved systematically. All the parts must be attended to and that is the role of school systems and school system leaders.

Common schools are not vital to the future of America, but the notion of common values and common understandings are. We must fight against the idea of standing up for the status quo, but we must see to it that the core values of inclusiveness, fairness and equity are preserved in whatever emerges from the current struggles. We must have the courage and the heart to provide the kind of leadership to our institutions and our communities that will allow all of our children to have a chance at the American dream.

Paul Houston is AASA executive director.