Good-mouthing public schools

NEA Today, Nov 1999 by Chase, Bob

Nobody is a more persuasive advocate for public schools than the teachers and support staff who work in them every day.

Standards. High-stakes tests. Low-performing schools. For many teachers and support staff, the policy debate over these issues in state capitals and Washington, D.C.. comes across like thunder on Mt. Olympus. It's far removed from our classroom daily life. but ever so capable of producing a lightning bolt that can singe us.

As educators, we often grumble that policy decisions are being made by people who are out of touch with the reality of our classrooms.

So what should we do? Stew silently and wait for the storm to blow over? I don't think so. Silence only isolates us, and this storm isn't blowing over anytime soon. :

We must speak up, both as an Association and individuals. We must inform the great education debate-whether that debate is taking place in legislative chambers or around the Thanksgiving holiday table.

Please do not underestimate the power of our collective voices. Our Association can go out and hire skilled public relations professionals, but these professionals will be the first to tell you that there is nothing more persuasive than real teachers or school support staff speaking up for their students and their school.

Our words carry great weight with the public. When we speak, people listen, because people understand we care about children. We bridge the gap between lofty theory and everyday practice.

It's one thing, for example, to declare that every child should be reading to grade level by the 4th grade, and quite another to achieve that goal when your school provides no tutors for children who have fallen behind.

It's one thing to talk about parental involvement, and quite another to have the parent of a chronically disruptive student tell you, " I've done all I can with him--now it's up to you."

And it's one thing to be scolded that your students are not doing well enough on standardized tests, but quite another to teach a class where student transiency rates exceed 30 percentwhich happens to be the case in one of five high schools in California.

We need to bring reality, with all its friction and frustration, to the education policy debate. And here's the good news. We can defend the public schools without being defensive. We can defend public schools without glossing over their shortcomings.

America's K-12 public schools today educate nine out of every 10 children. We educate more students to higher level of academic accomplishment than ever before in history. SAT and ACT scores. despite what the voucherites and privatizers would have us believe, have risen throughout the 1990s. And, this fall, we saw 67 percent of all college-age young people in America attending college. Sixty-seven percent-that's a record. When I went to college. the percentage was less than half that.

There's more good news. Public opinion polls show that the public wants just what we want: discipline and order, smaller class sizes, and quality teachers. This is common ground upon which we can build.

But even more important than a common ground is our moral ground. As educators, we believe every child deserves a quality school. We refuse to accept the educational apartheid that provides children of low-income families with inferior resources and facilities. This is unconscionable.

In a democracy, we understand public schools are where children from all classes and places acquire the skills to pursue their dreams. Revitalized public schools, not vouchers, are the only credible hope for most children.

When the policy choices are made, we must be heard. Should we build more sports stadiums? Cut taxes to comfort the already comfortable? Or invest long-term in the difficult task of maximizing learning for all children?

To remain silent is to be complicit in the bad choices our society sometimes makes. Let us, together, raise up our voices.