Black America and the great debate over school reform

New Crisis, The, Oct 1997 by Bennefield, Robin

By almost every measure, from high drop-out rates to low test scores, America's public schools are failing African American children. Given this terrible state of affairs, one would expect the black community to be united in welcoming the flood of new congressional, state and local proposals for turning things around. But, virtually every proposal offered in the name of improving the education of black children-be it vouchers, charter schools, privatization, statewide funding, state take-overs or the imposition of national standards-has met with bitter opposition from some segment of the black community.

There are many symbolic, organizational and political reasons why reforming weak schools is likely to be a politically and socially traumatic process for African Americans. First, in many cities, it requires the painful acknowledgment that poor schools are a result of our own choices. Years ago, African Americans could believe that if we only had more black teachers, school board members, principals, administrators and school superintendents, our children would receive the education they deserved. However, in Washington, D.C., Detroit, Newark, Gary and other cities, black people have had twenty years of virtually complete control over schools that have been a disaster for many black pupils despite per-pupil expenditures that are often higher than the national average.

Public school critic Howard "Pete" Rawlings, a Maryland state legislator from Baltimore, believes that when it comes to taking a tough look at these systems, too many black folks are simply in denial. "Many of the college-educated people who are now 60 or 70 years old, and still form the core of many black churches, fraternities and sororities, were school teachers," he notes. "Criticizing the public schools is like questioning their own lives, and it's extremely hard to get support for tough measures like firing incompetent principals, apathetic teachers or lousy administrators."

In response to this type of criticism, one black teacher who attended the 1997 NAACP Convention stated, "Why are they blaming us? Rather than help, the middle class is trying to run away while we're spending every day trying to do our best for some children whose own parents don't give a damn if they come to school dirty or without being fed. "

Obviously, there is more than enough blame to go around, and the failures of black-run school systems are only part of the problem, since many black children are also doing poorly in most white-run public schools. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to reform is that school systems are a lot more than just classrooms and students. Major school districts are political bureaucracies that represent thousands of jobs and millions of dollars and answer to many different constituencies vying for power and resources. Any change in the status quo will threaten someone's power, perks or paycheck. Every shift can be supported or attacked by arguing that "We care about the kids, you only care about money and control." The clearest example of this rhetoric is the current debate over school vouchers which has made for some very strange political bedfellows.

THE VOUCHER DEBATE

Public school advocates maintain that the best solution to their problems is more money for higher salaries, better facilities and smaller classes. Voucher proponents argue that certain schools, for example urban Catholic schools, do a much better job of educating inner-city children for far less money, and that what the public schools really need is some competition. Voucher proponents would allow parents to use public funds to send their children to the public or private school of their choice. They believe that in order to compete, public schools will improve their operations and that the best schools will rise to the top, while the bad schools will be forced to close down.

Vouchers have been condemned as dangerous and manipulative by civil rights groups such as the NAACP and People for the American Way, but have been endorsed by some black opinion leaders and many desperate black parents. In a March, 1997, poll, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, an African-American think tank, found that a majority, almost 60 percent, of all African-American parents were in favor of a voucher system that would allow their children to attend the public, private or parochial school of their choice. Poor black parents were even more supportive. By contrast, white parents were evenly divided.

"Many African-American parents are being sold a promise to nowhere," says Sheila Simmons of the National Education Association's (NEA) Center for the Advancement of Public Education. "Private schools, by the fact that they are private, have the real choice of who will enter their doors."

Public education advocates argue that with the vouchers being proposed, typically worth $3,000 to $5,000, few black parents will be able to afford the finest private schools, which cost as much as college. Opponents also note that vouchers don't cover transportation, books, and uniform costs that will drive poor students back to public schools, leaving behind an underclass of students with fewer funds available to teach them. "I honestly think that many times blacks who are legitimately dissatisfied with schools are being used to lead this voucher movement," says Simmons, who claims that black parents are being manipulated by white conservative politicians. "This is the agenda of the conservative right, who want to privatize the entire system so that they can have the money to promote their religious values and ideology about society. This is not about education; it's about money, politics and control."