We are proud and honored to be able to (finally) agree with our friends in the teachers' unions. Or at least agree on one particular word. Small steps.
The other day, some of the more vocal bosses in the unions took to the state Capitol rotunda to hold a news conference. Which is a great place to have one during a legislative session. The press is already there.
The union bosses said there were many "proven" ways to educate children with public tax dollars, and they'd prefer to keep doing what they're doing, only with more money. And, as always, they don't cotton much to charter schools.
Yes, yes. We agree on one word. There are many "proven" ways to educate children. And over the years, many schools have proven they just can't do it. Over the decades, bureaucrats have proven they can pile paperwork on teachers to the point of distracting them from the classroom. Over the generations, the bosses in the teachers' unions have proven that their focus is on teacher pay, not student advancement.
What other things have been proven over the years? For one thing, it's been proven that charter schools can help thousands of inner-city kids succeed. And if not, it's been proven that failed charters can be shut down. Unlike traditional schools that go on failing generation after generation. Another point that's been proven over and again: Some politicians are so tied to teachers' unions that they'd rather watch their constituents' children fail in the traditional schools rather than watch them succeed in charters. How they sleep at night hasn't been proven, and is anybody's guess.
At the news conference last week, several so-called education leaders said that even discussing charter schools was "divisive," and urged lawmakers to do otherwise. But the only reason these discussions get heated is because education bureaucrats want it that way. When was the last time you saw a group from a charter school hold a press conference to denounce traditional schools? When was the last time all the employees of a charter school filed into a school board meeting to chant slogans against traditional schools? These bureaucrats and union bosses bemoaning the "divisive" charter debate is disingenuous. We'd show them the problem, but we'd need to get them a mirror first.
Nobody should be surprised this news conference was mainly about more. That's what unions demand--more. And always have, ever since Samuel Gompers wandered the land. Our current union bosses want more pre-K classes, more teacher recruitment and "retention" (which means money), better buildings (money), financial resources (money) and something called Multiple Measures of Student Achievement. Which probably means they don't like the fact that schools are called out when the kids don't test well, so they'd like to do away with tests.
It's hardly surprising when union bosses act like union bosses. But it takes some nerve to suggest they're doing all this to help students.
Or, as a leader of some outfit called the Arkansas Public Policy Panel's Opportunity to Learn Campaign put it: "We want our lawmakers to focus on these recommendations to provide our state's children the excellent opportunities they deserve."
Excellent opportunities kids deserve? Does she mean like the eStem charter school or LISA Academy? What about the KIPP folks who do so well in Arkansas' downtrodden Delta towns? Or do kids deserve only what traditional schools offer, and if they're stuck in a school zone with a failing school, too bad?
Another union type said this at the press conference: "There are no silver bullets in public education, and we must be wary of polarizing and untested experiments on our state's children, especially when so many proven reforms are left unimplemented."
There's that word again.
If there is a proven reform out there that's not being implemented, somebody please point to it. The rest of us will suggest it be copied at other schools.
In fact, we'll insist.
The problem with public education these days--well, one of the problems--is that there are so many proven schools. And no matter how often they prove to fail our kids, there are those who would continue everything as is. Only with more money, thank you.
Some of us have more hope for the next generation. And will, yes, experiment with unproven methods if that might lead to a better education system one day.
Somebody once said doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result is insane. No, it's not insane. It's bureaucracy. Our kids deserve better.
Editorial on 03/06/2017