America's Public Schools
A Struggling American Institution
Part 2September 20, 1998

By. Antonio A. Brown

In the first article I eluded to the importance of " Public Schools " being one of the pillars of American Democracy. I also acknowledged that opportunities to improve public education systems exist, as the system is " not " perfect! I suggested that people become educated concerning the issues facing the public schools system by examining the myths versus the facts, especially since there have been many reports published which discredit public schools, reports and studies which when challenged by many of the nation's top educators in the university system have been found to contain gross misrepresentations of the facts. Open and honest dialog has produced reliable data concerning the true state of " America's Public Schools " and I strongly urge everyone interested to truly familiarize oneself with data complied by educators.

According to many analyses of the nation's educational systems most agree that children today are better prepared than they were a decade ago. A popular myth concerning public education is that today's learning materials aren't challenging enough. If you were inclined to do so, one would simply have to compare the text in science, math and social studies to those of a decade ago. It will become apparent that the material compared to yesterday's curriculum makes the text a decade ago look like kindergarten stuff, and the critical data verifies that high schools students taking core courses increased 47% between 1985-1995.

Another distortion of the facts suggests that all across the nation public schools are failing. The reality happens to be that outside of the inner-city and rural pockets of poverty, America has superbly successful public school systems. This demonstrates that strong, healthy, viable communities with economically and emotionally stable families are essential to maintaining strong public schools. It also mandates that every initiative must be undertaken to revitalize America's troubled neighborhoods. Healthy families and communities are essential ingredients in the development of children, and therefore must be assisted in eliminating further deterioration socially and economically. And the critical data verifies that high schools students taking core courses increased 47% between 1985-1995 in spite of the many issues facing public schools.

In 1989, according to June A. Rustin, a leader and activist with the League of Women Voters, Gray Panthers, and the American Association of University Women ( AAUW ), then President George Bush and the nation's governors initiated Goals 2000, pledging to make this country the world leader in education. As a result, numerous reform groups began to emerge with a common message: to create educational facilities that operated using the " free market " principles of competition, privatization and consumer choice. This coincided with efforts to push the privatization of health care, the National Parks, and even the possibility of privatizing social security.

These suggestions led to the idea of vouchers and charter schools. Vouchers and charter schools are being utilized in several areas today. In Cleveland and Milwaukee vouchers have been used since 1990. They have become the testing grounds for the controversial program and have failed. Many parents found that the vouchers rarely covered the cost of high registration fees, uniforms, transportation or books. Subsequently many opted out of the program. The programs absorbed 5.25 million dollars in state aid for disadvantaged youth which was slated to go into the public schools. Children ended up in schools with relatively no educational track record. And two of the Cleveland schools were owned by a lobbyist for the voucher program who made large campaign contributions to Ohio Governor. George Vionovich. It must be also noted that 1.6 million dollars of the 5.25 million was spent on students already in private school with no public accountability. Don't you think that all entities which receive public funds should be open to the public with public accountability?

In the August issue of People For The American Way newsletter a story was broken concerning a challenge from segregated religious schools and their pro-voucher proponents at the Institute for Justice, to have the Wisconsin legislature remove all nondiscrimination requirements from the program. The action was necessary if they were to get around the " Pupil Nondiscrimination Act" (PNDA) issued by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in June. Now, I ask you! What do you think the motivation was behind this action? Could it be that they plan to discriminate? I can see it now. The system will create a set of profiles to be utilized as a means of determining what children are acceptable for admittance. It is imperative that everyone understand the linkage between these initiatives and other proposals coming from the radical-extremist right wing of this nation's separatist, militia and religious groups. This is not popular opinion, it is fact.

Over the course of my evaluating what's really going on, I came to realize that the operative word in many of the themes was " choice." A very persuasive word to say the least because Americans want choice. Choice is the American Way! The word is used as if we've just acquired " choice. " But I humbly submit to you that we can exercise " choice " best by deciding to work with, and continually improve our " Public Schools. " We can do this! And we can choose to put the needs of our children over our fears, investing in not only their futures, but in the nation's future as well.

Americans must find ways to live and work together. If we are not careful in the choices we make today we could find ourselves dreading tomorrow. There is a war going on today. It's a battle that will ultimately determine the fate of the whole of our human family. I wholeheartedly believe that educating children together in a safe, healthy, academically superior environment free of the biases that exist in some areas of education today will make the most difference in how the world shapes up in the next century. While most people speak of leveling the playing field by socioeconomic means, I advocate correcting the intellectual record and giving all of the nation's children a level intellectual playing field that builds on the facts. This will be the formula which will undoubtedly lead us to the waters of understanding, brother and sisterhood. Since we are all thirsty for change that reconnects us with our lost humanity, I am certain we will all take a drink...

The Struggle Continues..

Below are some sites that I believe you will find informative:

The National Coalition Against Censorship: http://www.ncac.org
People For The American Way: http://www.pfaw.org
National Council for the Social Studies: http://www.ncss.org
Alliance for Curriculum Reform: http://www.alliance-reform.org

Other Contacts:

Center For Law and Education, Mr. Larry Searcy: LSearcy@cleweb.org
Arizona State University, Mr. David Berliner: Berliner@asu.edu
National Coalition Advocates for Students, Ms. Diana Autin: 617-357-8507
Center on Education Policy, Mr. Jack Jennings: jackcep@crosslink.net


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