"Public Education - Flickers of Light?"

Sydney M. Williams

Thought of the Day

“Public Education – Flickers of Light?”

September 23, 2010

Not everybody is equal, nor will they ever be. Native intelligence varies greatly, as does physical ability. Some people are born with beautiful features, others with physical handicaps. Focus and diligence may be taught, but are inherent in a lucky few. Each one of us is unique. In any family, two parents are better than one, as are parents who have the leisure to spend time with their children. But such luxuries are available only to a fortunate minority. Responsibility for educational success lies with parents and with schools and their teachers. However, none of this means that every child should not be offered an equal opportunity to succeed.

Unfortunately that has not been the case. Similar to many on Wall Street, a large number of Washington politicians send their children to private schools. President Obama’s decision to send his two daughters, Malia and Sasha, to Sidwell Friends School only followed the precedent set by President Clinton whose daughter, Chelsea graduated from Sidwell. Of course, some politicians do take advantage of public schools. George Bush’s daughters graduated from Austin High School, but that was in 2000 before he assumed the Presidency. Jimmy Carter’s daughter Amy attended public schools in Washington while her father was President. In general, though, Washington, in return for campaign contributions, has chosen to put the demands of teacher’s unions above the needs of children and their parents.

The importance of teachers, especially those in elementary and middle school cannot be over-stated. All one has to do is look back on one’s own life to know how critical to one’s life are the first twelve or fifteen years. In terms of adult impact, teachers are second only to parents and, for many less fortunate children, the most important influence on their young lives. The biggest hurdle to successful schools has been the teachers unions – a problem now being addressed with the rise of charter schools and increased competition from private and parochial schools. While good teachers remain underpaid, public school systems have become very expensive. The Center for Education Reform notes that the average district public schools’ per pupil expenditure, at $12,018, is 33% above that for charter schools and 30% above the average private school tuition. Despite that, the results have been mediocre at best. In today’s Wall Street Journal, it is pointed out that the Newark, New Jersey school system spends $22,000 annually per pupil, “but only about half of its students graduate.”

Public schools have particularly failed for Blacks and the poor in both urban and rural America. The Schott Foundation recently reported that only 47% of black males graduate from high school, versus 78% of white males. In New York the spread is wider – 25% versus 68%. Ironically and mystifying the pressure to maintain the status quo has come from within. Anthony Bradley in the August 25, 2010 issue of Acton Commentary writes: “Sadly the NAACP and the NEA (National Education Association, the largest labor union in the United States) have long undermined the push for low-income black parents to exercise freedom to choose the best schools as a national norm.” Los Angeles, a city in severe financial straits, has just unveiled a $578 million school, the costliest in the nation, and 50% more expensive than any other school. Nevertheless, “Yahoo! News” points out that it will be run by the same people who have provided a 50% dropout rate. A show-case is nice if you can afford it, but should not the priority be to get the best teachers possible, pay them well and treat them as professionals? The interests of administrators, along with that of union leaders and politicians, have taken precedent over the needs of the students.

However, into this dreary (and I would add corrupt) landscape there are flickering signs of positive change. First, President Obama and his Education Secretary Arne Duncan with their “Race for the Top” have shown a willingness to take on the teachers unions. Second, Wendy Kopp’s “Teach for America” has proven enormously successful in attracting some of the best and the brightest from the nation’s most elite colleges into the profession of teaching. Lastly, on Friday, Davis Guggenheim’s documentary, “Waiting for Superman” will hit the theaters.

I have been critical of President Obama and his administration on many issues – a stimulus, which did not stimulate; healthcare reform, which will only add to cost and limit care; financial reform, which does not touch the government GSE’s, and trade, where the President has not signed agreements that have already been negotiated. But on the issue of education he has shown foresightedness and courage.

The President and Education Secretary Arne Duncan with their “Race for the Top” stated that to win the dollars offered schools must do three things: ease restrictions on charter schools, adopt common national standards and link teacher pay to student achievement. The first and the third go against the wishes of unions. Nevertheless, there have been some significant successes, including Harlem Village Academy Charter School, and the New Orleans school system, which has benefitted from competition from charter schools, which provide increased opportunities to those in that poor city. Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public school system, has been a spark for reform in the nation’s capital; she has raised the standards of this long suffering school system. However, she has run up against the unions, and the defeat of Mayor Adrian Fenty (her mentor and supporter) in the 2010 Democratic primary, puts her survivorship in doubt. It will be interesting to see if the President intercedes on her behalf.

Wendy Kopp started Teach for America based upon her senior thesis at Princeton in 1989. The organization is privately supported and last year placed 4100 teachers from a pool of 35,000 applicants. In 2010, applications increased to 46,000 (17% of the graduating class from Yale applied!), with 20% being placed. Each one agrees to teach for two years. The applicant pool, in its quality and size, is reminiscent of the early days of the Peace Corps.

Davis Guggenheim won an Oscar in 2007 for “An Inconvenient Truth”. In his new movie, Waiting for Superman”, he takes on the teachers unions, as he follows five students and their families, in an attempt to understand why so many public schools are failing. The hero of the movie is Geoffrey Canada, president of Harlem Children’s Zone. (In the interest of full disclosure, Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. provides support to the Harlem Children’s Zone.) The NY Daily News, in a report yesterday, stated (about the movie): “Canada stands out as the singular voice of hope in a film that paints the nation’s public school system as nothing short of a full-scale disaster.”

It is not yet clear that the unions will be beaten. They have enormous financial resources and are generous in their giving to those politicians who support their inflated contracts, unrealistic pensions and their guarantee of employment based upon years of service rather than achievement. The President must stand resolute. There have been others, such as Governor Chris Christie in New Jersey, who have shown a willingness to confront the unions. It is an uphill fight, but in this foreboding landscape the forces for change are now battling the status quo, providing flickers of light and hope.