Public Education

School started today so I would like to share a few thoughts about our public education system in the United States. I have listed a few web sites at the end of this article that I visited and would encourage you to do the same to find out some of the details of the current system and the direction public education in headed as well as a history of public education. Since I am an employee of a public school I have a perspective that perhaps the general public doesn’t have. It also means I should be guarded in some of my comments…

If you turn on the TV to your local news you are bound to hear somebody deriding the state of public education. To listen to them talk our public schools are full of under performing students and unqualified teachers leading them down the wrong path. The solution seems to be getting those kids out of those schools into a private school, presumably full of highly qualified teachers and administrators, and watch them flourish. Oh, by the way, take my tax dollars away from the public schools to help pay for the move. What is it that makes those private schools so attractive? Is it the high level of student performance? The lack of serious discipline problems? As a private school they have the ability to determine who comes there. There are accredited schools that must meet certain guidelines but religious schools are exempt from those guidelines. If you can remove students who are disruptive and remove the scores from students who don’t care, you can certainly increase the performance of those left. Public schools don’t have that luxury. There are extreme cases that lead to students being expelled, but generally speaking if you live in our attendance area we have to educate you. And it is important to do so. An educated community is more attractive to businesses looking for employees, crime is lower, and people generally enjoy living in places were education is valued and displayed. What really gets me is I teach in a school full of great teachers, in a district full of great teachers, led by people who really put the interests of children first. To hear, especially politicians, speak so negatively is disheartening at a minimum. The response usually is “We’re not talking about you; we’re talking about the bad teachers and schools.” That’s all fine and good but the policies they are trying to implement affect me too.  I love all the discussion about cutting the arts, too. In spite of all the evidence showing how music education and arts education benefits students, people still want to cut those programs first. I know times are tough and there isn’t a lot of money to go around, but to take what public education gets now and send it to private schools isn’t right either. If that’s what you are going to do then just eliminate public education all together and let people pay their own way. What kind of society would we have then? There are plenty of arguments for and against some of the policies I’ve been talking about but this isn’t really the time or place for me to go any further. I understand many of the viewpoints from both sides. Not all public schools are bad. I am a product of public schools and my children attend public schools. I appreciate all the people who get up each day and head to school and do the best they can with the students they are entrusted with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_the_United_States

http://www.educationbug.org/a/history-of-public-schools.html

http://people.howstuffworks.com/public-schools1.htm

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/