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December 20, 2006
Tony Carnevale champions public education"Tough Choices or Tough Times" is rearing its head again. BoardBuzz told you about the report from the National Center on Education and the Economy last week, here and here, and, as we suspected, the discussion is still raging. It was the cover story in Time magazine, for one thing, and it was covered here by U.S. News & World Report and has prompted editorials in the Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News and the New York Sun, as well as this op-ed in the Charleston Daily Mail.
Skills Commission member, Tony Carnevale has written a letter (via: Eduwonk) critical of the report, which defends school boards, school districts, teachers and unions. In short, Carnevale points out
I see no recognition, quantitative or qualitative, of what's lost by setting aside these mass institutions embedded in local communities. The unions and school boards are steeped in democratic process. The school districts are the repository of administrative practice and the teachers bring the core professional knowledge and values that guide teaching and learning.The American mass public school system is the unique historical amalgam of these forces. I don't see how the narrow experience and offerings of a nascent education contracting industry substitutes for the current mix of democratic process, administrative practice and professional knowledge and values that these institution bring to the table. I see no evidence that the capabilities of the education contracting industry are up to the task at hand.
He goes on to compare the notion of "contract schools" as proposed in the report to charter schools. Carnevale vigorously defends teachers as well.
My other difficulty with this report is the common theme of bashing public school teachers. I owe too much to public school teachers not to object to their mistreatment. There are repeated references to the poor quality of American public school teachers, with no data offered as support.According to the report, "We generally recruit teachers from among the least able high school students who go to college" (p.22). Teachers are "those who entered college with the lowest measured ability." Apparently our current teachers don't read a lot or well or write well, are uncomfortable with ideas and are not creative. In the future, the report says, we will need better teachers: "We will have to have teachers who write well, who read a lot and well and who are themselves good at mathematical reasoning. And we will need teachers who are very comfortable with ideas" (p.69). "When we invested hundreds of millions in curriculums that captured the key ideas in the disciplines, we failed to attract the teachers who were well enough educated --- (not trained, educated) to teach it well" (p.71). Please.
You can read the entire letter here. BoardBuzz wants to hear what you have to say—leave a comment on this hot topic.
Posted December 20, 2006 12:03 PM | Advocacy & Legislation
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Comments(1)
Posted by: Dr. George Flanders on December 22, 2006 9:35 AM
Many of our learned colleagues have spent a lot of time examining curriculum and test scores, as if there were some inscrutible correlation. When will we point a finger at a generation of unrealistic parents, who expect public schools to raise their children for them, teach them manners and respect, look after their health, watch them while their parents work, and - oh yes - prepare them to compete in a global economy?
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