Still reading your posts. I must say, however, that I don't quite understand why you read allusions to Doug's educational data base from "Welcome Back Kotter" as being a reference to you.
If you teach in an urban public school setting [forgive me my suspicions about general phrases like "teach for a living"], then surely you would be aware that the major crises and issues facing public education are, in descending order of importance: (1) a growing and ever more powerful campaign to destroy the viability of public education through various privatization schemes, most notably vouchers; (2) the growing gap in funding and resources between urban and suburban school systems; (3) the out-of-control testing craze.
On issue 1, the most important, if only because a loss on it would forestall any chances of correcting 2 or 3, there could not be a clearer difference between Bush and Gore. Bush is an outspoken advocate of educational privatization and vouchers, and Gore is an adamant opponent. Whatever else one might want to say about Clinton, it was his vetoes which stopped the Republican Congress from taking the federal contribution to education in the form of Title 1 funds dedicated to low-income, educationally disadvantaged students and turning it into voucher money. If Gore is defeated and the Republicans control Congress, count on that money being taken out of schools for poor kids and put into the pockets of the venture capitalists descending upon public education like vultures. Stopping such developments and blocking the advance of privatization of public schools may not seem like much to committed "revolutionaries," but forestalling defeat here means a whole lot to the families of poor and working class students, and to the educators which struggle to give them an opportunity for a meaningful, productive life.
On issue 2, although this is an issue which has to be fought at the level of state and local government, the federal role in public education has always been one of abating these inequalities, with programs such as Title 1 and Head Start. Having Republicans redirect those federal funds into vouchers can only exacerbate what is already a system of "savage inequalities," to quote Jonathan Kozol. Again, if you don't think that those are real differences, you live a life quite uninformed by any contact with urban public schools.
On the third issue, there is no question that Gore shows considerably more balance -- although not enough for my tastes -- on the use of high-stakes, standardized testing. Bush's program is to introduce such tests at every grade level -- be sure to make the Kindergarten kids puke out their guts over whether or not they will get to graduate to Grade 1. Gore supports higher learning standards, not a bad thing in itself, if they are combined with sensible systems of assessment [multiple forms of evidence, use of performance based tasks as well as standardized tests] and proper supports -- properly prepared and experienced teachers, small class size, up-to-date, quality books and resources, etc.
In sum, the choice before us today regarding public education is not whether we are going to make great progress, but whether we are going to prevent great defeat and reaction. And on this question, there could not be a clearer difference between Bush and Gore.
> Leo, I remember Room 222 and the old movie Up the Down Staircase.
> As far as I can tell, little of these enter into my thinking about
> whats happening in education. Now I teach for a living, so I
> should pay attention to the virtues of Clinton/Gore on school
> reform. When I see some, I'll let you know what I think.
>
> I always thought the obsession with standardized testing
> and the accompany classroom prep was about calming the vague
> anxieties of parents, pundits, and politicians.
>
> I'm not sure, you sound like your settling. Are
> you looking for meager victories or meager defeats.
>
> Dennis Breslin
>
Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. -- Frederick Douglass --
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