We Can't Get No
Educashion
A
Critique Of US Public
Schools
By Emily Spence
08/26/07 "ICH'
--- -
For years, liberals have
pointed out the huge gap
between funding for
military ventures and US
public education.
Indeed, a motto,
floating around for a
decade or more, sums it
up well: "It will be a
great day when our
schools get all the
money they need and the
air force has to hold a
bake sale to buy a
bomber."
While its a bit
overstated, the saying
gets the case across and
no one can dispute that
our federal government
spends an inordinate sum
for our armed forces,
armaments and other
military provisions
while many needs back in
the US get short shrift.
Aside from New Orleans
never being put back
together right, there
are the problems of the
worn out US
infrastructure, the low
income housing deficit,
the high rate of
homelessness and the
migration of jobs
overseas such
that one in seven is
expected to disappear
over the next ten
years. At the same time,
there exist many other
serious problems needing
an immediate infusion of
cash and workers (for
which returned
US military troops could
be employed) to provide
national relief.
Moreover, education, is
woefully under funded
and could certainly used
any help available for
its improvement both in
terms of
building upgrading and
many other sorts.
All of the above in
mind, the cost of the
War in Iraq, alone, has
been close to half a
trillion dollars [1].
The overall military
budget for 2008 is
51
% ($1,228 billion) of US
governmental revenue
whereas ALL other
expenditures amounts to
49 % ($1,159 billion).
Meanwhile, Human
Resources provisions
(from which education
receives a modest
amount) is set at $748
billion while General
Government spending is
set at $295 billion from
which interest on the
government debt
commandeers 20 % of
funds and Homeland
Security another 17 %.
Furthermore, Physical
Resources (out of which
transportation related
and environmental needs
are funded) receives
$116 billion from which
another 17 % goes to the
physical needs (such as
buildings, etc.) for
Homeland Security [2].
When the above funding
decisions are assessed
all together, it is
no wonder that the US
Department of Education
received only
$68,084,800 in 2007. It
is also not surprising
that President Bush
wants this amount pared
down to $60,220,138 for
2008 [3]. At the same
time, this spending is
being requested to be
all together removed
from the US Budget in
order to try to help
balance the huge debt
load, almost nine
trillion dollars
(approximately $30,000
per US citizen), that
our government has
driven into place [4].
The totality, certainly,
staggers the imagination
[5].
Basically. is it
any revelation, then,
that the quality of
education varies vastly
from community to
community based on the
relative wealth that
each has? Likewise, is
it incredulous that the
breach is widening?
All considered, there is
no equality in
educational provision.
For example, current per
pupil annual cost in
Greenwich, CT is
$15,166. In 2004, the
average amount spent
annually per student in
the US was $8,287. with
the low at $5,008 (Utah)
and the high at $12,930
(New York). In other
words, the range
is amazing and one can
expect that ghetto
schools in each state
receive less than
the average sum whereas
more affluent
communities get more
than ample funding. All
considered, property tax
valuations, as the
primary measure to
assess the amount
of money that school
districts obtain, are
bound to create a wide
range of highly
significant disparities
[6].
Furthermore, local
school boards further
compound this problem by
having a large say over
the curriculum used in
schools. This, too,
impacts the quality of
education capable of
being delivered.
For instance, we can
have intelligent design
theory taught along side
of evolution, no
trigonometry or foreign
language classes
offered, no computers
available (as they are
too costly to provide
when assessed along side
of other needs, such as
books on the history of
the evangelical movement
at the exclusion of one
focused on the history
of minority group
contributions to
society, and so on).
Yet, how much more
agreeable would be
education as delivered
in Canada wherein every
teacher in every school
uses the same materials
(supplemented by ones of
local choice) for its
core curriculum and
every student is on the
same page with the same
academic expectations
regardless of whether
they live in British
Columbia or Montreal?!
All of these factors
taken en toto,
education, overall, is
poorly delivered in the
US. This has been well
documented by
innumerable educational
watchdogs, such as
Jonathan Kozol and John
Gatto, whose conclusions
are both highly alarming
and disgraceful.
For example, Jonathan
Kozol has construed,
after countless studies
conducted at a large
number of diverse
schools, that our
educational
system creates
extreme discrimination
based on economic class.
On account, those who
are advantaged (to
receive quality public
education) are
accorded an unfair
advantage in terms of
obtainment of money,
power privilege, class
status, along with other
tangible and intangible
benefits [7].
As a result, many
students, throughout the
United States, have no
chance of succeeding
through no fault of
their own. Under the
circumstances, the loss
to the individual and
the society at large is
staggering. For a nation
that, supposedly,
treasures equal
opportunity, this is
nothing short of
intolerable.
In relation, John Gatto
elucidates on
the findings of a 1990's
ETS conducted national
literacy survey:
"Ninety-six
and a half percent of
the American population
is mediocre to
illiterate where
deciphering print is
concerned. This is no
commentary on their
intelligence, but
without ability to take
in primary information
from print and to
interpret it they are at
the mercy of
commentators who tell
them what things mean. A
working definition of
immaturity might include
an excessive need for
other people to
interpret information
for us.
"Certainly it’s possible
to argue that bad readers
aren't victims at all but
perpetrators, cursed by
inferior biology to possess
only shadows of intellect.
That’s what bell-curve
theory, evolutionary theory,
aristocratic social theory,
eugenics theory,
strong-state political
theory, and some kinds of
theology are about. All
agree most of us are
inferior, if not downright
dangerous. The integrity of
such theoretical outlooks—
at least where reading was
concerned—took a stiff shot
on the chin from America.
Here, democratic practice
allowed a revolutionary
generation to learn how to
read. Those granted the
opportunity took advantage
of it brilliantly." (To have
access to more of this
assessment, please go to the
eighth "[8]" citation
below.)
The ramifications
of both Kozol's and
Gatto's finding are
multifold. For example,
the general workforce,
derived from many HS and
college graduates,
is ill prepared to do
much beyond almost
thoughtless, menial
labor. The disparity
between those who've
been provided a sound
education and those who
have not will be huge in
terms of mental and many
other kinds of
capabilities. The value
of a HS or a college
degree, in and of
itself, will hold no
meaning as the bottom
line involves from where
the degree originated.
The income disparity
between those who
have sufficient funds
and those who do not
will increase. Even more
awful than these other
factors is that the next
generation will
be poorly prepared, for
the most part, to lead
America into the next
century in any
meaningful fashion.
In addition and
equally disturbing is
the fact that thinking
is, thus, curtailed to
the most rudimentary
types for a large number
of Americans. In short,
many individuals
simply are not able
to understand whatever
they are not trained to
comprehend. In this
sense, the lack of
knowledge concerning
science (i.e., the facts
of
evolution) and rudimentary
mathematics (necessary
to balance a check
book), language usage
(needed to communicate
basic information on the
job) and much more is
predictable.
Indeed, obvious
educational shortfalls
in the US, in large
measure, appear
responsible for many
people's inability to
grapple with the more
complex ethical issues,
diminished capacity for
critical analysis (i.e.,
to undertake synthesis
and extrapolation to
generate clarifications
and accurate models of
"reality" as, for
instance, are the ones
posed by transitional
frames of reference)
limited hermeneutical
understandings,
incapacity to
differentiate logical
VS. illogical pattens,
etc. Meanwhile TV shows
are one of the most
popular methods to gain
information on the parts
of many, it would seem,
and simply aren't set up
to impart much of value
beyond a
fleeting entertainment
factor and superficial
news coverage of
selective topics.
All told, John Gatto,
Jonathan Kozol and other
critics, repeatedly and
disparagingly, point
out that public
education (in the US and
elsewhere across the
globe) is guaranteed to
keep economic classes in
their relative placement
and trapped in a basic
inability to apply
higher level cognitive
skill sets to written
and heard accounts.
Thus, many individuals
absolutely have to rely
on commentators (i.e.,
authority figures for
the most part) to form
their understandings of
events. Alternately put,
students, in many school
districts, are not
taught to think
independently, nor
question the opinions
provided by the status
quo. How convenient for
those in powerful
leadership positions!
How easy, then, it
becomes to keep corrupt
systems in operation as
many people cannot even
conceive of alternatives
let alone figure out
ways to put them in
place!
The results, then, are
clear. For example, one
in five American adults,
supposedly, do not know
who the US VP is.
Mainstream news
commentators and
governmental leaders
seem credible even when
spouting the most
audacious lies, and so
on [9]. (Stanley Milgram
carried out some
interesting studies,
which indicate that it
is easy to influence
people to conform to the
attitudes and commands
of those in power even
when these involve
injuring or killing
another person.[10] How
much easier such
outcomes must be to
achieve when people lack
some essential mental
skills to
form autonomous
conclusions.) Lastly, it
is hard for people to
stand against the
underlying norms (i.e.,
that you will be
contented if you just
buy this X product that
you deserve to have and
on which your
self-esteem depends) as
they cannot see through
the propaganda.
All in all, it is easy
to quell any discontent
with "the way things
are" when people cannot
conceive of better
alternatives, nor
question the currently
prevalent standards and
practices. Thus, the
current inequities in
schools and society at
large will likely
continue unchallenged
and uncorrected.
At the same time, the
current income disparity
amongst classes is all
but assured to continue
such that most members
of the lower and upper
economic classes will
keep in their relative
positions, as will their
children. After all, who
can afford to pay ~
$140,000 dollars for an
undergraduate education
and ~ $180,000 for four
years of graduate school
except for the
relatively rather
wealthy? Who can even
meet minimal standards
for studies at a school
of higher education
after learning at one of
the glaringly inferior
schools?
Moreover, taking on this
cost as a student loan
is particularly
ludicrous in many
circumstances in that
the Federal minimum wage
(currently set at $5.85/
hour) all but assures
that many jobs available
to new graduates will
not be able to be
provide sufficient
income for them to pay
back borrowed money
(which,
nonetheless, keep
accruing interest over
time). All
considered, is it
any wonder that the
default rate on student
loans is over ten
percent, while amounting
to many millions of
dollars? Is it
not assured that myriad
related problems for
former students, who
were unable to repay
loans, will subsequently
transpire -- such as
inability to take out a
mortgage due to a bad
credit rating or, even
worse, bankruptcy [11]?
At the same time, the
jobs available to the
graduates are
disappearing. It has
been alleged that one in
seven US jobs will
disappear over the next
ten years on account of
industrial
globalization. The
majority of the ones
that will be left will
be the types that
are impossible to
outsource -- types like
food service delivery at
fast food chains,
construction jobs, clerk
positions at mega-malls,
health care
provision, teaching and
the likes.
A further consideration
concerns the sort of
quality in educators
that can be expected
with the salaries that
many teachers command.
For instance, someone
with a Ph' D in
education can expect a
starting salary of
$22,000 in some public
school systems. Even if
someone with a doctoral
degree were to consider
accepting such a
low income, what sort of
person would he be?
It would seem likely to
be someone who is either
highly dedicated
to humanitarian service
or, due to some sort of
serious flaw, were
unable to "make it" in
the business world.
After all, what other
rationale could
explain someone
willingly taking such a
pitiful salary? Who
can consider supporting
a family or even renting
a home with such a
ridiculous wage?
All in all, we are a
land that
supposedly supports
"liberty and justice for
all" (or so our Pledge
of Allegiance, that
school children recite
every day, states). In
practice, though, we
have an educational
caste system of the
worst sort imaginable.
It is just one more
scandal (along with the
treatment of
the victims from
Hurricane Katrina, our
military invasion
of Iraq without
sufficient provocation
and evidence of myriad
other woes)
plaguing our so-called
great country.
Emily Spence resides in
Massachusetts and deeply
cares about the future
of our world.
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