CNN reports on the efforts of the new D.C. Schools Chancellor - Michelle Rhee - to turn around the miserable condition of the DC public schools.
I'd like to note two quick excerpts from the article which I think are highly relevant to the challenges the United States faces in turning around our education system.
"Michelle Rhee says she runs at 100 miles per hour. As the chancellor of one of the nation's lowest performing schools, she says she has no choice -- too much bureaucracy to cut through, too many problems to fix after decades of neglect."This is the problem when government thinks it has all the solutions. Government took over education and then becomes indebted to teacher's unions and the jobs created by this new government enterprise. It is then almost impossible to address the real issues, simply because of the bureaucracy that has to be cut through in order to get to the heart of the problem.
Far better to allow parents a choice in schools (as detailed by John McCain's campaign). This robs the public schools of their monopoly on education and will force them to compete. Competition will allow the schools to change far more quickly and will keep government employees and teacher's unions on their toes.
The second excerpt is so sad that it is almost humorous:
"...she [Kerry Sylvia, a DC Public School's Teacher] doesn't always care for Rhee's style, saying Rhee makes it seem like "there's a lot of lazy teachers."I have news for Ms. Sylvia. When 88% of your students can't read... there are a ton of lazy teachers. As John McCain puts it: "Let's find bad teachers a new line of work". Teachers and parents may fear radical change, but it is complacency and laziness that got the DC public schools in this shape. You may not be able to fix a twenty year issue in one year, but you can certainly start today. Chaos and dysfunction is where the schools are at right now! Maintaining the status quo will not help and "measured reform" has neither come nor worked, so why not change at breakneck speed? To be honest, for the students of DC public schools, it can't get any worse at this point.
We should be praying that Ms. Rhee, and others like her around the country, are successful in their dramatic reforms - challenging government stagnation and teacher's unions - and their continued effort to improve the education of future generations.
Click the video below to see the full report:
2 Comments:
Severely altering our school systems this way was not the answer. It's like saying that the obesity in Native American populations is attributable to laziness - newsflash: ever hear of the thrifty gene hypothesis?
Michelle Ree will not have a spot in an Obama Administration, you can guarantee it.
Dicta,
It sounds like your knowledge of the issues surrounding DCPS rely exclusively on what you read in the press. Well, if you haven't figured it by now, let me tell you--don't depend on the media to give you the whole story.
Bush's justification for going into Iraq should prove that the media is often complicit in the actions of those in power.
If you look at the reality as oppose to rhetoric or propaganda, many of Rhee's initial "reforms" have caused more harm than good.
Get fully educated on an issue before you write about it!
Many of us who have been demanding real reform in DC are realizing--"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Our students deserve better.
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