Tuesday, August 28, 2007

[AISD-Watch] A Critique Of US Public Schools

We Can't Get No Educashion

A Critique Of US Public Schools

By Emily Spence

Part One: The Overview - Part 2 :Down In The Trenches,
Anecdotal Evidence From The Classroom

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.

[1] To see the total cost for the War in Iraq, please
refer to information provided at:
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182.
[2] To review US budgetary figures, please see: The
Federal Pie Chart
(http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm).
[3] This data derives from: U.S. Department of
Education Budget News
(www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html).
[4] An overview can be obtained at: Cutting the
Federal Budget to Prevent U.S. Bankruptcy: Part ...
(http://www.lewrockwell.com/grichar/grichar38.html).
[5] Debt figures and similar provisions are located
at: U.S. National Debt Clock
(http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/).
[6] This and related information is reviewed at: US
Census Press Releases.
[7] A summation of Kozol's findings can be found at:
Still Separate, Still Unequal: America's Educational
Aparthe...
(http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/American-Apartheid-Education1sep05.htm).
[8] Please refer to: The National Adult Literacy
Survey - John Taylor Gatto
(http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3j.htm).
[9] At these sites, the ease with which this trickery
can be executed is shown: Bill Moyers Journal . Buying
the War . Watch the Show | PBS
(www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html) and Bill
Moyers' "Buying the War" Exposes the Media's Failure
to... (www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/24/730/).
[10] To learn more, please go to: Stanley Milgram -
The Stanley Milgram Website
(www.stanleymilgram.com/references.html) and, for an
extensive analysis, Obedience to Authority (1960-63)
(www.humanresearch.msu.edu/training/Milgram_Paper_by_H).

[11] Please check information at these links to see
definitions of business and personal bankruptcy, as
well as number of cases in US for 2005: Bankruptcy -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy) and http://www.uscourts.gov/bnkrpctystats/bankrupt_f2table_dec2006.xls
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