Public education: “Poverty Is the Problem”

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Amanda Painter

Rush transcript available at Democracy Now! for those who prefer to read the interview with New York City public school teacher Brian Jones and Diane Ravitch, the former assistant secretary of education and counselor to Education Secretary Lamar Alexander under President George H. W. Bush, who has since this post dramatically changed her position on education policy. She is the author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. Budget cuts are resulting in teacher layoffs and larger classes across the country. The drive toward more standardized testing is increasing despite a string of cheating scandals in New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and other cities. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan also recently unveiled a controversial plan to use waivers to rewrite parts of the nation’s signature federal education law, No Child Left Behind.

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One Response to Public education: “Poverty Is the Problem”

  1. Stellium in Sag says:
    August 27, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    I’m not convinced poverty is all of the problem.
    esp. reading, ONCE AGAIN, about all the money to be made off of ‘education’.
    there’s a parallel, right?
    many.
    between these damn corps, co’s. etc. profiting hand over foot. I’m talking an insane profit margin, and the crushing down of the common man. child. ruthless, in your face, barbaric-style.
    Life as a Cartoon-style.
    smelling Shock Doctrine-ish to me
    “a chilling tale of how a few are making a killing while more are getting killed”. in case you needed a reminder
    (smile)
    really, anyone with a brain knows No Child Left Behind is the K-12 version of what has been going on in Universities and Colleges for years…..raising up Good Little Test Takers. esp. if you are being groomed for some of the more “elite” professions.

    there is a regulated time period for investigation or discourse on a particular topic divided by how many topics divided by hours etc. etc. etc. all gridded out.#2 pencil little robots. no time to dive in, have meaningful interactions, or help anyone who is being left behind. right.

    and the grading of the teachers is ridiculous. sickening. part of the if-anything -is -meaningful, it HAS to be shown, it WILL be shown on the scantron. right.
    scantron this.

    So glad we had a podcast this week on experiential learning alternatives-
    the degrading of grading
    and other cool things.

    phew! got my hackles up on this one-grrrrWOof!

    just yest. I was with a friend and we were looking at all the new, v. fancy pants construction going up at the local University, and all I could think about is about how the tuition keeps going crazier and crazier, everywhere. from the looks of things, these Universities are stylin’ with beautiful buildings and grounds and frou frou amenites. I have to wonder, what exactly is going on inside the classrooms?
    quality -wise.
    ya know? isn’t just seeing all this extravagance at the expense of ______ (fill in blank as you please) an education in itself?

    peace.

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