Deborah Meier writes again to Mike Klonsky today. She will post again next week on her summer reading recommendations before starting the blog鈥檚 summer break.
Dear Mike,
It is galling when rich people in the ed policy field tell me that class size doesn鈥檛 matter鈥攁nd pay a lot to send their kids to schools with half as many students per class as urban schools. And city schools in fact generally have larger class sizes than 鈥渦pstate鈥� or 鈥渄ownstate鈥� schools. Here, again,for you know who.
Ditto for arts, etc. You鈥檝e spelled it out so clearly. As I told my 1949 high school graduation class (a NYC independent school) the other night (65th reunion), I mostly discovered that for starters I should try to duplicate the school I went to. And it works鈥攆or 鈥渢hose kids,鈥� too.
Of course, we improved on it, in part to adapt to our 鈥渁udience鈥� (students, community, and families), and in part because we had to think about some of the advantages that my peers had access to from their family connections. We did a lot extra to connect kids to other adults鈥攁bove and beyond the school or family鈥攚ho could be a networker for them, as well as providing a look into how the other half lives. But these wouldn鈥檛 have been bad ideas for my own high school either, and I notice they are doing more of this now also. The 鈥渙ther half鈥� may be a bit different for the students in the two schools.
So actually every child in America should have access to the wealth of talent and experience offered in elite private schools, PLUS ... for after school, weekend, and summer enrichment.
And even then it wouldn鈥檛 be a level playing field. Just watch all the ways I advantage my four grandchildren: introductions to interesting friends and potential allies and employers, trips with me around the world, just to mention a few. Not to mention the impact of poorer health, more crowded living, more polluted neighborhoods, more reasonable fear of crime, etc, etc.
Like you, Mike, I was disappointed, to put it mildly, by the to support New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. If there was a chance that he鈥檇 live up to the commitments they claim he made I can possibly understand the logic. But we know, and were pretty quickly confirmed in this belief, that he has no intentions of reversing his direction. And his scandalous demand that New York City give free space to charters鈥攖he more, the merrier鈥攚hile other schools are over-crowded and when the new PreKs are going to be seeking space, is outrageous. Yes, New Orleans reminds us of what the future might look like.
They are killing two birds with one stone: public schooling and the teachers鈥� unions. And making some of their allies rich in the process鈥攁nd unaccountably so.
Enough gloomy talk. There have been victories: even if there will be some backsliding (e.g. Mayor Bill DeBlasio鈥檚 deal with Cuomo to get the WFP support). But there is a new generation of leadership arising in our unions (public and private) and some serious challenges and victories in mayoral elections, etc. The future is not yet written ...
I鈥檓 still puzzled at how we can be fooled by the argument that education is the way out of poverty. First of all, it鈥檚 a myth that it was for prior poor populations. Almost all made it out of poverty economically first. Education came later. (Colin Greer alerted me to this many, many years ago in a book entitled .) At a time when students with BAs are taking jobs that were formerly accessible to high school graduates. And at lower wages to boot, it seems a peculiarly unrealistic hope or theory. But having a good education is a good idea regardless鈥攂ecause it will perhaps help us find better ways of living together on this planet if we know a bit more about ourselves, our neighbors, and the planet.
I鈥檓 hoping that 澳门跑狗论坛 will let me postpone my reading suggestions until next Tuesday, when I鈥檒l say goodbye for the summer.
Deborah
Editor鈥檚 note: 澳门跑狗论坛 will, of course, let Deborah postpone her summer reading suggestions until next week.