Before I start this little rant, I need everyone to bear in mind that I am ultimately a huge supporter of President Obama. One has to consider the institution the man is placed in when judging the man. This is why I have forgiven him for Gitmo, Afghanistan, and the Inadequate Stimulus. I do think that his health care reform bill, if implemented, would be the most substantial pro-middle/lower class piece of domestic policy since at least Clinton’s Earned Income Tax Credit, if not LBJ’s great society legislation. That’s why the Right has poisoned the debate around said bill; it has real, substantial subsidies for poor/working class/middle class families.
And there’s no question we will all be collectively FUCKED if Mr. Obama isn’t re-elected.
With that caveat out of the way, Obama’s education policy sucks. It is a boondoggle. A right-wing Trojan horse corporatization of education, obscuring the fact that we spend far more on prison and bombs than we do on books and teachers. My anger relating to this issue is so pervasive, in fact, that it’s difficult to organize my thoughts in a coherent manner. This may require a subsequent rewrite, but here goes.
Cross Posted on PersonalInfamy.Tumblr.com
The foundation of Mr. Obama’s policy is test scores. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, every fucking study/piece of news that comes out about test scores has shown that test scores are an unreliable measure of anything. There have been numerous instances of schools gaming the system by deliberately holding back students. I’m not going to give any sources because you can find them quite easily using the google. Similarly, there have been multiple reports of teachers improperly coaching students, or actually changing tests after the fact (ie, erasing and changing student answers). That’s because of a little thing called human nature. When you tell someone that their continued livelihood (or their bonus) depends on their kids getting some test score, they are going to do everything they can to make sure that those scores are achieved. If they can cheat to do it (with minimal risk) then they will cheat.
Equally important, regarding test scores, is that teachers are now compelled by administrators to teach to the test. This creates an education monoculture which, I’m sure, is far less interesting to both students and teachers alike. It perverts the curriculum and promotes uniformity of thought. Even if a law was passed forbidding teachers to teach to the test, administrators would still apply oblique pressure to force them to do so. Because that’s fucking human nature.
Even though there’s substantial evidence that compensation-linked test scores don’t adequately measure anything, the Obama administration pretends that they do. They use these test scores to justify charter schools or “School Choice.” Now, I’m not trying to claim that it isn’t possible for a well run charter school to provide an education that is superior to a public school. What I’m saying is there’s no real way to measure it.
The real reason the Obama administration, and the Right Wing, are such fans of charter schools is that teachers in charter schools are non-unionized. They are at-will employees that can be fired at any time. This is an attack on teachers unions, but more broadly, is an attack on teachers as a relatively privileged class in our society. Yes. The truth is, that the Right Wing in this country wants a society with fewer teachers. It wants the teachers that we do have to be at-will employees — with no job security, unempowered to speak their minds. And in terms of long term social planning, this makes sense doesn’t it? Teachers are generally a bulwark of anti-corporate left wing thought. Exposing kids to this kind of ideology makes it much harder for plutocrats and corporations to do whatever the fuck they want to do. Which is why they are attacking teachers.
I’m not saying that some of the protections afforded by teachers unions don’t cause problems. The corporate media has been pimping the story of NYC’s “Rubber Rooms” for a damn long time now. There may be some truth in those stories. But every system has flaws in it, and the alternative system proposed by the Obama administration is far worse.
Oh, also, some of these charter schools are actually run as for-profit enterprises. They take the per-student payment, use less than the full amount, and pocket what’s left. Then they justify this capture of public money using …. test scores! Give me a fucking break. This is all about silencing and impoverishing teachers to make Americans stupider and more obedient.
Finally, the manner in which the Obama administration has implemented these “School Choice” policies has been nearly coercive. Inside of the otherwise necessary (if inadequate) stimulus bill was funding for the “Race to the Top Program.” This allowed the Department of Education to dole out billions of dollars in education funds, but only to states that “reformed” by weakening teachers unions and allowing charters. Mind you, this was during the worst recession/depression since at least WWII. These states are absolutely desperate for cash. And Race to the Top took advantage of that desperation by forcing big, unproven changes, based on faulty methodologies.
Ultimately, this is all ideological. This is about obscuring the fact that relative to other industrialized countries, and even some third world countries, the US under funds its educational system. That’s because we deliberately under tax the rich and shift education costs onto individuals. It’s about making sure that the people with money keep their money. It’s about making sure that children aren’t exposed to left-wing ideas that might lead to an organized opposition to the current distribution of wealth.
And what makes it completely morally outrageous, is that it’s done under the guise of “Giving Our Children The Education They Deserve.” Fuck you, Arne Duncan. Fuck You, Michelle Rhee. You are corporate hacks, liars and hypocrites. Good job ensuring the glorious future of American Plutocracy.
Note: Included in the Health Care bill were some excellent reforms of higher education funding. The Obama administration eliminated Bush’s use of banks as middlemen (a blatant giveaway), thereby increasing the amount of free capital to use for financial aid in higher education. This was a good change in policy.