Cathie Black and the Demise of Public Education

The appointment of Cathie Black - the Hearst magazine executive with zero education experience - as New York City schools chancellor is further evidence of the complete collapse of the 20th century model of liberal public education in the US...It is remarkable how quickly the liberals caved. Maybe this is because of the way pro-business education reformers co-opted the traditional liberal discourse of equality and civil rights. Or maybe it's the money...

School reformers focus on the racial "achievement gap" as a source of social inequality. This is naive at best and a red herring at worst, distracting us from the real causes and remedies of inequality. Education, in itself, is neither a cause nor a solution to the systemic problems of racism and poverty in the US. The promise to prepare all students for college seems admirable, until one realizes that the "colleges" where most students are to be sent are for-profit diploma mills where students graduate, if at all, with high debts and few prospects of a well-paying job...When reformers promise us that "every child can succeed," they are trafficking in cheap platitudes. True success would involve a redistribution of wealth, the creation of decent jobs and a commitment to real equality...

The assault on teachers, however, does not target all teachers equally....Virtually every school closed down for "poor performance" has been predominantly low-income and minority. Minority teachers are much more likely to work at minority schools, and are thus disproportionately targeted by reformers as being "bad" teachers. When poorly performing schools are closed or reorganized, the teachers who are let go find it difficult to find new positions. Many are forced into charters, with longer work hours, less job security and reduced benefits. Those who cannot find positions are pressured to quit. The focus on "bad" teachers has also led school districts to tighten requirements for new teachers, whi ch has further reduced the number of minorities in the teaching profession. In New York City, the percentage of teachers who are black has fallen from 22 percent in 2001 to 20 percent in 2008. More ominously, the percentage of new teachers who are black fell from 27 percent to 13 percent during the same period.

Reformers demand that we sacrifice teachers' benefits for the sake of student achievement, but this kind of zero-sum calculus is just plain wrong. Public schools have benefits beyond individual student achievement. As state institutions, they function as a conduit for the flow of money into poor communities. Public schools serve as community centers. Often, they are important employers in neighborhoods ravaged by unemployment and poverty. They employ local residents as aides, custodians, and other staff. In most cases, local communities enjoy a remarkable degree of influence over their neighborhood schools, even the "failing" ones.... Instead of redistributing state funds to the community, school reform directs the money to privately owned charters, outside educational entrepreneurs and overpaid directors.

Teaching is traditionally an occupation that provides an avenue of upward mobility for the working class and other marginalized groups that face obstacles in most professions...Minorities and other marginalized groups, such as blacks, Latinos, women, gays and leftists are still heavily represented in the teaching profession. In this sense, schools provide opportunities not just by teaching knowledge, but also by hiring teachers. This upward class mobility is what the current reforms are targeting. By replacing public schools with charters, reformers aim to destroy the opportunities provided by the teaching profession. By de-professionalizing and devaluing teachers in working-class schools, reformers are creating an entry for profit-seeking educational entrepreneurs that will divert public funds to private coffers... For the rich, this is a win-win situation: lower taxes, higher profits and they even get to keep their own kids' schools.

http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/2011/01/cathie-black-and-demise-of-public.html