Making schools fail

An idea that's been tossed around frequently is that American schools are failing. That prompted Bush's No Child Left Behind and Obama's Race to the Top.

But is it true?

An article in Mother Jones looks at that question (I haven't read the Mother Jones article, only David Dayen's comments on Firedoglake). At Mission High School (town not named) the 925 students hold passports from 47 countries. The majority of students are Latino, African American, and Asian American. Nearly 3/4 are poor. In spite of all that 88% were accepted in college and the school improved Latinos' test scores more than any other school in the district. Suspensions have skyrocketed nationwide, but dropped significantly at Mission High. This is a failing school? According to test scores, yes.

So what is going on?

Corporations see schools as a profit center. And to wrest them away from government -- or to prove that government can't do anything right -- they have to "prove" that schools are "failing." One happy byproduct of that claim is that teachers can't do anything right and their union should be busted.

I see one more piece to the puzzle, which comes from my reading about systems of power. One aspect of the way a system of power stays in power is to convince those in its control is that it is supposed to be that way. Controlling the education of youth -- or simply making sure they get a lousy education -- is a way of making sure that message gets across.

Many commenters said the best way to improve education? Reduce class size.



Next week is the GOP convention. The Dem convention is the week after. And the silly season has already begun. Already I'm tired of the mess. So I will probably comment very little on the whole thing until it is over. You know my views of the GOP. Their shenanigans won't change, they'll only get louder. I haven't said as much about the Dems and I'll sum up my views of them this way: They say the right things in their party platform (especially about gays). Whether they do the right thing or are too beholden to corporate masters is another question entirely. I'm very much against the GOP. That doesn't mean I'm for the Dems. But I'll vote for them to keep the GOP out of power.