We
Can't Get No Educashion:
A Critique Of US Public Schools
By Emily Spence
26 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Part One: The Overview
For years, liberals have pointed
out the huge gap between funding for military ventures and US public
education. Indeed, a motto, floating around for a decade or more, sums
it up well: "It will be a great day when our schools get all the
money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."
While its a bit overstated, the saying gets the case across and no one
can dispute that our federal government spends an inordinate sum for
our armed forces, armaments and other military provisions while many
needs back in the US get short shrift. Aside from New Orleans never
being put back together right, there are the problems of the worn out
US infrastructure, the low income housing deficit, the high rate of
homelessness and the migration of jobs overseas such that one in seven
is expected to disappear over the next ten years. At the same time,
there exist many other serious problems needing an immediate infusion
of cash and workers (for which returned US military troops could be
employed) to provide national relief. Moreover, education, is woefully
under funded and could certainly used any help available for its improvement
both in terms of building upgrading and many other sorts.
All of the above in mind, the cost of the War in Iraq, alone, has been
close to half a trillion dollars [1]. The overall military budget for
2008 is 51 % ($1,228 billion) of US governmental revenue whereas ALL
other expenditures amounts to 49 % ($1,159 billion). Meanwhile, Human
Resources provisions (from which education receives a modest amount)
is set at $748 billion while General Government spending is set at $295
billion from which interest on the government debt commandeers 20 %
of funds and Homeland Security another 17 %. Furthermore, Physical Resources
(out of which transportation related and environmental needs are funded)
receives $116 billion from which another 17 % goes to the physical needs
(such as buildings, etc.) for Homeland Security [2].
When the above funding decisions are assessed all together, it is no
wonder that the US Department of Education received only $68,084,800
in 2007. It is also not surprising that President Bush wants this amount
pared down to $60,220,138 for 2008 [3]. At the same time, this spending
is being requested to be all together removed from the US Budget in
order to try to help balance the huge debt load, almost nine trillion
dollars (approximately $30,000 per US citizen), that our government
has driven into place [4]. The totality, certainly, staggers the imagination
[5].
Basically. is it any revelation, then, that the quality of education
varies vastly from community to community based on the relative wealth
that each has? Likewise, is it incredulous that the breach is widening?
All considered, there is no equality in educational provision. For example,
current per pupil annual cost in Greenwich, CT is $15,166. In 2004,
the average amount spent annually per student in the US was $8,287.
with the low at $5,008 (Utah) and the high at $12,930 (New York). In
other words, the range is amazing and one can expect that ghetto schools
in each state receive less than the average sum whereas more affluent
communities get more than ample funding. All considered, property tax
valuations, as the primary measure to assess the amount of money that
school districts obtain, are bound to create a wide range of highly
significant disparities [6].
Furthermore, local school boards further compound this problem by having
a large say over the curriculum used in schools. This, too, impacts
the quality of education capable of being delivered.
For instance, we can have intelligent design theory taught along side
of evolution, no trigonometry or foreign language classes offered, no
computers available (as they are too costly to provide when assessed
along side of other needs, such as books on the history of the evangelical
movement at the exclusion of one focused on the history of minority
group contributions to society, and so on). Yet, how much more agreeable
would be education as delivered in Canada wherein every teacher in every
school uses the same materials (supplemented by ones of local choice)
for its core curriculum and every student is on the same page with the
same academic expectations regardless of whether they live in British
Columbia or Montreal?!
All of these factors taken en toto, education, overall, is poorly delivered
in the US. This has been well documented by innumerable educational
watchdogs, such as Jonathan Kozol and John Gatto, whose conclusions
are both highly alarming and disgraceful.
For example, Jonathan Kozol has construed, after countless studies conducted
at a large number of diverse schools, that our educational system creates
extreme discrimination based on economic class. On account, those who
are advantaged (to receive quality public education) are accorded an
unfair advantage in terms of obtainment of money, power privilege, class
status, along with other tangible and intangible benefits [7].
As a result, many students, throughout the United States, have no chance
of succeeding through no fault of their own. Under the circumstances,
the loss to the individual and the society at large is staggering. For
a nation that, supposedly, treasures equal opportunity, this is nothing
short of intolerable.
In relation, John Gatto elucidates on the findings of a 1990's ETS conducted
national literacy survey:
"Ninety-six and a half percent of the American population is mediocre
to illiterate where deciphering print is concerned. This is no commentary
on their intelligence, but without ability to take in primary information
from print and to interpret it they are at the mercy of commentators
who tell them what things mean. A working definition of immaturity might
include an excessive need for other people to interpret information
for us.
"Certainly it’s possible to argue that bad readers aren't
victims at all but perpetrators, cursed by inferior biology to possess
only shadows of intellect. That’s what bell-curve theory, evolutionary
theory, aristocratic social theory, eugenics theory, strong-state political
theory, and some kinds of theology are about. All agree most of us are
inferior, if not downright dangerous. The integrity of such theoretical
outlooks— at least where reading was concerned—took a stiff
shot on the chin from America. Here, democratic practice allowed a revolutionary
generation to learn how to read. Those granted the opportunity took
advantage of it brilliantly." (To have access to more of this assessment,
please go to the eighth "[8]" citation below.)
The ramifications of both
Kozol's and Gatto's finding are multifold. For example, the general
workforce, derived from many HS and college graduates, is ill prepared
to do much beyond almost thoughtless, menial labor. The disparity between
those who've been provided a sound education and those who have not
will be huge in terms of mental and many other kinds of capabilities.
The value of a HS or a college degree, in and of itself, will hold no
meaning as the bottom line involves from where the degree originated.
The income disparity between those who have sufficient funds and those
who do not will increase. Even more awful than these other factors is
that the next generation will be poorly prepared, for the most part,
to lead America into the next century in any meaningful fashion.
In addition and equally disturbing is the fact that thinking is, thus,
curtailed to the most rudimentary types for a large number of Americans.
In short, many individuals simply are not able to understand whatever
they are not trained to comprehend. In this sense, the lack of knowledge
concerning science (i.e., the facts of evolution) and rudimentary mathematics
(necessary to balance a check book), language usage (needed to communicate
basic information on the job) and much more is predictable.
Indeed, obvious educational shortfalls in the US, in large measure,
appear responsible for many people's inability to grapple with the more
complex ethical issues, diminished capacity for critical analysis (i.e.,
to undertake synthesis and extrapolation to generate clarifications
and accurate models of "reality" as, for instance, are the
ones posed by transitional frames of reference) limited hermeneutical
understandings, incapacity to differentiate logical VS. illogical pattens,
etc. Meanwhile TV shows are one of the most popular methods to gain
information on the parts of many, it would seem, and simply aren't set
up to impart much of value beyond a fleeting entertainment factor and
superficial news coverage of selective topics.
All told, John Gatto, Jonathan
Kozol and other critics, repeatedly and disparagingly, point out that
public education (in the US and elsewhere across the globe) is guaranteed
to keep economic classes in their relative placement and trapped in
a basic inability to apply higher level cognitive skill sets to written
and heard accounts. Thus, many individuals absolutely have to rely on
commentators (i.e., authority figures for the most part) to form their
understandings of events. Alternately put, students, in many school
districts, are not taught to think independently, nor question the opinions
provided by the status quo. How convenient for those in powerful leadership
positions! How easy, then, it becomes to keep corrupt systems in operation
as many people cannot even conceive of alternatives let alone figure
out ways to put them in place!
The results, then, are clear.
For example, one in five American adults, supposedly, do not know who
the US VP is. Mainstream news commentators and governmental leaders
seem credible even when spouting the most audacious lies, and so on
[9]. (Stanley Milgram carried out some interesting studies, which indicate
that it is easy to influence people to conform to the attitudes and
commands of those in power even when these involve injuring or killing
another person.[10] How much easier such outcomes must be to achieve
when people lack some essential mental skills to form autonomous conclusions.)
Lastly, it is hard for people to stand against the underlying norms
(i.e., that you will be contented if you just buy this X product that
you deserve to have and on which your self-esteem depends) as they cannot
see through the propaganda.
All in all, it is easy to quell any discontent with "the way things
are" when people cannot conceive of better alternatives, nor question
the currently prevalent standards and practices. Thus, the current inequities
in schools and society at large will likely continue unchallenged and
uncorrected.
At the same time, the current income disparity amongst classes is all
but assured to continue such that most members of the lower and upper
economic classes will keep in their relative positions, as will their
children. After all, who can afford to pay ~ $140,000 dollars for an
undergraduate education and ~ $180,000 for four years of graduate school
except for the relatively rather wealthy? Who can even meet minimal
standards for studies at a school of higher education after learning
at one of the glaringly inferior schools?
Moreover, taking on this cost as a student loan is particularly ludicrous
in many circumstances in that the Federal minimum wage (currently set
at $5.85/ hour) all but assures that many jobs available to new graduates
will not be able to be provide sufficient income for them to pay back
borrowed money (which, nonetheless, keep accruing interest over time).
All considered, is it any wonder that the default rate on student loans
is over ten percent, while amounting to many millions of dollars? Is
it not assured that myriad related problems for former students, who
were unable to repay loans, will subsequently transpire -- such as inability
to take out a mortgage due to a bad credit rating or, even worse, bankruptcy
[11]?
At the same time, the jobs available to the graduates are disappearing.
It has been alleged that one in seven US jobs will disappear over the
next ten years on account of industrial globalization. The majority
of the ones that will be left will be the types that are impossible
to outsource -- types like food service delivery at fast food chains,
construction jobs, clerk positions at mega-malls, health care provision,
teaching and the likes.
A further consideration concerns the sort of quality in educators that
can be expected with the salaries that many teachers command. For instance,
someone with a Ph' D in education can expect a starting salary of $22,000
in some public school systems. Even if someone with a doctoral degree
were to consider accepting such a low income, what sort of person would
he be?
It would seem likely to be someone who is either highly dedicated to
humanitarian service or, due to some sort of serious flaw, were unable
to "make it" in the business world. After all, what other
rationale could explain someone willingly taking such a pitiful salary?
Who can consider supporting a family or even renting a home with such
a ridiculous wage?
All in all, we are a land that supposedly supports "liberty and
justice for all" (or so our Pledge of Allegiance, that school children
recite every day, states). In practice, though, we have an educational
caste system of the worst sort imaginable. It is just one more scandal
(along with the treatment of the victims from Hurricane Katrina, our
military invasion of Iraq without sufficient provocation and evidence
of myriad other woes) plaguing our so-called great country.
[1] To see the total cost for the War in Iraq, please refer to information
provided at: http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?
option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182.
[2] To review US budgetary figures, please see: The Federal Pie Chart
(http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm).
[3] This data derives from: U.S. Department of Education Budget News
(www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html).
[4] An overview can be obtained at: Cutting the Federal Budget to Prevent
U.S. Bankruptcy: Part ...
(http://www.lewrockwell.com/grichar/grichar38.html).
[5] Debt figures and similar provisions are located at: U.S. National
Debt Clock (http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/).
[6] This and related information is reviewed at: US Census Press Releases.
[7] A summation of Kozol's findings can be found at: Still Separate,
Still Unequal: America's Educational Aparthe... (http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/American-Apartheid-Education1sep05.htm).
[8] Please refer to: The National Adult Literacy Survey - John Taylor
Gatto (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3j.htm).
[9] At these sites, the ease with which this trickery can be executed
is shown: Bill Moyers Journal . Buying the War . Watch the Show | PBS
(www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html) and Bill Moyers’ “Buying
the War” Exposes the Media’s Failure to... (www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/24/730/).
[10] To learn more, please go to: Stanley Milgram - The Stanley Milgram
Website (www.stanleymilgram.com/references.html)
and, for an extensive analysis, Obedience to Authority (1960-63) (www.humanresearch.msu.edu/training/Milgram_Paper_by_H).
[11] Please check information at these links to see definitions of business
and personal bankruptcy, as well as number of cases in US for 2005:
Bankruptcy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy)
and http://www.uscourts.gov/bnkrpctystats/
bankrupt_f2table_dec2006.xls.
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