Secretary Arne Duncan cares about kids. He worked for seven years successfully restructuring the Chicago school system and now he is in charge of distributing 100 billion dollars of federal stimulus money to schools all around the country.
“We have to educate our way to a better economy,” said Duncan at a press conference held at the National Press Club on Friday. “Our children only have once chance to get an education.”
Duncan said that he thinks that we have a huge window of opportunity right now to really change things in our education system. He noted four key factors that will influence the success of education reform efforts: absolute leadership from the top (referring to President Barack Obama, who appointed Duncan to his position), bi-partisan support, great ideas, and real resources.
“With unprecedented resources, we expect to see unprecedented reform, “ said Duncan. He is thinking big.
Duncan plans to put money towards programs that support early childhood development, statewide student data tracking systems, teacher merit programs, and an increase in college grants, scholarships, and loans. Duncan also believes that there needs to be a huge focus on decreasing student dropout rates.
“There are no good jobs out there for high school drop outs,” said Duncan, claiming that a failure to graduate with a high school diploma condemns students to a life of poverty and “social failure.”
“I worry a lot about the dreams of our young people that are starting to die,” said Duncan. With sincerity uncommon to politicians in this day and age, he spoke about the urgency he feels in bringing about change to the American school system.
“We are lying to our students,” said Duncan. He described the false sense of achievement that the United States education system endorsed in the past. The schools would tell students that they were “meeting states standards,” which was a false measurement of achievement, because state standards were not up to par. Because of this falsehood, Duncan said that students were inadequately prepared when they took SAT or ACT tests for college admittance and were then shocked with their poor performance.
In his viewpoint, Duncan said that if the student had been expected to meet internationally benchmarked standards, then they would have been aware of their weaknesses as early as the fifth grade, and they could have been working on those problem areas all throughout high school. By the time they took the college tests, the results could be drastically different.
According to Duncan, “No Child Left Behind” failed because it had goals that were far too loose and a plan of action that was far too rigid. He focused not on the previous administration’s inability to reform education, but more on his desire to “fundamentally flip it (the program) on its head.”
Duncan said that in the past the American government has lacked the political will and the courage to do the right thing by children. He plans to change that.
In an age-old game of “copy and paste,” Duncan wants to take a look at the prosperous schools in our communities and replicate them throughout the country. He noted the “extraordinary” Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax County and said, “Let’s clone that magic.”
But Duncan is not open to all educational options. When asked about school choice and a voucher program (an alternative option where the government would allow federal funding to “follow the child,” and parents would receive money to choose where to educate their students), he was prickly.
“I don’t think vouchers work,” he said. Claiming that vouchers only serve one to two percent of American children, Duncan deemed the idea exclusive. “I don’t want to save one to two percent of our children and let the other 98 to 99 percent drown.”
Interestingly, Duncan’s criticism of voucher programs avoided any reference to the successful local Washington D.C. voucher system, as well other similar programs across the country such as the 15-year Milwaukee program.
Statistics gathered by the National Center for Education Research and Regional Assistance for the 2008-2009 year show that after three years, students enrolled in the Washington D.C. voucher program show a significant positive increase in reading ability and parental satisfaction in their child’s school. More information about school choice is available through the Alliance for School Choice, The Black Alliance of Educational Options, and the Greater Washington Urban League.
In light of his efforts to de-privatize education, Duncan’s viewpoint on a couple hot topics was surprising. Duncan chose not extend his attack on charter schools, however, and actually supported the work of these non-governmental education programs. He did not say that he thought charter schools were the answer—it is obvious that he is invested in the restoration of public schools—but he did applaud the charter schools for their success and he said that he doesn’t see why he would ever want to end something that was working.
When asked what he thought about home schooling as another alternative option, it was obvious that Duncan was finished speaking about options that deterred from his plan. He merely stated, “God Bless them (home schoolers).”
Duncan centered his speech on the challenge that he wants to present the American people with to raise their expectations and to find the courage to “not just tinker around the edges” of education reform, but to do something about it. He said that he plans to walk the talk.
Duncan pledged to overhaul American public schools, especially the absolute bottom one percent “dropout factories”—about 1,000 schools per year where the dropout rates peak 80 percent at times. He said that if he doesn’t do this within the next four (or maybe eight) years, then he would have failed at his job.
“We know what is possible,” Duncan said. “We should be in the business of investing in our children, not subsidizing banks.”
This comment is interesting in the wake of General Motors’s announcement yesterday that it was filing for bankruptcy. Despite the Obama administration’s resolve to stop spending unnecessary money and focusing federal funds on areas with “real” potential--like education--President Obama just gambled 50 billion dollars away to bailout the automotive industry.
Now we, the American people, have a huge stake in a bankrupt company and we spent half the money that we want to spend on education to buy it. Our motives are good, but will they be enough to counteract our spending craze? In truth, perhaps this is a different kind of spending, but money is money, and even if it’s for a noble cause, if you don’t have the money, then you don’t have the money.
Furthermore, how can money that we wisely invest into our schools help us break free from the chains of recession when we are still caught up in the same degenerative patterns?
By Catherine Moore, camoore@bu.edu
