Letters to the Editors
'Business model’ has failed schools
To the editors:
At the turn of the twentieth century, the purpose of education was widely understood to prepare people for participation as citizens in the United States of America. A new public high school somewhere in this country was being opened each day.
This led to the development of the United States as the wealthiest, most powerful, most educated nation on the planet.
Somewhere along the line our mission for education changed. Instead of developing citizens, we began to develop employees. Instead of focusing on neighborhood schools, we developed the factory model of education – warehousing our students into giant buildings, taking them away from neighborhoods, focusing on cost containment rather than on education.
The SRC recognizes that method has not worked. It now seeks to build smaller neighborhood schools. The Commission is correct, but the cost of failure due to following the business model cannot be calculated.
In the meantime, the SRC is still bent on following the business model, instilling competition and privatizing our schools.
The SRC in staff professional development has insisted we become data-driven. The data over the past three years of privatization in Philadelphia show that District-run schools have generally improved test scores more than privately managed schools, even though the privately managed schools all receive extra funding.
How long will citizens allow this to continue?
Keith Newman
Philadelphia
knwmn@yahoo.com
AYP Game: a great resource
To the editors:
I had the good fortune of receiving a copy of your poster Making AYP: The Game. This publication is without a doubt the best overview of Adequate Yearly Progress requirements and implications for educators throughout Pennsylvania.
I believe this is a resource that needs to be provided for all teachers within the middle school of which I am principal. This overview will certainly help our teachers establish a clear focus and instructional goals to ensure success for all students.
Dr. Francis X. Antonelli,
Principal
Heights Terrace Elementary/Middle School, Hazleton, PA
Editors’ note: “Making AYP: The Game,” which appeared in the Notebook’s Winter 2004-05 edition, was a combined effort of the Notebook and Research for Action (RFA), as part of RFA’s Learning from Philadelphia’s School Reform Project. Copies of a free, glossy wall poster of the game produced by RFA can be obtained by visiting www.researchforaction.org, or writing Research for Action, 3701 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Opting out of military recruitment
To the editors:
Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act requires schools that get federal funds to give students’ home phone numbers and addresses to the military. But we have the right to “opt out” – to refuse to have the school release that information.
The Global Women’s Strike and Payday have launched a grassroots campaign to inform students and parents of the right to opt out, and to demand that money going to war and prisons go instead to caregivers, youth and communities. Our schools, libraries, public services and communities are suffering from lack of resources, while billions are spent on war and occupation.
The military is stepping up its recruitment effort and putting the squeeze on students because massive opposition to the war and occupation in Iraq has meant that young people are not enlisting, even during a period of economic hardship.
No one wants to see their son’s or daughter’s life wasted as cannon fodder. Students and parents are organizing in different ways across the country against recruitment and militarization of schools, and for resources and community control:
- Students in Montclair, N.J., got 80 percent of their parents to opt out.
- In a Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles, a demonstration of parents and community members blocked the car of retired General Tommy Franks when they learned that he was speaking to fifth-grade students.
- Students in many Philadelphia schools are organizing opt-out efforts.
We invite you to be in touch with us at 215-848-1120. A “toolkit” on opting out can be found at www.youthandthemilitary.org. Let us know what you are doing and get involved!
Pat Albright
Global Women’s Strike
Philadelphia
philly@crossroadswomen.net