THE TOP THREE: EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES OVER THE NEXT EIGHT YEARS

What an election season this has been. We are faced with major challenges over the next eight years. Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama have made their closing arguments for why they each should be elected. Neither, I believe, has made the case for educational policies that would be any different than George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.

The last two terms of the Bush administrations have been a boon to the textbook and testing companies by promoting an ill-conceived and ill-executed educational policy--No Child Left Behind--which underscores the inherent problems with most of the Bush era policies, foreign and domestic.

The Clinton years were not any more successful in helping school-aged children. Indeed, the school accountability movement got its legs under Bill Clinton's administration. School Choice found voice, teacher and student "competencies" became a mantra, and religious acceptance in schools became issues from 1993 to 2000. Teachers, students, and schools have all suffered under the yoke of failed policies, and no matter who wins on Tuesday, we may be in for more years of grandstanding.

Perhaps George W. Bush needs to be pilloried the most for this failure (let's all pile on) because he ran on a platform of being the "Education Candidate" in the 2000 election. Yet, with 9/11, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the only education the nation received was in war and failed policies, both foreign and domestic. We are in sad, sad shape as a country because of failed ideology, Realpolitik. We are desperate for leadership and vision rather than just rhetoric and cult of personality.

So, what should our top three educational initiatives be in the next eight years with regard to education?

1.) REPEAL NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: Great idea in theory but lousy execution. This law should be buried and schools should be given a pass on what it portends and pretends to be. No equity and justice, no peace.

2.) SCHOOLS AS CENTERS OF STRENGTH: Using K-12 schools as educational Centers of Strength (see the Harwood Institute for descriptions here). Schools should be at the center of our collective thoughts. Current and future leaders who understand the processes of their community should be given more weight during these next four years. It's important to have our working and successful schools become models to follow rather than being broad-brushed and dismissed as not working. Most schools work and work well.

3.) INCREASE SPENDING FOR EDUCATION: More schools need to be created, more teachers must be inducted into the profession, and higher rates of pay should be given for effective teachers and administrators (where testing is only part of what gets rewarded). We should also look at ways of creating consistent professional development opportunities for teachers and other school personnel so that we look at school work as closely as scientific exploration.

The Democratic Process

On Tuesday, February 5th, 24 states will hold primaries, caucuses, and state conventions to determine the number of delegates that will be elected to the national conventions this summer. The two main political parties in this country, Republicans and Democrats, will then choose a nominee at their respective conventions who will in turn square off against each other in a national election in early November that will determine who will be the next President of the United States. After Super Tuesday, the Democrats will elect about 54% of its total delegates and the Republicans will select around 41%.

Okay, that’s Civics 101, but what do you tell your children about the elections and this seemingly endless process, if anything?

Well, please do engage with them in talking about “the process.” It’s a truly an amazing and wonderful way of electing one of the world’s most powerful leaders that often gets lost by talking about the individuals and the acrimony. I resist telling my own children who I intend to support, but I do spend a fair amount of time talking about the country as a whole and educational policies in particular.

I do this for two reasons. First, we as a nation must get away from the winners and losers mentality that makes politics just another sport. Will Hillary put Barack in his place? Has Bill overstepped his bounds? Will McCain and Romney win the ultra-right wing support of the Republican Party if Mike Huckabee drops out? All of these “ripped from the headlines” kinds of questions dilute the real issue of the marvel of this peaceful (and convoluted) process that is the envy and (sometimes) scourge of the world, especially when it is rammed down the throats of other nations and people. Second, we owe our children, many of them who have never experienced the kind of political upheaval that other children in the world have experienced, an explanation about what process truly means.

A few years ago, I was invited to a symposium at the Castanoa Retreat Center in Half Moon Bay by the Harwood Institute to discuss civic engagement. In off election years, particularly in underserved communities, people depend on certain organizations as beacons in the night to get them and their children through the storms that they encounter every day. A contingent of leaders from the Agassi School, including myself, along with other “Centers of Strength” in Las Vegas were invited to discuss issues relating to poverty, education, and social services. Our goal was to just talk about our process. How did we do what we were supposed to be good at? How did we build a school out of thin air and create a (then) $60 million endowment in less than ten years to keep the school running for forever? Finally, how did we get people to feel less silo-ed (i.e., isolated) from the process of civic engagement?

In short, the answer was what Jane Addams at Hull House did so fabulously well. It was to provide her community with highly process-oriented choices. Addams (1860 – 1935) collaborated with a great many people and made Hull House a Center of Strength in the City of Chicago at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Hull House provided young immigrant women in Addams’ “Settlement House” not just a community but a way to advance themselves beyond their present circumstances by engaging deeply in Democratic principles. Hull House had a library, gymnasium, swimming pool, Chautauqua’s (which is like the Berkeley Extension School—or adult education—today), and much, much more. Hull House is the model for Progressive Schools because it explicitly taught Democracy.

So, what does that have to do with you, your children, and the Democratic Process?

Understand that Presidio Hill School is our Hull House, of sorts, allowing children and parents the opportunity to engage in process driven work and ideas that will carry them far beyond their current circumstances. You can discuss the issues that are important to your family because even as early as kindergarten your children are discussing “big ideas” at school related to Democracy. Find ways to engage them in process-oriented work that underscores the democratic principles of vision, collaboration (rather than service), and sacrifice. Again, Progressive Education does teach a specific kind of engagement and is activist in its origins.

One small way that we at PHS give back and are in collaboration in our community is by being a polling place on Election Day. Truly, we are so limited and constrained by space that having one more box in our school is a hardship. However, having PHS as a Polling Place teaches a subtle yet powerful message, which is we at PHS care deeply about the Democratic Process. It also says that we care about our city, State, and country. Patriotism is not always about flag-waving and bumper stickers, but it is about making sure that we are a part of the process in a small but symbolic way.

Ghandi, King, and Mother Teresa were all activist in the Democratic tradition. Yet, their greatest strengths as leaders involved the processes that gave people hope, a sense of wonder, and the ability to transform the lives of others by bearing witness to the work they did in collaboration with others. In the end, that is what we do, that is what distinguishes us as a school, and as a community.