Is Public Education on Its Death Bed? Should It Be? Seven Points of Argument, Leverage and Change. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Is Public Education on Its Death Bed? Should It Be? Seven Points of Argument, Leverage and Change. - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Is Public Education on Its Death Bed? Should It Be? Seven Points of Argument, Leverage and Change.

By Nancy Flanagan on July 23, 2013 1:52 PM

Corporate Ed Reform Working?

Last week, I was lunchtime speaker at the local Mensa group's monthly meeting. The program chairman who asked me to speak suggested this title for my talk: Is public education on its death bed? Should it be?

I readily agreed to talk about the possible demise --lamented, in my case--of public schooling. I thought it a provocative and timely topic.

One could easily make case the that public education doesn't work well, is stuck in a previous century, is cumbersome and inequitable and failing lots of kids. It deserves to die, because it's not doing its job consistently. The question is: What will replace it?

One could also make a passionate case that a free, high-quality fully public education for every child is one of America's best ideas--and that some things should not be subject to market pressures. If we've ever laid claim to being a great nation, it's certainly public education that