School Reform, Schools Closings and Historic Memory- A Tragedy in the Making With A Brooklyn Accent

With A Brooklyn Accent: School Reform, Schools Closings and Historic Memory- A Tragedy in the Making:

School Reform, Schools Closings and Historic Memory- A Tragedy in the Making

I am an historian by training and a history teacher by profession, and one of the dimensions of the dominant education policies in this country which disturb me the most is how they erase history and historic memory. 

I am not just talking about marginalizing the teaching of history,though that is definitely one direct consequence of current reform policies.. Even more serious are institutional decisions which end up destroying historical memory and the possibility of using the wisdom and cultural capital of past generations. 

First among these are school closings, which have had their primary effect in inner city neighborhoods, from Buffalo to Baltimore to Chicago to Los Angeles. These so called "failing schools" have all had rich histories, some of them close to a hundred years in the making, which involve themes ranging from migration and immigration, to musical creativity, to changing economies and neighborhoods, which live in the experience of alumni as well as documents the schools themselves have preserved.
Closing the schools not only shatters the possibility of drawing upon