Pulling the Levers of Power
Robert Pondiscio writes to Deborah Meier again today.
Dear Deborah,
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Thank you for your latest thoughtful post. Let me pull on a couple of threads.
You're against public funding for charter chains that are "accountable to their 'owners' not their public." Well, isn't everyone? The whole point of charters is public accountability in exchange for operational freedom. I've never heard a soul in the charter school world refer to themselves as "owners" of schools. And for the record, I harbor no "general aversion to public institutions," but neither do I sentimentalize them. Public institutions serve public purposes. The public interest is in a well-educated citizenry. Traditional public schools are one way—only one way—to serve that public interest. But why are we talking about this, Deb? I thought we agreed that we both liked small schools, operational flexibility, and public accountability? I thought we were supposed to be designing a school system that accommodates our respective visions and others of educating for democracy and liberty. We're in danger of falling backwards.
You remain fixated on the question of "who decides what" in schools at large, but still cannot name even a single thing that all American children should know. This depresses me. Fair-minded readers of our posts can satisfy themselves if I'm "pretending there's one right answer to what a good