On the Miracle called Finland’s public schools - Wait What?

On the Miracle called Finland’s public schools - Wait What?:

On the Miracle called Finland’s public schools

Education reformers like to point to Finland as the prime example of how public education should work.  The primary problem with their argument is that Finland’s public education system is exactly the opposite of what the charter school industry and their corporate education reform allies are proposing.

In Finland, there is no privatization of public education.

In Finland, teachers are respected and honored and are given the responsibility for developing programs that provide every student an opportunity to succeed.  Administrators are hired to support their teachers, not limit their ability to teach.

In Finland, there is no massive standardized testing scheme

In Finland, students are provided a comprehensive education, not one restricted to the Common Core and its limited focus on just math and language arts.

In Finland, children are allowed to be children.

To better understand why Finland has the best public education system, one must understand how Finland aggressively reduces the level of child poverty, how it funds and supports its public schools, and how it recognizes the importance of childhood.

The following blog posts from Diane Ravitch provide some of that vital background;

Those Joyful, Illiterate Kindergarten Students in Finland

Pasi Sahlberg: Why There Is No Teach for Finland

Finland: Frequent Recesses Keep Students Focused

What These American Educators Learned in Finland

Teacher Education in Finland

Finland’s “Culture of Trust” and Our Culture of Testing

Lessons from Finland

How Are Teachers in Finland Evaluated?

William Doyle: What Makes Finnish Schools So Successful?

Pasi Sahlberg: Teacher Autonomy Matters More than School Autonomy

Pasi Sahlberg: The Myth that Schools Can Do More with Less

Pasi Sahlberg: Finnish Teachers Are Not “the Best and the Brightest”

 On the Miracle called Finland’s public schools - Wait What?:

Uganda Will Close For-Profit Schools Pushed by Gates, Zuckerberg, US, UK, and World Bank | janresseger

Uganda Will Close For-Profit Schools Pushed by Gates, Zuckerberg, US, UK, and World Bank | janresseger:

Uganda Will Close For-Profit Schools Pushed by Gates, Zuckerberg, US, UK, and World Bank

In a statement to the Ugandan parliament last week, Hon. Janet Museveni, Ugandan Minister for Education and Sports, explained that the ministry will close 63 private primary and nursery schools at the end of the term due to problems with licensing, safety and sanitation.  The schools are operated by one of the world’s largest private, for-profit education companies.

As this blog reported in April, Bridge International Academies is funded by the World Bank; American venture capitalists, New Enterprise Associates and Lean Capital; and philanthropists including the Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Pierre Omidyar.  Bridge is associated with the publishing and testing giant, Pearson.  It has also been supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Development.  Justine Greening, a Conservative Party member of the British Parliament who headed up the Department for International Development before being appointed earlier this year as British Secretary of State for Education, has been influential in promoting Bridge Academies.

According to its website, Bridge International Academies has expanded rapidly in Africa.  It opened its first school in Nairobi, Kenya in 2010 and operated 130 schools in Kenya by 2013.  In 2014 it prepared to expand into Uganda and Nigeria—operating seven academies in Uganda by February, 2015. Bridge currently operates 63 schools in Uganda. Now it is expanding into Liberia and India.

The Global Campaign for Education and a number of international education and human rights organizations released a statement at the end of last week supporting Ms. Museveni’s decision to close all Bridge International Academies in Uganda.  Respecting Ms. Museveni’s decision to close the schools based on immediate problems with licensing and hygiene, these international advocates for public education as a human right examine much deeper problems in the schools: “Bridge International Academies is a for-profit commercial chain of low-cost private schools backed by investors such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Pierre Omidyar (eBay), as well as the World Bank, and the U.S. and British Governments. It aims at providing education to 10 million pupils by 2025 and already runs over 450 schools in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and soon Liberia and India. The company has been particularly Uganda Will Close For-Profit Schools Pushed by Gates, Zuckerberg, US, UK, and World Bank | janresseger:

 Saying kids were endangered, Uganda is closing schools backed by U.S., World Bank, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/17/saying-kids-were-endangered-uganda-is-closing-schools-backed-by-u-s-world-bank-bill-gates-and-mark-zuckerberg/

Russ on Reading: Teaching, Tragedy and Comprehension

Russ on Reading: Teaching, Tragedy and Comprehension:

Teaching, Tragedy and Comprehension

No one can teach for any length of time without being touched by tragedy. Students get terribly sick. Students experience death in their families and we ache for them as they bring the grief on their faces into the classroom. Sometimes, students die. I have experienced these tragedies many times in my teaching career. Suicides. A devastating diagnosis of cancer for a nine-year-old student. Parents who were killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

One particular tragedy stands out for me above all others. Van Johnson was one of my first students as a wet-behind-the-ears 8th grade social studies teacher at Bristol Junior-Senior High School. He was tall, handsome, with a winning smile and a 70s' style Afro that entered the classroom before he did. Van was bright, capable, curious, motivated, challenging and thoughful. He was always engaged in class, always had his hand up (or, truth be told, often didn't have the patience to raise his hand and just blurted stuff out) and multi-talented. In addition to being a top student, he was a pitcher on the junior high baseball team I coached and a performer in the school plays I directed. When I started a branch of the World Affairs Council at the school, Van was elected president. The future seemed very bright for young Mr. Johnson.

During his senior year at Bristol, 17-year-old Van Johnson drowned. He and some friends were celebrating their impending graduation with a late night swim at a nearby lake, when tragedy struck. For all his talents, Van was a poor swimmer. It was foolish for him to be in that lake, but he was, after all, just a kid trying to have some fun.

These memories of Van came rushing back to me as I read an article titled,Will Simone Manuel Encourage More Black Children to Swim? in today's New York Times. The article refers, of course, to the Olympic champion swimmer, Simone Manuel, an African-American who won two gold and one silver medal at the Rio Olympics. The article outlines the hope of many public health experts, swimming advocates and African-American parents, that her charisma and success will lead to more minority children learning how to swim.

Among the many gaps between white and black, majority and minority, rich and poor in this country is a swimming gap. This swimming gap kills. It is estimated that about 70% of African American adults and children cannot Russ on Reading: Teaching, Tragedy and Comprehension:

BACK TO SCHOOL: Enrollment up a bit as kids return to school

BACK TO SCHOOL: Enrollment up a bit as kids return to school:

BACK TO SCHOOL: Enrollment up a bit as kids return to school

WASHINGTON (AP) — No more staying up late during the week. Farewell to sleeping in. And hello, homework!

The lazy days of summer are ending for millions of children as they grab their backpacks, pencils and notebooks and return to the classroom for a new school year.

Some facts and figures to know as the new school year begins:

___

ENROLLMENT AND COSTS

About 50 million students are expected to attend public elementary and secondary schools this fall. That's up just slightly from the 2015-16 school year, according to the Education Department. They'll be taught by some 3.1 million school teachers from pre-kindergarten through high school, with an average student-to-teacher ratio of about 16 students to each teacher. Around 249,000 teachers are new hires this school year.

The growth of charter schools is continuing, with enrollment increasing from 800,000 in 2003 to 2.5 million in 2013, according to government figures. Some 40 states and the District of Columbia reported having about 6,400 charter schools.

The U.S. spends about $11,670 per pupil, on average, on public school education.

About 4.8 million students are expected to attend private school this fall, down slightly from the previous school year.

The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that 3.5 million students, both public and private, will graduate from high school at the end of the school year.

___

LONGER SCHOOL YEAR

Some schools are adding to the traditional 180-day year. In Washington, D.C., for example, 10 public schools are moving to extended-year schedules.

Students in those schools will have 20 more days per year than peers at other schools. They'll have shorter breaks over the school year, which will run 200 days through all 12 months. The idea is less time away from school in the summer will help boost learning and achievement.

___

HIGHER ED

The cost of college continues to rise.

Undergraduate tuition, fees, room, and board were estimated at $15,640 at public institutions, $40,614 at private nonprofit institutions, and $23,135 at private for-profit institutions for the 2013-14 school year.

In the last 10 years, prices increased 34 percent at public institutions and 25 percent for private nonprofits.

In all, 40 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in college or graduate school in 2014, according to Census Bureau numbers.

___

HOW U.S. STUDENTS STACK UP

The latest results from national math and reading tests show slipping or stagnant scores.

Math scores were down for fourth and eighth graders over the last two years. It was the first decline since 1990.

Reading grades were flat for fourth graders and lower for eighth graders, according to results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Globally, American students trail their counterparts in Japan, Korea, Canada, Germany, France and more.

In reading, the U.S. ranks No. 16 in a global test given to 15-year-olds. Scores were worse for math, with the U.S. ranked 30th against students from other countries taking the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA tests.

___

NEW LAW OF THE LAND

The nation's schools districts are working with states and the federal government as they implement a new education law passed last December that returns to the states significant control over education policy. But the Education Department still plays an oversight role for the nation's 100,000 or so public schools.

States and schools are busy developing new accountability systems — a key component of the Every Student Succeeds Act. The law allows states and districts to design their own measures of achievement and progress, and decide independently how to turn around struggling schools.

And while students still have to take federally mandated reading and math tests, the law encourages states to cap the amount of time students spend on standardized testing each school year. The Obama administration has recommended that districts cap the percentage of classroom time students spend taking required statewide standardized tests at no more than 2 percent. The Council of the Great City Schools says testing amounts to about 2.3 percent of classroom time for the average eighth-grader in public school.

___

BACK-TO-SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Back-to-school supply costs are expected to decrease this year, but they'll be offset by higher fees for after-school activities such as sports, according to the latest Backpack Index by Huntington Bank. The index measures the cost of supplies and extracurricular activities.

For the 2016-17 school year, parents should expect to pay:

—$659 for an elementary school child, a 1.5 percent increase compared to last year.

—$957 for a middle school student, a 1.6 percent increase.

—$1.498 for a high school student, a 6.8 percent increase.

The report says higher fees for sports participation, especially in high school, are responsible for much of the increase.BACK TO SCHOOL: Enrollment up a bit as kids return to school:

A parent’s guide to K-12 school success

RECOGNIZE THAT ALL PARENTS, REGARDLESS OF INCOME, EDUCATION OR CULTURAL BACKGROUND, ARE INVOLVED IN THEIR CHILDREN'S LEARNING AND WANT THEIR CHILDREN TO DO WELL. 

DESIGN PROGRAMS THAT WILL SUPPORT FAMILIES TO GUIDE THEIR CHILDREN'S LEARNING, FROM PRESCHOOL THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL. 

DEVELOP THE CAPACITY OF SCHOOL STAFF AND FAMILIES TO WORK TOGETHER. 

LINK ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS FOR FAMILIES TO IMPROVING STUDENT LEARNING. 

FOCUS ON DEVELOPING TRUSTING AND RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG STAFF AND FAMILIES.  

BUILD FAMILIES' SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONNECTIONS.

  

EMBRACE A PHILOSOPHY OF PARTNERSHIP AND BE WILLING TO SHARE POWER. 

MAKE SURE THAT PARENTS, SCHOOL STAFF, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS UNDERSTAND THAT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS A COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISE. 

BUILD STRONG CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. 

INCLUDE FAMILIES IN ALL STRATEGIES TO REDUCE THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP BETWEEN 

 WHITE, MIDDLE-CLASS STUDENTS AND LOW-INCOME STUDENTS AND STUDENTS OF COLOR. 

Strickland attacks high-stakes testing, tax dollars for charter schools | The Columbus Dispatch

Strickland attacks high-stakes testing, tax dollars for charter schools | The Columbus Dispatch:

Strickland attacks high-stakes testing, tax dollars for charter schools

RANDY LUDLOW | DISPATCH

Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Ted Strickland surrounded himself with teachers this afternoon as he spoke about public education policy at Downtown Columbus High Scho

Democrat Ted Strickland touched on key points of concern to Ohio's public school educators this afternoon amid his campaign for the U.S. Senate.

The former governor seeking to topple Republican incumbent Rob Portman spoke for 24 minutes before a group of teachers gathered at Downtown Columbus High School.

He left them applauding as he denounced "excessive, oppressive" high-stakes student achievement tests and the flow of tax dollars to 'shadowy charter schools." He also called for government bureaucrats to give parents and teachers a greater stake in decisions that affect classroom education.

Strickland, who is endorsed by the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers, vowed he would be an "unabashed champion of public education" if Ohioans elect him to the Senate on Nov. 8.

Recalling he pushed for a moratorium on new charter schools as governor, Strickland attacked the privately operated, but publicly funded charter schools that he said robs money from the public K-12 system.

"We must fight to protect and strengthen public education in the face of deliberate and detrimental efforts to privatize our schools," he said.

"Shadowy, sometimes out-of-state, corporations are trying to divert our tax dollars away from our public schools in order to profit from the education of our kids."

Strickland recounted the data-rigging scandal at the Ohio Department of Education to improve sponsor evaluations by omitting scores of online charter schools. And, he spoke of "scandalous E(lectronic) schools" in making an indirect reference to the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow fight with the state over verifying students are receiving the needed hours of instruction.

In the Senate, he promised to pursue initiatives to alter federal standards that led to the flurry of student proficiency testing and promote funding for traditional public schools over charter schools.

The Democrat portrayed Portman as far from a friend of public education, saying the Republican has supported "sending millions of our tax dollars to companies that profit off our children's education."

The Portman campaign released statements of support from several area school board members, a teacher and a career center superintendent.

John McClelland, a New Albany school board member and veteran GOP consultant, criticized Strickland for cutting funds for literacy and pre-school programs, among others, and a reversing a higher-education tuition freeze while serving as governor.

Strickland countered that he was dealing with the "crisis" of a national recession that cratered the economy and tax-take of Ohio and other states, requiring him to balance a budget with less revenue.

He correctly pointed out that Ohio's education system improved during his watch to be ranked fifth best in the nation in one noted study. The Quality Counts report by Education Week a trade newspaper, now rates Ohio 23rd among the states.

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlowStrickland attacks high-stakes testing, tax dollars for charter schools | The Columbus Dispatch:

Audio: LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King says she’ll expand school choice 'pipeline' | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King says she’ll expand school choice 'pipeline' | 89.3 KPCC:

LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King says she’ll expand school choice 'pipeline'

Superintendent Michelle King, Mayor Eric Garcetti and other elected officials and dignitaries paid visits to several Los Angeles Unified School District campuses on Tuesday to welcome back the roughly 514,000 students who returned to classes.

That district projection pegs L.A. Unified's student enrollment roughly 13,000 students smaller than it was last year, continuing a decade-long decline.

In part to reverse that trend, King has said she intends to expand access to L.A. Unified's half-dozen "school choice" programs, which allow parents to send their kids somewhere other than their default, neighborhood school.

These choice options — from magnet programs and language immersion schools to transfers and open-enrollments — have been popular for years. In 2013-14, more than 135,000 students exercised school choice; that's roughly one out of every four students in the L.A. Unified that year.

But since then, enrollment's still declined by an estimated 42,000 students.

In an interview with KPCC on Monday, King said parents in some of the vast district's neighborhoods still have trouble accessing choice programs. While she did not offer many details of her solution on school choice, her answers in the interview reveal her conception of the problem.

"All choices aren’t everywhere," King said. "What I learned in having the opportunity to talk to families from across this district, is families want certain things in their area where they can have direct access."

King mentioned the popular dual language programs. She says not every language is available in neighborhoods accessible to everyone.

In a similar way, she noted a student who open-enrolled in an arts-focused elementary school might not be able to matriculate to an arts-focused middle school — simply because there isn't one nearby.

"Even though we have a lot of choice, it wasn’t a pipeline, we couldn’t move from elementary to middle to high and to be able to maintain that theme or area of interest," King said.

Many of the details of King’s plan to expand choice may be included in the strategic plan her staff has said is due out early this fall.

When asked for details about what that choice plan might look like, L.A. School Board president Steve Zimmer said a lot of the work to create instructional pathways that carry students through consistent choice options from kindergarten through high school will happen at the grassroots level.

"We don’t have the grand marquee, shout-it-from-the-mountaintop [plan], but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” said Zimmer, "and it actually doesn’t mean that it’s not happening  in a much smarter way.”

This call for more choice within the district comes as the list of public school options Audio: LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King says she’ll expand school choice 'pipeline' | 89.3 KPCC:

KJ's Next Adventure: Still on the Corporate Dole After All These Years | Comstock's magazine

How Oak Park Promise Vows to Improve the Neighborhood | Comstock's magazine:

How Oak Park Promise Vows to Improve the Neighborhood
Initiative aims to develop ‘cradle-to-career’ education pipeline to improve odds for children and teenagers

 This week, the Greater Sacramento Urban League is returning to its Oak Park roots, first with temporary digs on 3rd Avenue and then, in September, the nonprofit organization founded locally in 1968 will open a satellite office on Alhambra Boulevard. “It’s always been a desire to come and be a part of the Oak Park community once again,” says Program Coordinator Tamika L’Ecluse, who also serves as president of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association.

While the Urban League will continue to provide workforce training and job placement at the new site, the focus will be on reducing deaths among black children. In Sacramento County, African American children are dying at two times the rate of other children, and Oak Park is a high-risk neighborhood. The Board of Supervisors has established a steering committee to reduce these deaths by 10-20 percent by 2020. The Urban League will provide education and other resources to prevent perinatal deaths, sleep-related infant deaths, child abuse and neglect homicides, and third-party homicides of youth, L’Ecluse says.

The Urban League is one of roughly 50 public and private partners in the Oak Park Promise Neighborhood, a 15-year initiative — covering 50 blocks and two square miles — to improve the educational, health, employment and housing opportunities of residents. In addition to the higher infant mortality rate, Oak Park has a higher unemployment rate, lower median household income, lower homeownership, lower literacy and shorter life expectancy than the rest of the city.

The group plans to apply for a $30 million (over five years) federalPromise Neighborhood grant through the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, administered by the U.S. Department of Education. While President Barack Obama proposed a budget request of up to $150 million this grant cycle, the actual allocation in 2016 is $30 million to be split among the 5-7 recipients, according to a representative from the department (future funding will have to be approved by Congress each year). Selections will be announced around December.

Mayor Kevin Johnson announced the ambitious proposal during a kickoff event in July at an overcrowded Guild Theater, a venue managed by his nonprofit community development corporation, St. Hope Academy. Johnson has long advocated revitalizing this neighborhood where he grew up. Plenty of residents appreciate the attention he’s paid to Oak Park as shown during a recent Gather — a monthly food event with live music held near the theater. Attendees swarm Johnson to take his photo and shake his hand.

Related: Oak Park Farmers Market opens for its seventh season

But with the mayor embroiled in controversy — longstanding sexual abuse allegations and a judge’s recent ruling that he must release certain emails into the public record following a lawsuit he filed against the Sacramento News & Review — and having decided against running for re-election, the baton will be passed to Mayor-elect Darrell Steinberg when he assumes office in December. Steinberg has promised to carry the momentum forward.

‘Cradle to Career’

The Promise Neighborhoods program grew out of a 2008 visit Obama made to the Harlem Children’s Zone, an anti-poverty initiative focused on children. The federal government launched an effort in 2010 to prompt similar programs around the country, and has provided funding for new or continuing awards every year since.

Oak Park should have an advantage as Sacramento previously received Promise Zone designation (for a larger area including Oak Park, Del Paso Heights and The Avenues south of Fruitridge Road). In 2015, Sacramento was one of eight new zones selected in the second round (there are now 22 recipients total). “There’s no money from this, but it puts you in a position,” Johnson said during the kickoff event. “You play golf? It tees you up. OK, you play basketball? It’s like an assist.” Neighborhood designation, on the other hand, actually means money.

Oak Park Promise’s “cradle-to-career” approach is designed to support each stage of a young person’s life: prenatal; preschool; elementary, middle and high school; college, internships; employment. Seven target schools have been identified, including five in the St. Hope Charter Schools system and two campuses in the Sacramento City Unified School District.

The campuses must be able to track the progress of students over time, providing data from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, says St. Hope CEO Jake Mossawir. St. Hope can capture a large sample size of Oak Park students, as 4,000 students live in the neighborhood and about 2,000 attend these charter schools, Mossawir says, adding that the other two schools serve another 1,000 children. “About 50 percent actually live in the two zip codes that make up Oak Park,” he says. “For students who live in Oak Park, but who attend schools outside of the borders, at non-target schools, they will still receive resources from the grant, which is a requirement.”

The funding would augment St. Hope’s STEM programs, Mossawir How Oak Park Promise Vows to Improve the Neighborhood | Comstock's magazine:

Reading, Writing, and the Common Core State Standards | Center for American Progress

Reading, Writing, and the Common Core State Standards | Center for American Progress:

Reading, Writing, and the Common Core State Standards

• Endnotes and citations are available in the PDF and Scribd versions.

• Download the report: 
  PDF
• Download introduction & summary: 
  PDF
• Read it in your browser: 
  Scribd

During the 2014-15 school year, more high school seniors read the young adult-oriented books The Fault in Our Stars andDivergent than Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Hamlet, according to a report that tracks what K-12 students at more than 30,000 schools are reading during the school year. These books are generally self-selected, making it not all that surprising that students would prefer to read a contemporaryNew York Times bestseller than a 17th-century play written in early modern English. And while some of the books that students select are thematically targeted to a mature audience, they are not particularly challenging to read for the average high schooler. The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent, for example, have the readability of a fourth- or fifth-grade text in terms of sentence structure and word difficulty.

There is substantial evidence that much of what students are currently reading is not particularly challenging. This lack of complexity in students’ reading and writing is likely undermining their preparedness for college and the workplace. In addition, despite the predominant role that reading and writing serve in other subjects and disciplines, literacy development has long been relegated to the English or reading classroom.

Take the issue of reading complexity. Three of the top five most commonly assigned titles in grades 9 through 12 are To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, and Of Mice and Men. All three books, while classics, are not particularly challenging in terms of sentence structure and complexity. Does that mean that Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which broaches issues of racial inequality should instead be introduced to elementary school-aged children? Most people—including English teachers—probably would not agree. Readability is only one factor when considering the intended audience of a work of literature.

But the difficulty of the reading material to which students are exposed is not inconsequential. An ACT report finds that “performance on complex texts is the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are likely to be ready for college and those who are not.” This holds true across gender, race and ethnicity, and family income levels.

Yet there is a stark gap between the complexity of texts that high school students are reading and of those that they will confront in college and in their careers. Students reading at the average level of high school texts, for example, may be comfortable with as little as 5 percent of university-level texts and with only one-quarter of the texts that they would encounter in the military or the workplace.

One only need skim the data to see that just a small proportion of students are on the path to graduate from high school ready for college and a career. Only one-third of fourth- and eighth-grade students—36 percent and 34 percent, respectively—performed at the proficient level or higher in reading, according to the most recent data, on the National Assessment of Reading, Writing, and the Common Core State Standards | Center for American Progress:

The So-Called Right to Teach - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

The So-Called Right to Teach - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

The So-Called Right to Teach

The stories seem to be everywhere these days: Crisis-level teacher shortages and how to fillthem.  Need-based fast-track pathways to the classroom, for those who just don't have the time or inclination to, you know, seriously study or practice the complex work of teaching. Questioning the need for teacher licenses or advanced certification. And tiresome, never-ending repetitionsof the old "cash cow" canard--that universities invest little in education research, while allowing anyone with a pulse into programs that should be highly selective.

And now, a new catchphrase: The Right to Teach.

While the terminology is novel, the idea certainly isn't. We've been trying to do education on the cheap since Horace Mann rode around promoting the idea that it would benefit the nation to offer free schooling to every child.

We say we want good schools. We say we want an educated citizenry, and a well-trained, nimble workforce. We even say that we want equity, and justice, for our young.

But we don't. We want a simple, cost-effective solution for keeping children off the streets, providing them with basic literacy and introducing them to compliance. Teaching? A low-level jobs program for technical workers, who can follow a script and relentlessly pursue test scores.

Some so-called reformers are now openly backing away from even rhetorical support for equity, justice, honoring diversity and pursuit of integration. Maybe it's not so bad, they suggest, for kids to go to school with "their own kind." After all, solving the seemingly intractable problems of segregation (read: generational racism) and poverty are just "too expensive."

In other words, let's put poor minority children in for-profit schools with inadequately paid, untrained teachers and call it a day. To everything, churn, churn, churn.

In this country, we are fond of polishing our human rights bona fides--life, liberty, pursuit of something like happiness, or at least contentment. It's our absolute right to speak our piece in a public forum or on TV even if it's loathsome. We have the right to vote, to worship or not, to be treated fairly by the justice system, and to live in the way we see fit, as long as we're not impinging on anyone else's rights.

There are (or should be) other automatic rights--rights that feel pretty shaky, right now, in the best country in the world: The right to clean water, and food. The right to basic health care. The right to personal dignity, and safety.

There is, however, no "right to teach," in a public institution, for compensation. None. Nobody has The So-Called Right to Teach - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher: