Why you should be worried about Arne Duncan
I’ve got a new piece published at Truthout.org titled “The Corporatization of Public Education” about a recent indication made by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to put more mayors in charge of underperforming urban school districts.
Something must be done in many of our urban school districts—to decrease drop-out rates, to boost student achievement, to provide underprivileged students with some stability, to give them the best education available with the most talented teachers.
Putting mayors in charge of struggling urban school districts, however, is not it.
Below is a excerpt from the article, and another link to the full piece at Truthout. I’ve already received some e-mails and feedback, but I’d love to hear back from more readers. This is a contentious topic, I know, and I enjoy talking it through with other interested individuals. Let me know what you think.
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The Corporatization of Public Education
By Andy Kroll, t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Before an audience of big-city mayors and school superintendents in late March, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan offered an early – and troubling – indication of his vision for the future of public K-12 education in the United States. Duncan told audience members at the Mayors’ National Forum on Education in Washington, DC, that more mayors need to take control of low-performing, urban school districts, and that he was prepared to do whatever it takes to shift leadership of urban districts from school boards to City Halls. “I’ll come to your cities. I’ll meet with your editorial boards. I’ll talk with your business communities,” Duncan said. “I will be there.”
Right now, seven major cities have complete mayoral control over their public school systems, including Washington, DC; New York, and Chicago, where Duncan spent eight years as the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools system working under Mayor Richard Daley. These districts under mayoral control, Duncan explained, are more stable and benefit from stronger leadership. “Part of the reason urban education has struggled historically is you haven’t had that leadership from the top,” Duncan said. “Where you’ve seen real progress in the sense of innovation, guess what the common denominator is? Mayoral control.”
For those familiar with Duncan’s controversial legacy in Chicago, one that emphasized the privatization and militarization of that city’s mayor-led public schools, Duncan’s vow to give more big-city mayors control over their city’s schools is a worrying harbinger of reforms to come. His vocal support of mayoral control in underperforming urban school districts looks an awful lot like an attempt to replicate the Chicago education model of shuttering public schools, replacing them with privatized or militarized schools, shutting out teachers’ unions and taking power away from community members and citizens – all on the recommendation of the city’s corporate elite – on a national scale.
This is hardly the kind of “change” needed to boost student achievement, encourage more young people to become teachers and turn around this country’s underperforming schools. Instead of empowering local school boards in urban districts to better govern their schools, promoting mayoral control of schools would likely consolidate power in the hands of a single leader – and a politician at that, someone beholden to wealthy supporters and special interests, always with an eye on reelection. By giving more big-city mayors control over their school districts, Duncan is essentially handing that control to the corporate elite of these big cities to craft educational reforms with their own interests in mind. (Read the rest of the story.)
