65% Poison

There's a proposal out there in Colorado (and in other states as well) that is sheer poison. It's called the 65 Percent Solution, but it isn't. Promoted by Patrick Byrne and other voucher advocates, it would wrench control away from local communities and force every district, regardless of size, location or needs, to provide at least 65% of its budget to "the classroom" and teachers as defined by the proposal.

What could be bad about that?

Well, if teachers are concerned about getting more money, we had better look closely. And when we do, 65% is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It would force districts to restructure, in many cases by laying off or privatizing things like transportation, counselors, nurses, administrative staff, and technology. The advocates claim efficiency, but there is very little if any support that their proposal would lead to anything efficient.

It is also a major shell game, moving money around without putting any more money into the system. Don't be confused, it is phony funding. And what makes it worse is that it is presented as if it were a boon to teachers and education.

Definitely, caveat emptor. (Buyer Beware)

Political Right PC

Political correctness used to be a language grenade thrown at the so called "left" by conservatives. Like so many political transformations in the last six years, Political Correctness has become the rally cry of the right. Jay Bennish, the sacrificial lamb of the right, is the latest PC controversy intended to stir up negative connotations of public education.

The word that seems to strike fear in the political conservative movement is dissent. There seems to be no room for them in American culture for a good ol' critique of much of anything they like. Dissent, one of the fundamental conditions of healthy democracy, has been stretched close to a synonym of treason.

Teachers can be propagandists or can be principled provocateurs. Jay Bennish at twenty-eight is what any credible, democratic, freedom-loving teacher should be, thoughtful and challenging. Clearly, from many of his quoted comments, the class was in no way propaganda and met any reasonable criteria of balanced. But that isn't good enough, apparently, for the right-wing scream machine that has harped on this one period of a high school geography class as if it were the end of days, with Joe Scarborough for example, ranting about "taking back education." And Rush Limbaugh referred to Bennish as "long haired, maggot infested." Nice, balanced dialog.

Fact is we have a choice, as in The Matrix. The red pill of propaganda makes teachers tools of the state and the foot soldiers of oppression, whose job it is to socialize American children into obedient, dissent-less thought. The blue pill of principled provocateurs makes teachers tools of freedom and the leaders of liberation, whose job it is to provoke independent minds, willing to dissent, and willing to remain open minded. What's happending to Bennish will effect, in some way, every classroom in the U.S. It has definitely been the talk of the lunchroom.

But one thing. Once we choose, we may never be able to go back.