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News & ArtsTuesday, September 28, 2010
Economy Ideology Today: Zuckerberg's $100 million
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 4:41 PM
What is shown:
(CBS) Nearly half the students in Newark, N.J. public schools don't graduate high school, and the troubled district has been under state control for 15 years.Now that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is donating $100 million to those schools, Mayor Cory Booker and other city officials are faced with making the best use of the money.
Booker spoke with "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez about his city's sudden good fortune - and continuing challenges.
"The low acheivement of our young people is really the biggest national security threat in America," Booker said. " … No city has created a school system that really serves the genius of all (its) children. In Newark, we want to be the first."
Something that comes close to the truth behind what is shown:
The move, lauded uncritically by the American media, embodies and further enshrines the principle that has come to prevail in the US in recent years: if the population is to have access to education, culture and technology, indispensable for life in a modern society, it will be at the whim of the very rich. Any conception of social rights residing inalienably in the people is rejected by the ruling elite and its political and media apologists.A functional education system is not something that just falls out of the sky like that; it has to be a right—always there, always accessible, always universal. There's nothing more ridiculous (absurd, retarded) than a rich state that cannot provide this most basic of services (a good eduction) to all of its citizens. We don't want random gifts from billionaires; we want them to pay more taxes—that kind of social responsibility has real teeth.
1
He could have done as much good by making a bonfire from his millions.
The solution to the education failures in Newark lie in the homes of its students.
Not in a Billionaires checkbook.....
The solution to the education failures in Newark lie in the homes of its students.
Not in a Billionaires checkbook.....
2
I know!
How about spending it on really cool administration buildings and computers.
Instead of after-school tutoring and books and arts programs that would actually work ...
How about spending it on really cool administration buildings and computers.
Instead of after-school tutoring and books and arts programs that would actually work ...
3
@1 I would buy that if it weren't for the countless examples in this country of schools & teachers succeeding in spite of the students' parents, backgrounds, and socioeconomic status...
We know it's possible. Now we just need to figure out what's working in these schools & with these teachers (and in other countries, where relevant to our culture), see which of those lessons are practical systematic solutions, and actually apply them in our public school systems (the easier said than done caveat applies of course).
We know it's possible. Now we just need to figure out what's working in these schools & with these teachers (and in other countries, where relevant to our culture), see which of those lessons are practical systematic solutions, and actually apply them in our public school systems (the easier said than done caveat applies of course).
4
I think it's true. As a long-time education activist in Seattle and writing for the Save Seattle Schools blog, I can say that I do believe this is a rise of power from the wealthy.
The two biggest rich guys? Bill Gates and Eli Broad. In one way, you can't blame them. I suspect that both got impatient with the slow (even static) process of American public education. They probably didn't like NCLB. So these two guys decided, - unelected, unhired and unappointed - that they would change the face of public education in this country. And their tools? Power, access and money, lots and lots of money.
Now Mr Gates has been interested in education for awhile (I'm thinking his business ventures might be a reason for that) and invested alot. His "small schools" theory for high schools that he threw hundreds of millions at? Not so much now. That quietly went away for the most part.
Now it's charters. Charters are the silver bullet that will save us AND make money for lots of people. Cheaper teachers (who tend to have to work longer so they burn out easily) because no pesky union.
Then we work to elect Obama. It's a bitter pill to work so hard to elect someone and find the one thing that matters most to you is the one thing I hate his ideas about.
I could go on but let me leave you with these stories. One is from the Everett school district where their graduation rate was about 53% 5-6 years ago. Dismal. Their superintendent collected data, talked to teachers and, oddly enough, ASKED students. The result? A new system where if a high school student is failing one or more classes, there is direct intervention (like calling them at home ) to help them. Not waiting until a year goes by. Have they seen results? Yup, the graduation rate is up to nearly 80% and this was also a low-cost project.
Lastly, a non-charter public school teacher won a MacArthur Genius award today for creating a robotics academy within the high school where he teaches. No need for a charter for innovation, clearly he's in a union and yet the union must have said okay (as did his district).
More...
The two biggest rich guys? Bill Gates and Eli Broad. In one way, you can't blame them. I suspect that both got impatient with the slow (even static) process of American public education. They probably didn't like NCLB. So these two guys decided, - unelected, unhired and unappointed - that they would change the face of public education in this country. And their tools? Power, access and money, lots and lots of money.
Now Mr Gates has been interested in education for awhile (I'm thinking his business ventures might be a reason for that) and invested alot. His "small schools" theory for high schools that he threw hundreds of millions at? Not so much now. That quietly went away for the most part.
Now it's charters. Charters are the silver bullet that will save us AND make money for lots of people. Cheaper teachers (who tend to have to work longer so they burn out easily) because no pesky union.
Then we work to elect Obama. It's a bitter pill to work so hard to elect someone and find the one thing that matters most to you is the one thing I hate his ideas about.
I could go on but let me leave you with these stories. One is from the Everett school district where their graduation rate was about 53% 5-6 years ago. Dismal. Their superintendent collected data, talked to teachers and, oddly enough, ASKED students. The result? A new system where if a high school student is failing one or more classes, there is direct intervention (like calling them at home ) to help them. Not waiting until a year goes by. Have they seen results? Yup, the graduation rate is up to nearly 80% and this was also a low-cost project.
Lastly, a non-charter public school teacher won a MacArthur Genius award today for creating a robotics academy within the high school where he teaches. No need for a charter for innovation, clearly he's in a union and yet the union must have said okay (as did his district).
5
There's no question in my mind that a certain large amount of funding is essential for quality education whether it be used for salaries, supplies, building maintenance, or any number of items on the list. I am not convinced, however, that at some point the law of diminished returns fails to kick in. In other words, money for education isn't always the answer.
Funding isn't going to do much to inspire those parents and teachers who don't give a shit about their children's education, is it? Until you have caring parents and devoted teachers involved, I can't see much in the way of a solution. School, to many parents, is regarded as little more than an institution that watches their kids for seven or eight hours a day. I don't know how you go about changing that.
Funding isn't going to do much to inspire those parents and teachers who don't give a shit about their children's education, is it? Until you have caring parents and devoted teachers involved, I can't see much in the way of a solution. School, to many parents, is regarded as little more than an institution that watches their kids for seven or eight hours a day. I don't know how you go about changing that.
6
The school system in Newark already managed to lose one billion dollars. Unless that system of corruption is changed, the new money probably won't do any good.
http://www.thecartelmovie.com/
http://www.thecartelmovie.com/
7
@4 - I actually love the story about Gates's small school initiative. They thought small schools were a good idea to improve achievement, they experimented, it didn't work, so they're moving on to the next idea. Unlike most people, I see that as a success story. We need to figure out what works -- and not just, does it work in one school, but can it be replicated over a larger scale. Now we have data that shows that small high schools don't really help, so we can focus on something else.
Same with the Milwaukee voucher program -- I love that we now have data about this that shows that it doesn't do much good. That data started some really interesting conversations about "competition" and education -- and why is it that competition alone isn't enough.
I am totally on board with learning lessons like your direct intervention example, where ever we can find them. I'm in favor of charter schools being used as incubators to be able to test the types of approaches that traditional public schools can't use (unlike the direct intervention example, there actually are some things that are much more difficult for traditional publics to implement). I worry, though, that with the "slow (even static)" pace of change in education, that we're not actually ever going to apply any of the lessons we're learning from them...
Same with the Milwaukee voucher program -- I love that we now have data about this that shows that it doesn't do much good. That data started some really interesting conversations about "competition" and education -- and why is it that competition alone isn't enough.
I am totally on board with learning lessons like your direct intervention example, where ever we can find them. I'm in favor of charter schools being used as incubators to be able to test the types of approaches that traditional public schools can't use (unlike the direct intervention example, there actually are some things that are much more difficult for traditional publics to implement). I worry, though, that with the "slow (even static)" pace of change in education, that we're not actually ever going to apply any of the lessons we're learning from them...
8
Big city public schools spend twice as much as rural-suburban schools that produce students with better grades.
Pouring money into these schools is less effective than moving the students out of decrepit cities to new modern towns in Colorado, Nebraska...
9
Two words sum up the problem: Teachers Union.
For all you that blame parents, govt, etc - you are wrong.
For all you that blame parents, govt, etc - you are wrong.
12
Charles,
You have a point "We don't want random gifts from billionaires". And, yes every state must provide that basic right of a good education.
However, that kind of money will not fix the Newark school system in the long run. Teachers will be held accountable and maybe compensated more. But, what's broken is the basic family structure. It is "crisis mode". I agree with this fellow, a Seattle Public High School teacher:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/op…
This guy teaches in Seattle. I can't imagine the conditions in Newark, NJ! Until the family unit in high risk areas of this nation become stronger (read: fathers attend to their children), billionaire gifts will mean little.
You have a point "We don't want random gifts from billionaires". And, yes every state must provide that basic right of a good education.
However, that kind of money will not fix the Newark school system in the long run. Teachers will be held accountable and maybe compensated more. But, what's broken is the basic family structure. It is "crisis mode". I agree with this fellow, a Seattle Public High School teacher:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/op…
This guy teaches in Seattle. I can't imagine the conditions in Newark, NJ! Until the family unit in high risk areas of this nation become stronger (read: fathers attend to their children), billionaire gifts will mean little.
14
I understand that the yearly amount spent on educationg a student in public school is about a third of the cost of keeping a person in prison. I believe we would have better citizens and fewer prisons if that were reversed.
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