Mary Dombrowski

The Public School System: Are We Waiting for Superman?



Posted: Tuesday, February 08, 2011

by Mary Dombrowski
College Nannies & Tutors of Chicago

The original of this article was published in our blog, Childcare & Tutoring Solutions. Please find the link at the bottom of this page.

If you haven’t seen the new documentary Waiting for Superman you should. Many think the problems with public education is limited to the inner-cities, but the issue truly impacts everyone. We focus so much on the federal deficit and the economic impact that will have on our children (which is a valid concern), but relatively minimal focus is put on the long-term economic implications of the poor education our children receive.

Let’s look at some facts. First, children who come out of high school at below the expected reading and math levels (not to mention science) not only don’t go to college, they are unqualified for most decent paying jobs.  Forget about corporate jobs, look at your car; it is a computer with four wheels. Even an auto mechanic needs to understand computers to be successful, and that is not an isolated example. Household appliances are another example.  Second, children who do not learn will become adults who are not able to support themselves with a decent job thereby becoming a drain on society. Should they go to prison, as too many do, we pay for them again to the tune of over $30k per year.  If not prison, it may be rehab or welfare.  Simple math suggests society benefits from someone able to earn $30k per year than someone who costs us $30k per year.  Isn’t the better goal to pay to educate our children so they can pay back the cost of education and contribute to city, state and federal tax revenues?

We are paying to educate children, so let’s live up to our end of the bargain.

To say the system is broken seems so trite; at a minimum it is an overused phrase. Through a combination of legacy and bureaucracy, most departments of education have become far removed from what actually works in educating students. We are not keeping up with the skills necessary for careers in growth industries, and we are burdened by union contracts and bloated patronage systems. It would be progress to have a government look at zero-based budgeting to eliminate the legacy fat, but I digress.

The chilling part of Waiting for Superman is not about what we don’t know but what we do know and continue to ignore. We know what works in education. We can easily identify the failing schools and the bad teachers (and that is not a subjective statement).  So why aren’t we fixing it?

Public school teachers receive tenure after two years in the job. I can not think of another career where you are not consistently judged on the merits of your performance. The idea that teachers (or teachers’ unions) are opposed to merit pay is absurd and inexcusable. Geoffrey Canada who runs Harlem Children's Zone admits he was a bad teacher in his first two years, a good teacher in years 2-5, and a master teacher after his fifth year. This metric likely follows for most professions, so why are teachers given lifetime jobs after two years of experience?  The concept of tenure is a longstanding principle in academia, but university professors are routinely denied tenure. Where is the filter for our children in primary education?

What can we do?  I do believe all change starts on a local level.  The producers of Waiting for Superman include a list of actions on their website.  But it starts with not accepting status quo and supporting the change agents.  It really is the least we can do for our children.

Links: 

Mary Dombrowski is the managing director of College Nannies & Tutors of NE Chicago. Mary blogs about parenting, nannying, education, children, and more!
This Article has been viewed 249 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.