Being Correctly Political

I have been in education for over 40 years and have always been struck by the idea that educators don’t feel they should be political. Certainly, it is not appropriate for teachers to drag their own political views into the classroom to indoctrinate their students, but when you look at the broader picture, it is impossible for educators to avoid politics, nor should they try.

I have written here before about the somewhat recent, unrelenting attacks on teachers being perpetrated by a number of political leaders. They have gone from advocating creating salary systems based on unfair accountability models (“merit pay” based on achievement tests) to frontal assaults on teacher unions. It has been open season on educators. Now we have economic arguments aimed at “public employees” (of which educators are far and away the largest group) and their “retirement” and “benefits” (deemed as “outrageous entitlements” which are, according to the critics, “bankrupting state governments”). Since educators make far less, when education and experience is factored in, than private sector employees this argument would be ludicrous were it not so widespread and had it not taken such powerful hold on much of the public discourse. It is even more ludicrous when you consider that some making this argument are the same folks who nearly bankrupted the national government and shut it down for no other reason than to score political points. So when it comes to the right to organize and protect one’s rights, educators need to become much more political and to fight back with power and vehemence.

But that is not the issue I want to raise this month. I think there are two other political issues that are much more profound and which will have a much greater impact on our society in the long run.

The first of these is the focus on the deficit. Now there are few Americans who would argue that, in the long run, we need to deal with the ballooning national deficit and deal with stressed state budgets. The issue is that one party in this country wants to solve the problem strictly by cutting spending. Again, I am certain there is wastage in various areas of government spending. However, since I served as a superintendent who faced that argument annually (“you don’t need more money, you just need to cut the waste in the system”) and having searched for that waste every year so vital services and programs could be maintained, I am leery of “cutting waste” as the sole solution to the problem. When you have cut out the fat, bone and muscle are all that is left to cut. One person’s waster is another’s vital program.

In fact, the main reason states are in such dire fiscal circumstances is that during the 90s and the early part of this century, state revenues were constantly cut to appease taxpayers. When this started most states and even the federal government were running surpluses. But everyone should have recognized that good times don’t last forever. So rather than tying their own hands, the states should have used the surpluses to stabilize their economies and plan less prosperous times—like we have seen the last few years. Any kindergarten teacher could have explained the reality of cycles and that nothing lasts forever. Instead of doing that, taxes were cut. It is easy to cut taxes—it much harder politically to raise them. We are now paying for the rampage of state tax cutting.

Further, it was my suspicion that education was reduced primarily to prove that it wasn’t working. We know beyond doubt that the greatest single variable affecting student achievement is family income. Schools need resources to try to offset that reality. When they are stripped of those resources the students suffer and schools will not perform as well. This paves the way for privatizing public education through vouchers and charters which has long been a goal of the political right.

So, educators must begin to weigh in vigorously on the issue of resources at the local, state and national level. They shouldn’t be distracted by those who would set one educational group off against another. Getting administrators to fight with teachers and teachers to fight with boards simply divides the power of those being attacked. If they can keep us fighting among ourselves, we will never focus on the real issue and the real culprits.

The other major educational issue that I think we educators are overlooking is what I call the “dumbing down of America.” Now there are critics of education who will claim that any “dumbing down” is the fault of the schools. Again, there is ample proof that we could do better at teaching students more about the history of our country, and how to effectively analyze what they see and read (I would draw your attention to any Tea Party rally to show how little some of our citizens know about our past and our Constitution, which is used as a prop but apparently never has been read.) The problem I am raising is the growing lack of respect for knowledge. We see politicians brag about the fact they were C students or that they graduated near the bottom of their class at second-rate schools while making fun of those who went for the grades and a good education at more prestigious schools and refer to them elitists. Since when did it become elitism to work hard, study hard, and try to be all you can be? Do we really want leaders who pride themselves on being just good enough? Would we want a poor student to operate on us or handle our finances? Should we be entrusting our political system to people we would never go to in any other profession? When you have serious presidential candidates who can’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a spotlight, it should be clear that we are in trouble.

This is “dumbing down” is particularly acute when we see how science is treated. When one major party has a number of presidential aspirants and all but one indicate they don’t believe in climate change or evolution we are in deep “doo doo.” They justify this by saying that climate change and evolution are just “theories.” True, virtually everything in science is based on theory but many of those theories are pretty substantial. Gravity is a theory, but none of these politicians have flown off the earth just yet. (But come to think of it, that may not be a bad thing!)

The biggest problem with all this is that as educators we are supposed to instill in our students a sense of purpose and pride. We are supposed to make them lifelong learners. How do we achieve that goal when our students are confronted by high ranking leaders who pooh-pooh all that? It makes the job of educators twice as hard—having to do it with much less money while in a hostile environment makes for real problems. Or maybe that is just a theory I have. At any rate it is past time for educators to stand up, speak out, and become correctly political. Nothing is at stake here but the future.

Paul D. Houston

Paul Houston is Executive Director, Emeritus, of the American Association of School Administrators and President of the Center for Empowered Leadership. He is also the author of the book Giving Wings to Children’s Dreams: Making Our Schools Worthy of Our Children (© 2010 Corwin Press).