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Health & Fitness

Orwellian Contradictions really starting to drag on Education Reform

Election year politics are great for a belly laugh -- but tough on logic and reason.

Yesterday, The Detroit Free Press ran an AP story describing Governor Snyder's attempt to correct "misinformation" being disseminated by some about school funding. http://www.freep.com/article/20140125/NEWS06/301250049/Gov-Snyder-takes-K-12-funding-misinformation-55 School Districts are in deficit, many -- including Pontiac -- are on the verge of closure, and crazy, wacky, mismanaged wild spenders like Grosse Pointe and Livonia are seeing their bond rating drop.

But the Governor doesn't want anyone to think this has anything to do with him. On the contrary, he can't give enough to public education.

Now this pitch is especially tough as the Governor's whole education reform dating back to 2011 involved "unbundling" geographically defined Districts, a plan that quickly morphed simply to "dissolving" Districts once it was turned over to State Superintendent Mike Flanagan.

That is, it is really hard to say, on one the hand, "I am committed to weakening Districts," and then, on the other hand, "I am funding Districts more than ever." The whole system is broke, he said in September, but I am funding it.

But such is election year life.

At the moment, the whole education reform movement is wallowing in these Orwellian contradictions.

For example, I have been called a member of the "educational establishment" so many times by goofballs now I can't count now. And if I had a dollar for every time someone told me I was just in favor of the "status quo" I would have enough money to run for BHSD schoolboard (next time you can expect candidates to have to ante up at least 20k to compete with Broad Foundation support -- see Douglas County, Colorado).

But as Diana Dillaber Murray recounts on the front page of The Oakland Press this morning a critical piece of education reform -- Charters -- are celebrating their 20th anniversary.http://www.theoaklandpress.com/

Congratulations!

Here is the rub: on the one hand , ed reform wants to celebrate this; on the other hand, ed reform needs to say education is failing worse than ever!

Get it?

Choice and competition will save us! But the ed reformers false version of "choice" and "competition" has been systematically undermining public education for over 20 years. If the system is failing, who is the "status quo" again?

The status quo is quite simply the false debate between charters, choice, competition and public education and that status quo is, in fact, hurting us.

Diana Dillaber Murray, usually a good education reporter in terms of covering Pontiac, leads with this freakishly strange paragraph: "parents choose the free public charter schools over public school districts" -- reread that 3 x fast.

Charters are "free" but "public school Districts" are .....what? Oh, George, you really couldn't have imagined this Ministry of Information.



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