District Administration - July 2007 - (Page 72)

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES • Daniel E. Kinnaman Roosevelt vs. Reagan and the future of public education in the United States. F REE EDUCATION FOR ALL children in public schools— the bedrock of American democracy, right? Actually, it’s one of the ten planks of The Communist Manifesto, published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848. Interestingly, Marxism was birthed at about the same time that “public education” was gaining broad acceptance in the United States. Until the 1840s most schools were privately owned and operated, but in 1837 the Massachusetts State Board of Education how we get there is really a choice between was established and Horace Mann became Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. its ﬁrst secretary, spearheading the proliferation of free public schools. By 1870 every Roosevelt state in the nation provided free elementary In his famous “ﬁreside chat” in January education. Compulsory school attendance 1944, President Roosevelt claimed that the became law in Massachusetts in 1852, New diﬃculties of the Depression and the sacYork in 1853, and by 1918 all of the United riﬁces of World War II had “imposed on States had laws requiring public school at- us all a sacred obligation.” He clariﬁed this, tendance (though a 1925 Supreme Court saying, “The one supreme objective for the decision established the right to attend pri- future, which we discussed for each nation vate schools instead, but at the additional individually, and for all the United Nations, can be summed up in one word: Security.” personal expense of those attending). Roosevelt saw government as the provider of this security, and said, “We have acUniversal Education I’m not suggesting that our Founding cepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights Fathers who promoted public schools— under which a new basis of security and including Thomas Jeﬀerson and George prosperity can be established for all.” Among Roosevelt’s new rights were the Washington—had socialist tendencies, or that American education is communistic. right to a job, the right to decent earnings, I’m concerned, however, about the evo- the right of every family to a decent home, lution of public schooling in the United the right to adequate medical care, and States and want to distinguish between the right to a good education. These rights universal access to a quality education and went far beyond the “limited government” public education. That is, ensuring univer- described in the U.S. Constitution and sal access to a quality education is impera- its tenth amendment, which states, “The tive to the sustainability and progress of a powers not delegated to the United States free society, but it is wrong to assert that by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it universal access to education is only achiev- to the States, are reserved for the States reable through government-funded and spectively, or to the people.” Public education in the United States government-run schools. Universal access to education is necessary to promote the today is decidedly Rooseveltian. The augeneral welfare and preserve freedom, but tonomy of local school boards has given 72 July 2007 way to increasing state and federal regulation. The federal Department of Education, created in 1980, imposes massive requirements, such as NCLB, but only provides limited funding. Parents have little or no say regarding which school their children attend or what is taught there. The resulting bureaucratic behemoth supports commonality and conformity over innovation and progress. Reagan Thirty-seven years after Roosevelt’s speech, in his ﬁrst inaugural address, Ronald Reagan rebuﬀed Roosevelt’s concept of government as the great provider, claiming, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem,” and emphasizing, “We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around.” Reagan claimed that “the full power of centralized government was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.” Reagan was right, but don’t think I’m merely advocating the privatization of public education. Rather, I’m advocating a fresh look at how best to ensure universal access to quality education in a free society. Just as Roosevelt’s Social Security fails to provide adequately for the ﬁnancial needs of the retired, too often public schools fail to provide adequately for the educational needs of our youth. It’s time for change. After all, promoting the common good is of far greater value than preserving the system. Isn’t it? DA Daniel E. Kinnaman is the publisher. dkinnaman@promediagrp District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2007

Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Facilities/Construction Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Cover Story: Rethinking School Bus Safety
Broadening Collective Bargaining
Searching for Subs
Jersey City’s Broad Appeal
Improving Nutrition in Schools
New Products
Computer Literature
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Research Corner
Problem Solution
Online Edge
Speaking Out
Supervisor’s Opinion
Calendar of Events
Understanding the Times

District Administration - July 2007