It seems like everywhere you turn, from movies to the front page of THE HOYA, everyone is talking about the state of public education in the United States. Lately, it’s been primarily in reaction to the success of the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” program, the controversial documentary “Waiting for Superman” and most recently in D.C., the resignation of Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools Michelle Rhee.
With soaring dropout rates, poor performance on standardized tests and controversy over teachers’ unions, there’s something wrong with public schools in America – and everyone claims to have the solution. “We need better teachers!” “We need administrators who listen!” “We need community support!”
As a product of the public school system, I’ve heard statements like these not only in the pages of The Washington Post and on the silver screen, but from teachers, administrators and members of the community where I grew up. Regardless of who’s doing the evaluation, what I find most troubling is that all of these groups seem to be under the impression that if only the teachers were better trained, or if only they had more support from the community, or if only administrators cared more there would be 100 percent graduation rates and 100 percent of students would be at grade level in reading, writing, math and science.
This is simply not the case. And that’s exactly what’s wrong with America’s public school system. Administrators, teachers and the broader communities are so busy pointing their fingers at each other that they forget that, at the end of the day, students are the ones who suffer from the sorry state of public education and the mismanagement by the adults who run it.
Unfortunately, former Chancellor Rhee’s tenure at DCPS reflects this sad reality. Although incredible progress has been made within DCPS during her management, so much more needs to be done to address high dropout rates and low percentages of students meeting standards for math and reading, among other issues. Rhee led a combative and strong-willed campaign to improve the quality of education for DCPS’ over 45,000 students, an approach that led to the closure of dozens of schools, the dismissal of hundreds of teachers and even the removal of the principal at her daughters’ elementary school.
As much as Rhee tried to get the support of the teachers’ unions and the community at large, the combination of swift changes that she made to the schools and her often harsh, but candid, commentary on the very system she worked for never resulted in strong support from either teachers or members of the community. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s loss in the Democratic primary for D.C. mayor was, in part, a referendum on Rhee’s drastic educational reforms and Fenty’s support of them.
In the end, Rhee’s attempts to convince teachers and the community that what she was doing was for the benefit of the students just weren’t enough. Both Mayor Fenty and former Chancellor Rhee acknowledged their inability to garner support from the greater D.C. community for their policy goals last Sunday in a Post op-ed, stating that “the pact [to improve D.C.’s schools by any means necessary] cannot merely be between two people. It must be forged among an entire community.”
This statement holds true not just for public schools within D.C., but for public schools across the nation. Cooperation among all parties involved in educating America’s youth is the only way our public schools can begin to provide the world-class education that our taxes provide for and every child deserves.
Alex Honjiyo is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service.
