Public education and our Nation’s children matter and we must raise our voices!

Marcie Lipsitt
Columnist EdNews.org

The Reverend Martin Luther King once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Public education and our Nation’s children matter and we must raise our voices, passion, and intensity for their sake and that of America’s future as the leader of all industrialized nations. The presidential candidates and the news media have been eerily silent during the political campaigns about the state of American schools.It is past time for some “straight talk about schools” (USA Today, January 14, 2008).So let’s talk.

In the current crop of presidential candidates no one on either side of the political/ideological aisle stands out as the trailblazer necessary to rebuild public education in America.For example, Mitt Romney is wrong in his belief that closing the achievement gap is “the civil rights issue of our time.” The deterioration of public education for all of America’s children over the past 50 has been researched and reported by Presidents’ Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan and most recently Bush.President Reagan spoke to the crisis in his 1983 stark portrayal of public education, “A Nation at Risk.”Our Nation’s leadership and we the people have ignored 50 years of presidential commissions on education.Public education is the civil rights issue of our time and we now face the greatest threat the United States has known — the extinction of knowledge, literacy, creativity, drive, higher-level thinking skills and our place as the leader of the free world, global economy and workforce. Our children’s civil rights are being violated every day of their school year. It must stop, and today on, and in honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday would not be soon enough.

Like Martin Luther King, “I have a dream” that one of our presidential hopefuls will right now rise to the surface as the savior and warrior for public education in America, and recognize the “fierce urgency of now.” Our next President and Congress will value our Nation’s children as their greatest obligation and greatest opportunity. They will have the courage of conviction to put the needs of our children, our future workers, thinkers and leaders in the global workplace and workforce at the very top of their domestic policy agenda.

“I have a dream” our next President, Congress and Secretary of Education will establish a national curriculum. Set a minimum benchmark for standards of academic, emotional and social excellence. Our children are not competing across 50 states.They are competing with children in countries like Finland, Hong Kong, Canada, and worldwide.
“I have a dream” our next President and Congress will establish national teacher standards and certification requirements. Overhaul archaic teacher preparation programs and make clear to NCATE, the NEA and AFT; their role is to collaborate, embrace and implement new teacher methodology and a belief system that children of all socio-economic conditions and disabilities can learn.Teachers will be paid based upon merit, the performance of their students and they will be valued as a profession.
“I have a dream”; universal learning for all students and response to interventions will no longer be empty promises to a Nation of children with starving minds.Our children, pre-school through high school and beyond will have a thirst for knowledge and respect for education.
“I have a dream” all children will go to federally funded preschool and all eligible children will be enrolled and attend kindergarten.
“I have a dream” that 6.

1 million students with disabilities will be provided with meaningful educational benefit and a truly “free and appropriate education.” Better than 97% will reach grade level proficiency and beyond, and the fewer than 3% born with devastating impairments will reach their individual maximum potential and productivity. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services will be fully integrated into the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as will the Individuals with Disability Education Act of 2004 into the No Child Left Behind. All schools will be accountable to all children and will not look for the numerous ways to game the system. No students will be excluded from accountability standards and the measurement of our schools’ yearly progress.

“I have a dream” this country and our next President will close the achievement gap for students economically disadvantaged, and will provide the tools necessary (including food, clothing, after-school, weekend and summer tutoring, even shelter) to allow every child the opportunity to live and be a part of the American Dream.

“I have a dream” not only Title 1 schools will be held accountable to the No Child Left Behind. There will be an end to the “cost neutral” status for non-Title I schools and no children will be left behind.
“I have a dream” our next President and Congress will mandate the elimination of state assessments. All children will be given expanded versions of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and Program for International Student Assessment grades 2-11, followed by an exit exam for 12^th graders or upon completion of high school. Our children are not 50 states of children. They are our Nation’s children, and on last year’s Program for International Student Assessment test given to our 15 year olds; their average scores were lower than those of children in 30 industrialized countries.
”I have a dream” Congress will pass and “a” President will sign legislation creating a national scholarship for students that graduate high school. Vocational training and post-secondary education must become a standard instead of a goal.
“I have a dream” our next President will Increase federal funding for public education (including special education) to implement, maintain and further national curriculum and assessments. The highest bar must be set and the President must lead by example.Public education and the maximum input and output of our children must become our Nation’s mantra; it’s anthem.
“I have a dream” illiteracy and high school drop-out rates will be attacked and obliterated as the evil enemy they are, and will become but a bad memory of a distant past and war that has been won.
“I have a dream” higher level thinking skills, innovation, leadership and creativity will be promoted and nurtured pre-school through high school.
“I have a dream” we will turn every possible child into a taxpayer and source of revenue, production, and pride.Education + Economy = “E” for “American Excellence.”
“I have a dream” we will see a President and a nation of people that once again value public education and we will not become the next fall of Rome.
“I have a dream” the 9-year-old girl at that recent town hall meeting questioning Mitt Romney about his “stands on education” is one day the person she can and wants to be; our future and just maybe our president.

Marcie Lipsitt