Education is Political

Last week the other interns and I went to the Oxford school board meeting at Oxford high school. Even before I left the meeting I kept thinking one thing: if politics is personal, then education is political.

All of the meeting that we were privy to (before they went into executive session) covered a bond issue for Oxford. The school board wants to issue a bond to build new accommodate expanding existing builds, improving facilities, and constructing a new school. These things cost money, and in a public school money comes from the tax payers. Simply, money comes from taxes.

Before the school board risked asking constituents if they wanted to fund the endeavors, the school board hired Mr. Davis (no relation) from a survey company to test the waters. In a 10 to 1 ratio the company was able to collect only 301 complete responses, 70% of those coming from senior citizens.

Sitting in on that meeting made me understand more fully how education is political. I’ve heard people complain about the devalued status of education in government or the educational bureaucracy from k-12 to higher ed. But hearing opinions is nothing like sitting in the room and watching it happen in real time. Moms, dads, alumni, cousins, all lost their faces; they lost their individuality and meaning beyond their vote. “I know how the voters move.” Mr. Davis repeated this several times. Although I think the information he provided in his cross postulations was valuable and needed, I still can’t look past people being no more than a vote.

This is what happens in political campaigns. Candidates often play to people to get their vote and not necessarily their story. Individuals become a mass known simple as ‘the voter.’ I’m not saying this is a bad thing. I mean it is what it is, but it’s something to notice.

Towards the end of his presentation Mr. Davis said he would love to get a focus group of just women or just African-Americans (two of the hardest, along with senior citizens, to sell the bond to). He wanted to see what they think about the bond issue. When Mr. Davis said this I started considering the students and parents in Mississippi public education system. What do they think is wrong, or right, with the system? How much responsibility do they think they have? What do they think about the Teacher Corps?

What do the students and parents think about the Mississippi Teacher Corps. I think I told this the MTC Program Manager last week. I wondered what things would come up in a focus group of students and a group of parents. What are their thoughts on the Corps? Do they even know that the Corps exists or which of their Teachers are participants? I wonder if they would feel anything if they knew that statistically speaking their teacher was only like to remain in Mississippi, let alone teaching, for only two years. Would they be indifferent because they’ve been conditioned to expect turnover in the education system.

Now, how did I get from education is political to school board meetings to focus groups on the Teacher Corps? Well, if education is political and the constituents in the Teacher Corps are the students being served, aren’t we obliged to hear their perspectives?

Do the students even know about MTC or TFA?

Back to reflecting on the school board. Even though most of the members (we were unable to tell which ones) were elected to their positions, I must say they asked Mr. Davis some pertinent questions about the results of the survey (what factors influenced the results) as well as the methodology (calling home phones versus cell phones, which many in the 35 and under crowd are turning to exclusively). I think this speaks more the environment and, I hope I’m not making too grand an assumption, the character of the school board members. For the most part, I got the vibe that most of the members were there because they genuinely wanted to work towards the best possible school system in Oxford, rather than as stepping stone to other political offices. I also think the school board had a decent representation of sexes, age ranges, and occupations. There was only one Black female, madam secretary, and she was quiet throughout the meeting, save reading the issues to be discussed in executive session.

I think education blew up on the national level as a political issue under No Child Left Behind, passed during the inauspicious Bush era administration. I think many people on the left automatically discounted the law because it passed during Bush administration. Yes I think teaching to tests is stupid and ineffective, but let’s get real there has to be some way to measure growth and hold students and teachers accountable. A number of stipulations in the program can stand to be changed, funding for one, but for all uproar that the Act cause in 2002 it sure as heck didn’t lead to anything. We still have a shoddy public education in the poorest areas of the United States and we’re (the nation) are still steadily descending the education prowess ladder.

Somehow education is too political in some respects, but not political enough in others. Wait, let me temper that statement, education is not political enough in the sense that public education doesn’t yet seem to be personal enough…if at all.

-Radical.