That's what President Obama (!) said yesterday during his inaugural address, which I watched on a Jumbotron while standing near the Washington Monument with roughly a billion jillion other cold and decidedly warm-hearted people. It was the first of two references to schools, the second being: "And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age."
There are no accidental words in an inaugural address. And there are a lot of different ways to talk about the challenge of improving public education. One could say "Too many of our students are failing" or "Too many children can't read" or any number of other things. If you believe that improving educational results is significantly (although by no means exclusively) a matter of improving educational institutions, Obama's formulation should be heartening.
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I had the same thought. I also read that some stimulus money for education would be targeting improving facilities as well as programs. The Secretary of Education has had some experience in this area with some of the work he has done in Chicago. I am hopeful for something because right now education is becoming slash and burn. In our state they are talking about getting rid of professional development money for schools. These kinds of moves are huge steps backwards. I hope something will happen in the first 100 days.
Yes, Obama's formulation is heartening. Yes, schools fail too many. Yes schools need transforming.
And yes, the crowd was warm-hearted.
So, can we concede that there are many warm-hearted people who know a great deal about schools that have different approaches to transforming them?
If the answer is yes, then I don't have to worry if accountability hawks play a major role.
Barack Obama understands that as a nation, the United States cannot ignore the educational needs of our students. “These kids syndrome, the tendency to explain away the shortcomings and failures of our educational system by saying that ‘these kids’ can’t learn, or ‘these kids’ don’t want to learn, or ‘these kids’ are too far behind” said Obama. “We are not a ‘these kids’ nation, we’re a ‘our kids’ nation.”
Click here to see the full video.
hi
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