In Guatemala I was in a Christian Fundamentalists school whose 8th
graders (including some Mayan kids) told us there favorite music was
Christian Gospel. There were dedicated staff but their highest
priorities is a missionary goal of conversion. While there are religious
schools dedicated to the poor, most serve the middle class- particularly
Protestant and Catholic schools. A public school there had to be built
by the squatters community in which it exists- no public funds for
building were available. We saw some very good teaching in classes with
40 plus. The President, in our presence, promised that all children in
Guatemala would finish third grade. It is particularly unlikely that
girls will stay in school beyond the first few years. Parents in this
kind of situation take what they can get and can afford.
Is that the situation we want for American children?
There has been an all-out campaign to undermine support for public
education so that it can be privatised. I've spent my professional life
fighting to improve public education. Now I spend it defending teachers
and kids against the most serious attempt to limit their opportunities
to teach and to learn ever. It doesn't help to have those who should see
the political agendas joining the enemies of public of education on the
prime that anything is better than nothing and public education is
nothing. For example see the recent editorial by Ron Unz published in
The Nation.
And let me get one more thing off my chest. There is a deep disrespect
for teachers and professional educators among left intellectuals which,
(like all prejudice) makes them vulnerable to anti teacher propaganda.
Ken Goodman
--
Kenneth S. Goodman, Professor, Language, Reading & Culture
504 College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
fax 520 7456895 phone 520 6217868
These are mean times- and in the mean time
We need to Learn to Live Under Water