Re: Campaign Against Public Schools

nate (schmolze who-is-at students.wisc.edu)
Wed, 19 May 1999 14:44:19 -0500

"I wonder is teachers are agents of students or to be precise, they should
be
agents of students and recognize as such by the society. The teacher can't
(shouldn't) report on a student to INS even if a law requires other
citizens
to do that because of her/his professional commitment. Unfortunately, this
professional commitment of teacher to a student is not recognized by the
society and is not supported by a law."

Very well put. With the abundance of journals, portfolios, authentic
assessment in school we should, as teachers, have a code of ethics, but I
feel a priest would be a better example than a doctor or lawyer. I don't
see the professionalism of doctors-lawyers as truely watching out for their
patients-clients.

"If we accept this premise, I will side myself with Matvey and not with
Nate
on the issue of special role of parents in deciding students' education
especially for young kids. Nate is right listing many stakeholders in
education. However, it is often parents who are ombudsmen (or should it be
"ombudspersons") for their young children and recognized by the society as
such."

I see the recognizing of society of the special role of parents is part of
the problem. This has been part of the critique of Delpit and Billings as
in the reference to "other people's children". The reasoning of "their" or
"my" children and "our" children are bound to put forth different questions
and therefore different solutions. We have got those "immigrants", those
"minorities", those "children in poverty", rather than "our children".
Vulgur individualism isn't and never has been the solution