Well I have to say that I am honored to be singled out from among
the the other school board candidates as a school critic and I
welcome this chance to engage in an informative educational dialog.
Lynnell Mickelsen wrote:
> Mike Atherton and other persistent school critics on the
> List have often said that anyone who wants their kids to grow up to
> be doctors or lawyers, etc. would be nuts to send their kids to
> Minneapolis public schools. Well, last night, those classrooms were
> jammed with doctors, lawyers, investment bankers, musicians,
> bar-owners, mail carriers, carpenters, masons and more. Mostly
> middle-class. All EXTREMELY interested in seeing their kids do well.
> And we're not nuts, noble or being politically correct by putting our
> kids in Minneapolis public schools. We put them there, first and
> foremost, because they're getting a great education.
Not all public schools in Minneapolis are created equal. Here's a
thought experiment: let's eliminate school choice and bus half
the kids from the lowest performing schools to the best and bus
half of the kids from the highest performing schools to the lowest.
Why would many parents be packing their bags to move to the
suburbs? Because the education that students receive at Lake Harriet
is not the same as the education that students receive at West Central.
Perhaps this doesn't brother many middle class parents who get
their kids into the "right" schools with the "right" teacher, but it
brothers me. Which is one of the reasons I'm running for school board.
A "great education" is a relative phrase. When you compare
the nation's best prep schools, or for that matter the nation's
best public schools, to Minneapolis, the education is no longer
great. Of course not all parents want the same type of education
for their children as I want for mine, e.g. the "too much homework
parents," or "art emphasis parents," or the "sports emphasis parents."
While Minneapolis does not currently have a *true* gifted and talented
program, as for example NYC's, that doesn't mean that we can't.
> I say all this because there's usually such a huge gap
> between what I read about Minneapolis public schools on the List and
> in the papers---and what I experience as a parent of three kids in
> the schools.
That's because one school does not a public school system make.
It's as if I were to claim that Minneapolis has a low crime rate
because the neighborhood I live in is safe. I challenge you, as I
satirically challenged our city's politicians, to place your kids
in the city's worst schools rather than the best.
> If you send your kid to school every day, ready to learn,
> with high expectations from the home, most of the time, they'll do
> well. That means you have to turn off the TV, read to them, check up
> on homework and teach them to treat teachers and peers with respect.
> We're talking roll-up-your-sleeves, labor-intensive parenting. A
> daily process that goes on for years.
> If parents won't do those things, their kids probably won't
> do as well. School critics on the Right and Left who insist that it
> doesn't matter if parents drop the ball completely, it's still up to
> teachers and schools to close the gap----well, that's just a bunch of
> crap. The parent role is crucial and it can't be replaced--even by
> the most well-meaning programs. I wish this wasn't true because that
> way screw-up parents wouldn't cause so much damage. But
> unfortunately, that seems to be the big picture reality.
I will readily admit that home environment is probably the single
most important factor related to student performance, but that
doesn't give us the right to look a child in the eye and say, "I'm sorry
Suzy, but you were born into the wrong home, tough luck.
You're never going to graduate and will end up eking out an existence
at the margins of society." Especially, when it's been shown
that school sponsored parent involvement programs can have the
greatest impact on student achievement.
> So when I hear the teacher-blaming, teacher-bashing stuff,
> it sometimes reminds me of how wife-beaters talk--no matter what
> happens, it's that damn woman's fault, she's responsible for
> everything that goes wrong, she better change, she better make good
> or whap, whap, whap.)
Oh great! Nothing like having my name mentioned in a post referencing
wife-beating.
"Have you stopped bashing teachers yet?"
"No, I never started."
I would prefer that critics, who by innuendo, infer that I am biased
against women be able to claim that they've been supportive of
women's issues for more than thirty years, as I have. And if anyone
thinks that I believe that women have their place, they're right; my
wife being an example, she has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering
from M.I.T. and graduated second in her class (behind another
woman) from the best technical university in Canada.
> (One more aside, make me Queen of the World and I'd pay
> teachers $80,000 to $100,000 a year and dump tenure so fast it would
> make your head spin, but that's another post.)
It's hard to collect taxes from a dead turnip. That is to say,
even the Sheriff of Knotingham couldn't collect enough taxes
to make this possible.
> This teacher is tough. I think he's great. My sons are crazy
> about him. On the bulletin board last night, the teacher posted the
> following. Call me old-fashioned, but this is exactly the kind of
> ethic I want adolescents in my school to be looking at. Because it
> fits what my husband and I are teaching at home.
And I'll bet that each one of these wonderful teachers (and I'm
sure there are many of them) can identify someone else who
shouldn't be teaching and has been in the system for years.
> A die-hard Lefty who wishes the Left talked more about
> personal responsibility, especially when it come to parenting, kids
> and school.
> And who will be supporting Joe Erickson, Colleen Moriarty,
> Judy Farmer and Audrey Johnson for School Board.
Gee, it must just be a coincidence that this is the DFL endorsed
slate of candidates for school board. I don't know, but when I
was a leftist I would have felt a little queasy about voting for
a slate of all White candidates in an election with three African
Americans candidates. Then again, I've never really understood how
"left" is defined in Minneapolis. I suppose it might just mean
blind Party loyalty. I can understand that if you're a middle class
parent and you're happy with the status quo and not particularly
worried about the failure rates of minority students that you would
support Farmer and Johnson (why upset the apple cart). I can understand
why someone would support Joe Erickson given how difficult it is to
understand how liberal educational philosophy perpetuates school failure.
(I'll probably be voting for Mr. Erickson for the same reason that I voted
for Denny Schapiro: he seems to be someone who can be swayed by rational
argument.) However, I don't understand why someone would vote for
Colleen Moriaty over the other candidates. Ok, so maybe you don't like me,
but if you're a leftist why not vote for one of the African American
candidates, they seem as, or better qualified as Ms. Moriarty. Of course,
then again, they don't have the same insider DFL credentials. (The lost
of Jonathan Palmer to petty party politics just shows how dysfunctional
the DFL has become.) Which leads me to question just how much of this,
"It's them people (the parents)," argument isn't unconscious bias.
The truth of the matter is that inaction and the ineffectual administration
of the public schools in Minneapolis perpetuates racial and class differences
in this city. I would like to change that by insuring quality education
across the board (no pun intended).
Michael Atherton
http://QualityEd.US
Candidate for Minneapolis School Board
Prospect Park
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