Public schooling is one of the most important issues of our time. Without great public schools, how will America’s children grow up to find their strengths, seek the paths that bring them joy, and create a better world for themselves and future generations?
Our world faces many problems, and it will take engaged students, who grow into well-adjusted adults, to solve those difficulties.
For years, establishment politics has ruled on both Democratic and Republican sides with devastating consequences to children, families, and their teachers in public schools. Every President since Ronald Reagan has followed a business agenda harmful to public education, favoring school privatization and profit-making on the backs of children.
It has been especially hurtful to children of color and the poor.
Political races have given short shrift to public schools in the past, but this election is different. More discussions and education planning by the candidates has been included in this campaign primary, probably due to the activism of educators and parents in some of the unlikeliest places, like Arizona, who want great public schools.
We now have two Democratic nominees. Which candidate will be better for education? Who will rally behind teachers and parents and get out the votes for Congressional candidates who support teachers and public schools?
Which individual will be able to better push back against President Trump’s initiative to destroy public education?
After much study and thought, I believe Bernie Sanders is now the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump. It is Bernie Sanders who will work to lift democratic public schools out of the dust.
President Obama, V.P. Joe Biden, and Race to the Top
Vice President Joe Biden likes to praise his former boss, President Obama. Like many, I once believed an Obama Presidency would bring positive and dramatic change to public schools, which struggled for years under harsh NCLB school reform initiatives.
I remember the disappointment when those changes did not occur, when President Obama chose his basketball buddy, Arne Duncan, to run the Department of Education, a man who lacked education credentials, who oversaw massive school closures in favor of charter schools in Chicago, and who followed the public school corporate reform agenda to a T.
President Obama’s Race to the Top closed schools with low test scores, evaluated teachers based on student test scores, fired principals and staff, and called for states to lift the cap on charter schools. None of this improved public education.
The Obama administration supported the state-led Common Core State Standards, helping foist unproven standards into classrooms. They got behind the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) despite protest by parents and educators. Those standards still exist. They’re found everywhere, including in many online programs like iReady, Amplify, and more. Common Core failed and there’s no proof that online instruction is succeeding.
(Sheila Resseger’s comment below: “The states were essentially bribed by Obama/Duncan via Race to the Top to accept the CC$$ when they were financially strapped due to the 2008 financial debacle. The states rushed to adopt these misbegotten “standards” before they were even completed. The money behind them was primarily Gates’ money, and the “thinkers” behind them were essentially standardized test makers.”)
Some believe it’s unfair to associate Joe Biden’s education plans to Obama, that he has evolved to better understand the issues. But Biden repeatedly references Obama. Do educators and parents really want to risk it?
In all the eight years Biden worked with President Obama, why didn’t V.P. Biden challenge Obama on his decisions surrounding education? Joe Biden is married to educator Dr. Jill Biden. Did they ever voice concerns about the harmful policies involving Race to the Top, policies that were repeatedly questioned by educators and parents around the country?
Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Thurgood Marshall Education Plan and V.P. Joe Biden’s education plan are both welcome after years of presidential elections that have skimped on education. There are good things about both plans.
It’s especially important to consider the effects a Medicare for All program would have on providing all children with the health care they need so they will be comfortable learning.
Should we not fear history repeating itself with Joe Biden? If Biden becomes the Democratic nominee I will vote for him, but between Biden and Sanders, Bernie Sanders appears to be the most likely candidate to help America’s students finally jump off the Ferris Wheel of corporate school reforms that have been harmful to students for so many years.
It is a change that is most welcome.
I can’t remember the last time I heard a vice president openly criticize their president. His/her job is to support the president’s plans, not undermine them. What we have to examine is how active he was in supporting all the elements of Obama’s education plan. I also have to ask the same questions of Sanders, whose state of Vermont has a well established practice of public/private partnership. (From what I have seen they also have a robust system for holding private providers accountable. ) Of course, the challenges a rural state faces are different than those faced by a state with a large urban population. Vermont as a whole has the population of a mid-sized city, so the challenges are not comparable. The point is that I don’t think Sanders’ platform position is reflected in his home state. We also have to examine Sanders’ voting record in committee. I’m not sure either candidate deserves my vote based on their platform alone unless I am willing to believe that their positions have evolved with time. At this point, I would find it hard to choose between the two candidates on the basis of bread and butter teachers’ issues.
I guess this is one time we will have to disagree. Sanders was the first to come out with an actual plan. I’ve been critical, and still think more could be said, but his overall platform gives me hope for schools. I know a lot of teachers who support him.
That said, if Biden is the nominee, I will hope he does follow through with the highlights of his plan, some which are decent.
Nancy, I wholeheartedly agree with your post except for one point. You write that “The Obama administration supported the state-led Common Core State Standards.” The states were essentially bribed by Obama/Duncan via Race to the Top to accept the CC$$ when they were financially strapped due to the 2008 financial debacle. The states rushed to adopt these misbegotten “standards” before they were even completed. The money behind them was primarily Gates’ money, and the “thinkers” behind them were essentially standardized test makers. You can see that I am still bitter about the scam that Gates/Obama/Duncan perpetrated on our students, teachers, and schools. I hope that Bernie gets a chance to influence public education for the better, whether he becomes the Democratic nominee or not. I do not trust Biden to improve the situation, but I will certainly vote for him against Trump/DeVos.
If Biden would appoint Warren as head of the Dept of Education, it could greatly help assure educators avid support of our real public schools. We should have all taken note of Obama’s position re instituting charter schools which he wrote about before he was a candidate in his book on his father..
I can’t see that happening for a variety of reasons, but it is an interesting comment. Thank you.
I compared the candidates on their charter school positions last summer and Bernie’s call to defund and freeze charters really moved the National conversation. Warren echoed the call a few months later. Then just recently, President Trump himself called to end the federal charter grants program, moving funding instead to into discretionary block grants that states can use for charters or choose not to and reallocate for other purposes.
Biden’s position has been unclear, making contradictory statements. From the article:
“At another AFT town hall on May 28, former Vice President Joe Biden was also asked by a Houston teacher about “unaccountable for-profit charters.” He said he does not support for-profit charters and had concerns about “any charter school system that does not allow for total enrollment” or “siphons off money for our public schools,” but added, “there are charter schools that work.”
When asked by a journalist to clarify what “total enrollment” meant, Biden’s campaign said “he doesn’t want any charters to be able to have admissions tests.” This was somewhat incoherent, as no charters have admission exams—but many do require winning a lottery to get in, and then put up well-documented hurdles to weed out certain families. When asked for further clarification on what they meant by “admission tests,” the Biden campaign did not respond.
Another concern that is not necessarily Biden’s fault but will be nonetheless sensationalized by Republicans is the involvement of his brother Frank in the charter industry.
Frank Biden ran a Florida charter network that was accused of fraud and mismanagement, with Frank Biden basically admitting he was using the family name to open doors.
The fact that this may have nothing to do with Joe Biden hardly matters as the Trump team had been clear they will use Burisma and Biden’s family as a negative attack and distraction to suggest nepotism and corruption.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/frank-biden-leveraged-famous-business-gain/story?id=68202529
Very interesting and concerning, Jake! Thank you for this information and the link. I can’t see him doing anything different with charter schools.