The crumbling of public schools

Enormous cuts are beginning to make people take a good hard look at our education system, especially in our divestment from it. Others are shining a light on certain practices that should probably be abandoned (like the seniority system).

Two pieces that came my way today should be read by anyone who cares about education.

The first is an article co-written by a colleague, Tyler Hester--a second-year teacher at Blair IB Magnet in the Pasadena Unified School District who has been pink-slipped (along with all of the district librarians). Check out "Letter from a Laid Off Teacher" here.

Another was a gut-wrenching opinion piece by Derrick Z. Jackson called "The Death of Public Education" that ran in The Boston Globe. Here's an excerpt:

"Beneath the numbers is the resegregation of children on the basis of
class, race and immigration status. Prison spending soared so much,
that by 2007, five states spent as much or more on corrections than on higher education, according to the Pew Center on the States."



It's a fascinating and terrifying look at how the U.S. has given up on public education and on the kids in the system. Read the entire piece here.