Last Saturdayís THB article highlighting the war of words between the Anderson Federation of Teachers president, Rick Muir, and the state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Bennett, is likely to evolve into a deeper collective bargaining conflict in which there will be no winners, only losers ó schoolchildren.

In case you missed it, Bennett slammed the AFT for inflexibility in negotiating teacher contracts. He bemoaned the fact that some teachers will get a 2.5 percent pay increase at a time when the system needs lots of money. He threatened that action might be taken to void the current AFT contract.

An insulted Muir shot back saying, in effect, Superintendent Bennett doesnít know what heís talking about. Muir was also quite candid in his disappointment in what appears to be an all-out attack on public schools, not only by Bennett, but Gov. Mitch Daniels as well. I commend him for standing up for our schools. We would expect no less.

Yes, our schools need money. They need high-profile, vocal champions from outside the system just as much. The attack on public education is real.

Public schools are held underneath a spotlight. Every problem ó failure rates, bullying, crime, teacher misdeeds, and so forth ó gets plenty of media attention. Very little attention is paid to the fact that each day, 180 days a year, in schools across the nation, teachers teach, children learn, and the business of education works. That, however, is not considered newsworthy. The public, therefore, is left with the impression that public schools are all just failure factories.

The media, advocacy groups, corporate leaders, celebrities and, more recently, elected officials, are all part of a growing chorus of high-profile public school critics. They are mostly people who havenít seen the inside of a school building in years. Yet, they seem quite certain about what must be done to correct problems in them. To the point, I believe such critics should not say a mumbling word about school problems unless they have spent at least three months teaching in a public school.

As far as I can see, though, there really is not ó and never has been ó any intention to make our public schools work for all children. I say this for two main reasons. First, Americans believe that high achievement is a result of high intelligence, not hard work. Second, generally speaking, we do not have high expectations for the nationís poorest children. We believe ìthe poor will always be with us.îÄùBy default, then, the question becomes ìwhy educate them at all?î Itís called a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The problem is exacerbated by the current fiscal crisis and, within that crisis, a fragile middle class that for years has paid double for education. As to the fiscal crisis, our school system is not unlike thousands of others across the nation. These districts are deep in the red. They have no apparent way out except to cut administrator and teacher pay, increase class sizes, eliminate sports and other extracurricular activities, and close schools.

As to the middle class, typically they pay to send their children to private or parochial schools, then pay through property taxes to support public schools. For this reason, more and more, we are witnessing the privatization (e.g., charter schools, vouchers, tuition tax credits, etc.) of public schools. Six years ago Illinois legislated a plan to convert 100 Chicago public schools into private, or charter, schools. New York and other big cities have similar schemes under way, including measures to close so-called failing public schools.

The ugly thing is that these plans are touted as good for poor children. Now, the proponents say, they will be able to choose better schools. Say what? Where? If you think real hard about it, that middle-class family that was paying double for education would be delighted to chip in a little extra to create a really fine charter school. They will allow some poor kids in, but not many. The children of the poor will be stuck right where their parents are.

In reality, our schools are being re-segregated, not so much along racial lines, but along class lines. Consequently, with the middle class strongly in support of such changes, politicians and other public officials feel comfortable mandating the changes. It is a slippery slope into social catastrophe. The war of words between Muir and Bennett tells us the battle has already begun. Local folk do all they can to fight. But where are our great champions when we need them?

Have a nice day!



Primus Mootry is an Anderson resident and a high school teacher.