Neil Postman was a media theorist and cultural critic associated with NYU who studied and examined public education through much of his career from the early sixties up until the publishing of his last book in 1999 and his death in 2003.

I came across and pulled the above quote because I think it speaks to something that came out of the Social Justice Forum we had on education. Though we focused on access to education and the quality of education, we danced around the issue of investment. Public education can be viewed as an investment made by and for our country.

A mandatory system of public education serves a national interest and was intentionally formed for the people of this nation. Like President Obama mentioned in his Race to the Top speech, “In a world where countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its people.” Like Postman, President Obama is speaking about our children, our children’s children and President Obama is certainly speaking about an investment.

But, what kind of an investment? And, how broad of an investment? Who are we investing in?

Like Postman says, children “are the living messages,” they are a reflection of the values we are instilling in them and the time and effort we commit to their upbringing. Or, if I may borrow from Dr. Harmon, children communicate a message reflecting how we have instructed them to be human.

Undoubtedly, our educational system thrusts young minds into the world with a set of skills and a knowledge base from which to work. But, what does that knowledge base actually contain? Will it work toward bettering our future? Is it even concerned with bettering our future? Or even our present?

Id recommend those in need of a quick summary to get them up to speed check out this overview from the New York Times.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html

But also, try this. Social Justice issue head butting several policy and practice issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/health/policy/26grady.html

To kickoff our Social Justice Forum we began with the topic of Education Reform, a topic that looks like many different things to many different people. Public and political discourse about education reform covers everything from merit-based pay for teachers, to school choice for students and families, to accountability measures, to standardized test scores.

But all policy making and political-speak aside, our forum opened with a basic question: “Is education a right or a privilege?”

This central question forms the point around which much of my internship and discussions will operate. “Right or privilege?”

Members joining the discussion were taken aback by the question. Some were puzzled, having never thought about the issue of school in such a way. Others grew visibly heavy from the question’s weight, or from the answer forming in their head.

But, from my experience as a suburban, middle class, Christian (sorta) white male, privilege was never something I identified with having. School, for me, was something I took for granted. For most of my life it was something I hated doing, it was a “waste” and something I thought at the time I “would never use.” Not only was I privileged but what I was getting was in my mind disposable. Its worth went so unidentified I literally thought it valueless. And my peers approached it the same way I did. It was a good school, but without ever having to face the reality of going to a bad school, a failing school, a dangerous school, an expensive school, it was just school. My school experience was reflected in television and movies. Boring. But, it was clean, it was safe, it was high quality, it had adequate resources. And never did I receive any indication that what I was getting was out of the ordinary.

My central question almost forces those who are posed with it to choose. Yes the question can be circumvented or tossed completely, but only after you’ve thought about it.

Predictably, through the course of conversation another question had to be answered.

Is education a right? At all?

Well, nationally, no. That’s right, no, education is not a national right and it is not mentioned in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

It is however a right at the state level. All 50 states, at least as far as my research has shown, outline some form of public education for its people. And, what each state says about a system of public education varies.

Example:

Section 1 Article 10 of the Illinois State constitution says that public education is a “fundamental goal of the People of the State” and is to develop “all persons to the limits of their capacities.” Also, the State’s educational institutions and services are to be “high quality” and “free.”

Article VIII of the Michigan State constitution is not as explicit on quality but reinforces that “schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” The constitution also maintains a “free” price tag and insures an environment free from discrimination on the bases of “religion, creed, race, color or national origin.”

In a speech given on July 24 President Obama reiterated these ideals, making them a national values as well.

“America will not succeed in the 21st century unless we do a far better job of educating our sons and daughters … In a world where countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its people,” said Obama.

But, when Mr. Obama says “people” who is he talking about? Who do we count as people? Whose counted as  person? All of us? Some of us?

Education professor,  William Harman at in on the tail end of our discussion and defined education as “humanization.” If I may put words in Harman’s mouth I under this to mean that a system of education is a system through which we become human according to societal norms. Schools then serve as a way to actualize us as human beings. We are taught to be humane and human.

But, are we all taught, humanized and/or actualized the same?
I assume that part of this humanization process one learning to be human and humane must be treated as such. But, do ALL of our school’s have the capability to treat our students as full human beings? Can all of our pupils learn without fear from violence? Can they read from books that are high in quality and study in classrooms that are not overcrowded in buildings that are adequate and up to code? Or do we humanize some by doling out top of the line resources and dehumanize others with left overs and knock offs?

Again I circle back to our main question “Right or Privilege?” because the answer is different depending on who you ask. And further more, what is education? What type of education are we entitled to?

We may educate everyone in this country and all of our children may go to school, but are they all being taught the same material? With the same level of instructional quality? Are they all presented with the same set of courses and extracurriculars and resources and supplies?

My answer is absolutely not. So too were the answers of those at the forum.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in some convoluted and ill-fated way attempted to root out bad teachers and hold failing institutions accountable. We’ve all heard the headaches from teachers and students and administrators alike concerning the innumerable failures of the program. But, the mere existence and supposed necessity for such a program speaks to the obvious disparity in our system. And when there is disparity there are haves and have nots. And from these two groups a hierarchy emerges.

Now many areas of our lives are based around a hierarchical structure. In a service capacity we have the best restaurants or the best service. The best outfits, the best cars, and so on and so on. And, the definitions, criterias or measurements used to arrive at “best” are usually varied. But, borrowing a bit from Judith Butler in order to have best you must also have worst. Without getting too in depth, our language helps assign names and phrases to concepts and ideas. With language we are able to categorize our world. So, the concept of “best” according to Webster’s Dictionary is that of “excelling all others” implies and requires the existence of worst, being “most bad.”

Similarly, in order to have “good” we must have “bad.” In order to have good schools we must have bad schools, the best needs the worst.

So what am I getting at? Well, in order for me to have attended a good high school (Portage Central of Portage, Mich ranked 1124 in the nation) someone else had to attend a bad one. Simply put, my presence in Portage Michigan and Portage Central High School means that I am also keeping someone else out of Portage Centarl High School. If we were all getting the same treatment with regard to education, would this be a problem? Would we even need the best? Would we have a worst?

Last week’s (Sept. 23rds) forum was on education reform and – for being on short notice – was really quite successful. The topics will be decided the week before and will try to tie in with current issues.

Upcoming Social Justice Forum Calendar!

Oct. 7

Oct. 21

Nov. 4

Nov. 18

Dec. 2

Dec. 16

First, I’d like to thank you for stopping by!

I’d also like to introduce myself. My name is Jake Scott and I am a Junior/Senior English major at Elmhurst College and I am also the Niebuhr Center’s Rosa Parks Intern for Social Justice for the fall of 2009.

Throughout the semester I will be hosting a series of ‘Social Justice Forums’ in the Frick Center every other Wednesday from 11 am till noon. Dates to follow!

I will also be tracking down students on campus and interviewing them, compiling stories about Social Justice Issues they face as college students or may have faced on their way to higher ed.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions or anything in between please feel free to comment or email me at Jakescott11@gmail.com.

And again thank you so much for your time!