Rob,
It’s not a matter of whether or not we support public education. It’s a matter of where our money is going. It’s also a constitutional matter. According to the New Mexico State Constitution the state is obligated to spend OUR MONEY on public education. And since it’s OUR MONEY shouldn’t the tax payers get a say in how that money is being spent? In fact, I do not “support” public education in the form in which it is now being cast by the people running this horrible and failing system. If we were to conduct a poll it is unlikely that any of the people on this distribution would support the existing system. Period. End of story.
But it’s still OUR MONEY that is being wasted. So what are we supposed to do about it? The Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit sought to address inequalities in terms of native Americans getting less than their fair share. But the goal of Yazzie-Martinez was NOT merely money, it was OUTCOMES – producing college and career ready graduates. The public education system has now manipulated and distorted the objectives of the Yazzie and Martinez litigants into their DIE (Diversity-Inclusion-Equity) group think, but reading Judge Singleton’s ruling was focused on measurable standards such as reading proficiency, math proficiency, and civics as measured by standardized testing, as well as graduation rates, dropout rates, and the need for remedial classes to make up deficiencies in the public school system. None of these can be cheated around by a failing system. Clearly OUR MONEY is being squandered by people who claim to care for our children.
To your point, there may be other means of educating these children that are far more effective. These means just have to be cast in a form (a dialog/a framework) that is argued to be public education, just as the state constitution requires. Otherwise, we need an effort to demand that the constitution be revised to permit non-public education to be funded based on student need AND argue that such funding would not be in violation of the state’s mandate against “sectarian” education programs.
I would further argue that the current education system is being manipulated into becoming exactly the sort of SECTARIAN education system (CRT = race-baiting hate-think, DIE = crypto-Marxist ideology) that the NM Constitution specifically prohibits.
Dave
On Public Education
I am absolutely baffled that with all the facts in our face so many still support the institution of publicly run education.
Can anyone offer me anything that refutes the claims of the facts in the following report, books and film?
“A Nation at Risk” 1982 national assessment on education.
“Dumbing Us Down” 1995 by many times awarded teacher of the year, John Taylor Gatto, who quit and wrote this book because he no longer could allow himself to be used to harm children.
“Waiting For Superman” 2011 video documentary on the continuing failure of the education system to prepare children for their futures and no plan acknowledged to correct it.
“Mediocrity” 2023 an easy to read (2 page chapters) on the continuing process of government schools failing students. By Conor Boyack and Corey DeAngeles both who have made their life work to improve our children’s educational preparation so it fits the students future needs and not just the employment needs of educators.
Is anyone seeing the 12 to 15 year expose’ pattern here or are we just too afraid of change that we stick our heads in the mud in order to play ignorant to this demise so we can plead not guilty under the claim that we just didn’t know? Isn’t at the core of all education the process of reading to learn and be informed?
We require children to read so what happened to the adults requirement to do the same? Those children being lost are the direct result of a functionally literate masses choosing to be selectively illiterate and then blame the situation on someone or something else so they do not have to be bothered.
Rob
