Freedom - noun
1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint: He won his freedom after a retrial.
2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.
3. the power to determine action without restraint.

Excellence - noun
1. the quality of being excellent
2. an excellent or valuable quality : VIRTUE
Antonyms: DEFICIENCY

The goal of many schools is academic excellence. As we studied and discussed in CT, NC, and CA there are varying perceptions of the ability of the schools therein to achieve the goal of academic excellence. The benchmark of the academic excellence in all cases studies is rooted in an evaluable and quantifiable number or data that determines how successful but more importantly sheds light on how deficient schools or student groups are.

Identifying unsuccessful schools and student groups within a school can serve many purposes. To us (teachers) it is a noble declaration of need for our expertise and help. We can reach out to those that need our help and make a difference in our world. If we know who struggles, or is low, we can help them to get up to speed…right?

To policy makers, deficiencies in our schools can mean a successful political platform for those promising educational reformation. It provides fuel to an agenda. If problems in achieving excellence can be determined, then the need for an individual(s) with solutions for this problem follows closely behind. Policy makers’ relationship to perceived educational deficiencies can be more bipolar, however, when the education systems are blamed for shortcomings ranging from global positioning to economic stability. It seems that public education can be the reason for a leader to be elected as well as the scapegoat or whipping boy when things for an official do not go as planned or promised.

Labeling student groups or school s that have difficulty reaching closer to determined marks of academic excellence, serves also to keep power structures of our country in place. White middle-class students that are successful in schools (schools which by the way were developed with their culture, values, and success in-mind) prove that the school system works. This provides power because despite equal access and in some cases more equitable opportunities for all citizens within the education system, the white component rises to the top while minorities find themselves in the deficient data set.

I guess to end; I think it is important when considering excellence and freedom in schools that these do not necessarily support one another. Individual pursuit of excellence can be empowering for a student, but determining for schools when their students are failing to meet the determined marks of excellence can create subjection. When districts, schools, teachers, and students are labeled deficient, they are not allowed “exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.” which is what freedom is about.