Money Is The Root Of All EVIL. Is that the name of a television show or movie? No, but it could be the next film title for state educational spending and reforms. I guess it depends on the who, what, why, where or when of the circumstance surrounding the spending. As we looked at reforms and how money has been spent on education in New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut and California, I thought it might take me more than five minutes of meditation to keep a calm, cool head on my shoulders to think about this in a rational manner. I didn’t have to get too worried though; it wasn’t all bad news. The stars were New Jersey, North Carolina and Connecticut: California flopped.
Jersey Shore television show consists of a lot of drama and not much depth. I believe that New Jersey’s educational process delved a little deeper than Snooki’s drunken altercation with the police. We enter this tiny state’s educational reform history with court cases. In 1976 the state education commissioner Burke said “Urban children, even after years of remediation, will not be able to perform in school as well as their suburban counterparts…We are just being honest.” Apparently, others in New Jersey had used this type of comment in defense of inequitable school funding as the status quo at that time period. By the time these Jersey folks were through with the drama of what they couldn’t achieve, they began doing some things right. Snooki would have given a two thumbs up to the wise spending of money on quality preschools programs and intensive teacher professional development. Way to go Jersey!
Can anything go wrong in California? Blue skies, svelte blondes running on the beach, jeeps, flip flops and warm weather are the background to more educational drama. A few of the Hollywood “stars” include Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, past actors in films and in politics. This film could be called “Proposition 13 And The Woes That Followed. This was the beginning of less money and unequal distribution in the golden state. David Letterman’s top ten list of educational failures would include lack of adequate and equitable funding and a weak state system for supporting good education. Well, Arnold all I can say is “Hasta la vista baby and we’re glad to say goodbye.”
Merry Christmas
Ms. Christmas,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post to read! I have always wondered why we have, "stars" running a state. What do they know about everything that goes on? Why do they run? Is it to give back like they say or do they have to have the attention that it brings them? California has had two movie people as governors. I had to look up what Reagan did and nothing was listed in Wikipedia for his impact on education. We all know what Arnie did ( no, I mean educationally!) Making cuts after a year was not a good thing to do. If I had to make a choice for the winner of a game show, I would choose Connecticut or North Carolina. I want people who back me and what I do in my corner. Not just another pretty face!
Mary,
ReplyDeleteThat sure was a fun post to read...you are a crack up! All joking aside...all of our readings have made me very nervous for the future of California's children and their education. I was in complete shock reading about some schools in California that have graffiti on the walls and cockroaches crawling around, while neighboring schools had no such problems!