Tuesday, January 15, 2019

THE BILL FALLS DUE

I was Dean at Otis Art Institute in 1978, the year that California's Prop. 13 was approved by voters. My daughter, 6 years old, was enrolled in a Los Angeles School District elementary school, She was at the time a year or so younger than her son is today; he is enrolled at the same school as she was then. Yesterday, his teacher was among the thousands who went out on strike.

Like many who ardently opposed Prop. 13 back in 1978, I foresaw the rapid degradation of what was once perhaps the best education system in the country. Since then, as was entirely predictable, our schools have been increasingly strangled by the paucity of funds. In the 1990s, along came the charter schools--affording a way out for those who could afford the "choice" and, not incidentally, gobbling up the increasingly scarce resources of the school system. As an op-ed piece by Miriam Pawel in today's New York Times suggests, the current teachers's strike results from the damage charters have inflicted.

It's not quite "privatization", but it's related. You could even claim that it's privatization in disguise. No matter how well-intentioned, the charter schools benefit the privileged--the well-educated, the affluent, those with the social, cultural and political advantages that drive their expectations for their children's education. For the poor, the brown, the black who share their aspirations, that social and political platform is less well-established, less attainable. Already eroded in consequence of Prop. 13 and the ethos that it fostered, the resources for a public school system that is meant to serve all the citizens of Los Angeles are siphoned off to benefit a few.

It's a sad spectacle to see an education system that was once the envy of other states now ranked so low. My sympathies lie with the teachers. I believe they are striking for much more than the personal advantage of a salary increase--which they richly deserve. They are striking for a fair shake for every young person in this city and a restoration of our schools to their former prestige. We have been short-changing our next generation of Americans for too long, and the results have become painfully evident in the form of an increasingly poorly educated, poorly informed electorate. It's not a record to be proud of.

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