I have a dream

My dream is to have a member of this class hear an argument that goes like this and respond to it appropriately. The argument would be "We ought to be building a first-class workforce in our high schools, but we are not because we are not establishing high enough academic standards for our children." I have no criticism of that problem unless it is the only one available.

I would like you to stop and think a little. Then I would like for you to decide to respond or not as the situation requires and as you choose, bearing in mind that you can't fight all the wars at the same time. I'd like you to think: should we really be turning our high schools into workforce prep schools? Is that the best normative standard we can come up with? Is it better, for instance, than "help each child achieve his or her full potential as a citizen and a person as well as a worker?"

I'd like you to think: are we really not building a first-class workforce? Has it actually been studied or is this just bitching and moaning? Were the standards oriented toward innovation or toward skilled cheap labor? If the studies established the "smart and cheap" standard and what we really need is the "innovation" standard, then the FO doesn't follow at all. There is not, metaphorically speaking, "trash on the Park Blocks."

I'd like you to think: of all the available attributions, is this one the best? Will it lead to practical solutions? If "school-readiness" is the principal variable and the homes the principal resource, then "high standards" will simply further segregate the advantaged students from the disadvantaged, so maybe "high standards" will have externalities we don't want. If broad civic recognition of teachers as the heroes of learning--as "nation-builders" in President Obama's phrase--will solve about three quarters of our school problems, isn't that a better CA?

The "heroes of learning" standard, by the way, would plausibly allow much larger classes with much better achievement; much less administrative overhead; much more parental support; and much lower dropout rates because of the interpersonal attachments formed with the teachers, who are not high status figures. It isn't a slam dunk, but it is intriguing.

What I'd like is for you think all those things before you say anything at all. Then I want you to choose to enter the conversation or not and if you do, to choose an alternative that will have some hope of broadening out the policy discussion.