The Need for Unity in Education Policy

I’m not sure if anyone else does this, but when I watch the State of The Union address, I tend to stand up and clap when I hear something I like, even though I’m sitting alone in my apartment wearing my favorite pair of pajamas and drinking a glass of chocolate milk.

We saw something happen on the floor of the House two nights ago that we’ve never seen before: Republicans and Democrats sitting together, all wearing ribbons honoring Gabrielle Giffords and the victims of the Tuscon massacre. For me, this was a poignant and meaningful moment. President Obama said, “What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow.” The full text of the SOTU can be found here.

As warm and fuzzy inside as this whole ploy was intended to make us feel, The bipartisan SOTU has garnered many critics. The Huffington Post reports that only 19% of Americans thought that the seating arrangement was a good idea.

I for one find it quite surprising that we would be so opposed to the idea of bipartisanship that it's very appearance disgusts us. Yes, it is all one great big facade, but why does this infuriate us so? My theory is that we don’t want to work together. We like partisan politics because it gives us a divisive discourse in which we can take part and at the same time supplies us with a “default” response determined by the national party. We don’t really have to think about it, we just have to disagree with the other guy wearing the other color tie. Incidentally, if I were to wear a tie, it would probably have purple sea-turtles on it, but that is beside the point.

In terms of partisan debate and battle lines, the issue of education has always been problematic, at least from my perspective. You can’t just say, Democrats believe in education and Republicans don’t or vice-versa, although both parties try to make that case when election year rolls around. Since we all believe in education (right?), the trick is figuring out how to provide it. Should we invest in charter schools? How should we pay teachers? Do competitive grants initiate positive reform? Are standardized tests the best gauge of student achievement? Should we support vouchers? Are school boards really the best way to govern? Here's my personal favorite---should we do away with the federal Department of Education entirely? (I don't think so Rand Paul......) Obviously, education policy is a divisive arena, but we all want the same end, it’s just the means which causes the dissension.

A large portion of the President’s speech focused on education, (Education Week has a good article here). Much like the tone of his entire speech, the President's remarks on the subject were largely innocuous. I don’t mean this in a negative way to suggest that his speech was flat or without purpose or passion. I mean that it was exactly what we needed to hear- the President trying to speak to everyone and not just one side of the chamber. When it comes to education, I don’t think we need to be partisans. We have to be able to say that enough is enough, and that all of our bickering isn’t going to change the fact that our children are lagging behind the international community, not to mention that here in Mississippi we would be happy to graduate some seniors that can read. I want to live in a country controlled not by national partisan politics but by conscience.

I have to admit, that one of the times when I stood up to applaud despite the privacy of my own home was when the President said during the SOTU that “Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.” Now, I don’t always agree with the President, but I can recognize when he is absolutely, 110% correct.

This upcoming year is going to be an interesting one for those of us who are captivated by the ins and outs of education policy. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which is currently referred to as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is up for re-authorization. Many people don’t realize the distinction between the two bills, or even Race to the Top for that matter. All people want to focus on is how NCLB was a Bush-era fiasco and that RTTT is going to come in and correct everything. This is simply not true. Race to the Top is completely separate from and independent of the ESEA (currently called NCLB) because RTTT is a competitive grant program and the ESEA is a comprehensive funding bill for all states which has been in place since 1965. If we are going to finally get this education thing right, it needs to be in 2011, and it needs to be a concerted effort between American congressmen and women, not a brawl between Democrats and Republicans.

The following cartoon is purely for your amusement.