President's Speech to the National Urban League

Last week President Obama gave a speech about education at the 100^th Anniversary of the National Urban League. This was a strategic move on his part because the black community has been up in arms about his education policy, specifically Race to the Top, which many civil rights groups (7 to be exact) do not support. The NAACP and their legal defense fund, the National Urban League, the National Council for Educating Black Children, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Schott Foundation, and the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights have banded together to offer an alternative policy agenda called the "National Opportunity to Learn". The campaign was created because these civil rights leaders feel that Race to the Top (RTTT) is going about reform all wrong. They argue that an emphasis on charter schools, closures for failing schools, and competitive funding will do nothing but hurt impoverished areas and minority children.

I watched the President's speech on YouTube the other day. It was 45 minutes well spent. I tend to agree with these civil rights groups when they say that President Obama and Secretary Duncan are going about this the wrong way. My biggest contention is their argument that Race to the Top will not encourage states to lower their standards in the same way that No Child Left Behind did. With the incentive of higher salaries or even staying open, why wouldn't a state or a district want to water down their tests in the hope of higher scores? President Obama argues that by forcing states to compete for funds, they will revise their policies and become more progressive. That way, even the states that do not get funding through RTTT will have benefited from the process. I think this is a carefully worded acknowledgment of the fact that the education system is once again ripping off those already at the bottom.

President Obama wants to encourage states to be progressive, but he is not encouraging them enough. In its RTTT application, the state of Mississippi tried to make the case that they were already being progressive and proactive in their policies, citing numerous examples of existing policies. They did not really change anything. And now that Mississippi has been kicked out of the pool for RTTT funds, nothing else is going to change. Mississippi is going to remain at the bottom of the list when it comes to teacher salaries and test scores.

Another issue the administration is approaching from entirely the wrong direction is the issue of teacher salaries. Good teachers (smart teachers) will shy away from bad districts if they know that the students are going to under-perform and that they, the teachers, will be penalized financially because of this. I know that I would much rather teach in Booneville or Pass Christian (districts with the highest test scores in the state) than one of the eight already failing districts in the state- not to mention the other 45 at risk of failing. Teacher salaries shouldn’t be a reward for high test scores. Higher test scores should be the payoff from the investment in higher teacher salaries, despite the fact that Arne Duncan seems to think that high test scores should come first. If Obama wants to talk about how education is the economic crisis of our time, let’s talk about some investment. I think if you raise teacher salaries, the profession itself will become more desirable. You will have more competition, and instead of begging for teachers districts can take their pick of those that they think are the most qualified. THEN and only then will you see test scores start to increase.

For example, when I walked into chemistry class in the 10^th grade, my teacher instructed everyone to transfer out of her class if they really cared about chemistry because she didn’t care about it one bit. I sincerely wish I could make that story up- almost as much as I wish that I had followed her advice. If my high school had a bigger pool of applicants for the open position in the Chemistry department, I don’t think this travesty would have occured. The teaching profession should not be a “safe job” or an “easy job”. It should be a job that pays enough to attract the applicants it deserves.

Now back to the issue of impoverished areas and under-performing children, I think Obama is failing to utilize his biggest asset and that is his ability to inspire people to action. It is not by forcing our districts to compete with other states- we are already failing as it is. I see people every day wearing t-shirts with Obama’s profile on them. I just wish that everybody would perhaps take 45 minutes out of their lives to watch the President talk about education before the National Urban League. It is a powerful thing when our President says “Yes you can overcome. Yes you can persevere. Yes you can make what you will of your lives.” Only through nurturing, inspiring, and enabling our teachers and students to take their jobs and education seriously will we really see a turn around in the Mississippi education system.