Blogs:

Today, it has become a past time for many to bash public schools and teachers. Teachers are being attacked for different reasons by different people and it is imperative to focus upon and find out the differences.

Not everyone’s feelings can be judged on the same scale. For example, parents who are unhappy with the public school system for not providing their children with the necessary quality education are not the same as billionaires who do not have an education background but are well into privatization of educational policies just because they have enough resources to do so and the country they live in has tax systems that serve them.

There is a huge difference between hedge fund managers who invest in charter schools with an exclusive view of making a profit and the sincere educators who wish to create a collaborative school culture by starting a charter school that is community based.

There is also a huge difference between corporate that want to capitalize on market reforms by creating a less experienced, less secure and less expensive teaching force and those college graduates who join the Teach for America program with a lot of good intention.

Teachers today are struggling to retain their jobs and their pensions and hard pressed taxpayers should realize that the issue is not with them but with those who are trying to bring about obscene economic inequality.

The question is not whether public criticism affects teachers to a great extent or whether another round of cuts are in the offing due to constrained school budgets. It is also not about issues such as charter schools and merit pay getting more attention.

The basic issue is whether our children will continue to enjoy their fundamental democratic right of obtaining free public education. The issue is also about whether districts and schools that are going to provide this will continue to be public institutions.

The serious question that has to be answered is whether these institutions will be commercialized and privatized by corporate or whether they will be democratically managed and collectively owned by the citizens of our country.

The alarming fact remains that the current system serves badly the strides made by those promoting market reforms and business models in keeping with the specific needs of poor communities.

Test and punish approach has been adopted by the Democrats who have been playing along with the Republicans both with the No Child Left Behind and the Race to the Top programs. It is imperative to change direction as early as possible if we want these proposals to benefit public schooling just like what market reform has done for the economy, health care and housing.

What we need now is a strong system of accountability through putting pressure on public schools that will ensure that schools respond positively to communities they serve. This can be done only by parents and the necessary changes can be effectively implemented only by the teachers. The key to improvement of schools is thus a collaboration and partnership between these two groups.