Deconstructing "I Am Your Public School"

January 26, 2004

Frosty Troy wrote a warm little essay called I Am Your Public School, published by an affiliate of the NEA, the biggest teacher union on the planet.

While heartwarming and treacly, the essay appears to have not much basis in reality, but instead repeats the union party line, which insists there's nothing wrong with our public education system (other than their opinion that our teachers are underpaid and overworked, natch), so stop criticizing it already.

It is so full of half-truths, innuendos, and pretzel logic that it was just begging to be fisked. Chris O'Donnell rose to the challenge, offering an impressive point-by-point deconstruction.

Here we review a few key fallacies offered in I Am Your Public School:

Public Schooling is 200 years old, and has given the U.S. the strongest economy on the planet. (Actually, it's less than half that age, and the twin concepts of capitalism and a free citizenry have worked wonders on the economy.)

"SAT math and science test scores are at a 33 year high . . . ACT scores are up for 11 consecutive years." (We think Number 2 Pencil could set those numbers straight. But if we're doing so wonderfully, then how come our kids bomb out compared to the other industrialized nations of the world, in comparisons such as TIMSS?)

Our teachers are among the "least paid among the industrial democracies of the world" (Tricky! How many industrial democracies are there in the world? But if you compare the U.S. to all the other developed nations of the world, and standardize for exchange rate, or GDP, or any economic measure you choose, you'll find American public school teachers are among the highest paid in the world.)

Children fail in public schools due to lousy parenting. (Blame the parents! Yeah!)

Black children fail in public schools due to single black mothers. (No comment.)

"We are the only education system that educates the student to the level of his or her ability" (Unfortunately, we're not telling you that we've already pre-decided that Johnny can't read or do math, so we won't push him very hard. "Educating to the child's ability level" is edu-speak for a dumbed-down education for all.)

Studies show public schools do better than charter schools or parochial schools. (Um, which studies?)

"Vouchers require zero accountability." (This just in: formerly known as "parents" we shall now call them "zeros.")

"I leave no child behind, but some of you would dim my lights, leaving in the shadows the poor, the halt, the blind, the lame and the special education student." (What a dystopia! It breaks our heart how critics of public education hate the poor and the lame. Pass us the tissues.)

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No, public education isn't universally bad, in fact there are many, many places where public schools are excellent. However the story isn't so rosy in our inner-cities, where the teacher unions rule the roost, and parents have a dearth of choices.

The author of I Am Your Public School, in deflecting any and all criticisms of public schools, seeks that it stays that way.