9/24/10 -- Public Education Redux

I clearly have a dedicated fan base. I opened Blogger this morning to belatedly write my post about Friday's show, and at that moment my friend Ashlie texted to write, "Where is Friday's post? I'm in withdrawal!"

She must have known I was feeling guilty about the delay, and also somehow that I was staring at a blank page, wondering how to begin. You see, I'm not exactly operating at 100% right now. A little boy I know is on day four of a pretty good virus, and that means no sleep for his moms. The idea of sitting down to watch Oprah has seemed like torture to my tired mind, so I didn't even watch Friday's episode until last night. I feel like apologizing to Oprah and her crew; obviously they do a live (in Chicago, anyway) show for my benefit, and I waited more than 24 hours to watch. They must be wondering why they even bother.

So, we were back on the education topic for Friday's show. Oprah showed some clips of people reacting to the original show on the topic, which aired Monday. Many parents expressed their outrage over the system, and a few teachers weren't happy about how their profession was portrayed. Seemed like a lot of whining to me. Oprah already pointed out on Monday's show that this wasn't about the good teachers; those complaining should worry more about the fact that there are plenty of awful, ineffective teachers out there. If you're upset that your profession came out badly because of the first show, don't take it out on Oprah and the others who are trying to do something about the sorry state of education. Take offense with the terrible teachers out there, and maybe help to do something about it.

Geoffrey Canada, a Harlem educator, was featured briefly on Monday's show, but he got a lot more attention on Friday. The dude is passionate about reforming education, and he yelled at Oprah about it for his entire segment. He couldn't help it; it's just how he speaks. I liked him.

Throughout the episode, there was a lot of talk about unions, and how teachers' unions are really screwed up. I'm generally a fan of unions, but I have to say that the idea that one gets tenure after only two years on the job is ridiculous. There has to be some sort of middle ground between protecting teachers and serving the best interests of children. Right now, it doesn't seem like teachers' unions are doing the latter at all.

Monday, I was really annoyed when we learned that John Legend thinks of this as the "civil rights issue of our time." Luckily for me, Oprah brought this up again, and then everybody kept mentioning it over and over for the rest of the episode. Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, called Waiting for Superman a "Rosa Parks moment," since seeing Rosa Parks helped to change people's minds about black civil rights, and he expects the same thing to happen for education, thanks to this movie.



This has been driving me crazy. I don't want to keep harping on it, because I know no one is saying, "This is the civil rights issue of our time, and gay civil rights absolutely do not count at all." But that's what it feels like. Rosa Parks can call people to action, and the children featured in Davis Guggenheim's documentary can be expected to do the same thing, but stories like that of Matthew Shepard have apparently done nothing to warm the cold, shrunken hearts of America's masses. I might have been okay if Oprah and her posse had called the education problem a civil rights issue of our time. But calling it the civil rights issue, as if there is currently no other battle being fought for the fundamental rights of America's citizens? Not cool.

But wait. I'm not quite off the political soapbox yet. Oprah once again told people that it doesn't matter if their kids are okay, because this is our country and we all have to care about its future, which means caring about all children. It's a nice idea, and one in which I firmly believe. But I don't have any money. You know who has the money? Republicans. And I can only imagine their cringes when Oprah says to them that we all have to take care of each other. Because you know what they hear? That all these kids from low-income families need handouts. And if Republicans' kids don't need handouts, then why should anyone else get any help? It's patriotic to staunchly believe that all people born as American citizens start out in the exact same place in life, with the exact same access to all the benefits this country has to offer. Apparently not patriotic: Considering that it might behoove the nation to give a crap about educating all its citizens, and not just the rich, white ones.

Newsflash, white people: You're losing (or have already lost) your majority. You might want to start being nicer to all those "minorities," because they're about to be in charge. Perhaps you've noticed what your president looks like these days?

Cory Booker, the young, passionate mayor of Newark, was the next guest. He and the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, are joining forces to try to reform Newark's public school system. And they're getting help, largely in the form of a $100 million check from Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook. And they're getting donations from others in order to get a matching grant. So, a total of $200 million for one school system.

Zuckerberg had originally wanted to make his donation anonymously, and not come on Oprah, but Oprah convinced him otherwise, because she wanted him to inspire others to give. You know, all those others out there who have $100 million just lying around.

You know who probably has $100 million to give to this cause? Oprah.

Here's the thing: That's a lot of money. But the unfortunate thing is that not every school district in this nation is going to be getting a grant like that. So it's all very nice and Republican to rely upon this private donation to make our public schools better, but that's not what is going to help. Reform has to happen at the government level as long as we intend to keep public education a reality.

What's worse is that there are absolutely no details on exactly what Christie and Booker intend to do with the money. They gave a lot of vague answers about changing things, but there seems to be no solid plan on what that means. The system needs a complete overhaul, and I don't think $100 million will do it. Maybe it's a good start, but I think the solution is less about the money (at least from the private sector), and more about changing people's mindsets. Get people to believe that education is important for all children, and not just their own, and then you're getting somewhere.

Last thing on this subject: When Oprah said that this announcement would "shake up public education," she forgot the end of that sentence. What she meant was that this announcement would "shake up public education ... for Newark."


Katie watched me sit through the promo of Tuesday's show, which will feature Terry McMillan and her gay ex-husband. I stared in disbelief, clearly already dreading Tuesday, and Katie looked at me and said, "Baby, are you sure you want to do this?"

So far, ten episodes into this 130-episode project, the answer, unbelievably, is still "yes."