Talking points#5?

Teaching to Change the World, Oakes and Lipton

Premise:
- Education
-Opportunity
-Schools as businesses
-Downfalls of public schools
-Myths about the systems
-Struggle
-Individuals vs Institutions
-Responsability
-Change
-Resources

Argument:
Oakes and Lipton argue that the public school system in America has serious downfalls hidden under a list of myths created by and participated in by our government and people, surrounding race, money, and power and privilege.

Evidence:
1. " Americans have constructed an odd mix of ideologies that both support and undermine their commitment to public schools. These ideologies,taken together, help explain how Americans can love all their children and want them to prosper while maintaining institutions and social structures that guarantee that some children won't."

2. " Do Ambitions and Hard Work Really Matter Most? Like most myths, this one draws its strength from the frain of truth embedded in it. Among thosestudents who have the resources, opportunities, and connections that come with privilege, the more ambitious and hardworking may well go father than those who simply do ok in school."

3. " Cures for low -acheiving schools follow some of the same trends that manufacturing and business are following. These include deregulation and local control, accountability based on productivity, niche marketing, competition and choice, and increased privitization.

Comments:

Sad but true, so when does systematic change begin. As it was pointed out in the article it is often slow but that doesnt make it any less necessary. How much longer do we allow most children to suffer in this system?