Wilson, J. (1994, January). Urban education: A board member’s perspective. Phi Delta Kappan, 75(5), 382 – 385.

Summary of content.

The main point addressed in this article is that it really isn’t so much the fault of the students and their teachers (that things are not what they should be) but the fault of politics. Wilson’s view is that school boards and school administrators are not the problem with urban public education. The real problem, he expresses eloquently, is the lack of funding. And he is afraid it is going to get worse . . . and maybe for the wrong reasons. Here is what he brings out in the article:

Wilson starts by defending the numbers. Surveys, he points out, show that “people all across the nation are generally pleased with their local schools (about which they are directly knowledgeable) and they are disenchanted with the public schools generally (about which they tend to rely on opinion leaders for information and analysis.” He reminds us that the 25^th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup education poll reported that 47% of Americans give an A or a B to their local public schools, while only 19% give that same generous score to American schools in general. Those most knowledgeable about schools, Wilson states, conclude that, by numerous measures, U.S. schools are as good as, if not better than, ever before. Meanwhile, “business leaders, politicians, and pundits continue to lament that the sky is falling and to call for fundamental, albeit ill-defined, systemic reform.” Wilson continues, “I would submit that both groups are right. Public schools in this country are indeed better than they have ever been at doing what we have traditionally expected of them. They are, at the same time, woefully inadequate to the task before them.” Again, the numbers: Statistics show that SAT scores (for college-bound high school seniors) have either remained essentially the same or slightly improved over the past ten years. Over the past fifty years, student retention through high school has gone up steadily from a meager 38% to over 85%. Also, the Advanced Placement exams being taken by juniors and seniors in the U.S. in English, math, science, and history has increased by 51% since 1986. And science achievement between 1977 and 1990 rose for 9- and 13-year-olds and remained unchanged for 17-year-olds. Math achievement, too, went up for all three categories from 1978 to 1990. So did math and critical thinking skills. Some scores such the verbal scores on the GRE have not changed in twenty years. Wilson names all the major tests these statistic came from and reiterates, “achievement is at an all-time high in nearly all test areas.”

As for international comparisons, we average 12.2 years of schooling per student (the highest in the world) and send 60% of them to college (again the highest in the world). Ours is the “most literate population on earth,” says Wilson, with “19% of our population having a university degree!” Many of ours go to school for fewer hours per week, but we make up for it by keeping them in school longer. And as to competence, there is no doubt whatsoever that our highest-achieving students compare favorably to their counterparts around the world. Wilson also reminds us that these figures are especially good considering that, during this same period, we tackled the challenges of integration and had the extra burdens of having to deal with latch-key children, single-parent families, increased violence, crime, and drug abuse along with the challenges of implementing breakfast and lunch programs, special education programs, and before- and after-school child care. Considering also that we had to remodel most schools because of laws passed on the use of asbestos and lead in public buildings, and had the burden of a few wars and the many distracters of modern media to contend with, it is nothing short of a miracle that we have an education system in as good a shape as ours is.

However, Wilson goes on and explains why these impressive numbers, though accurate, are not good enough to address the needs of our present society. In essence, our low achievers used to have low-demand jobs. Many of these jobs are no longer there. Machines and computers have replaced them. Add to this the rapid growth of the information age and the need for more education, and the numbers no longer work out. We need to find a way to further educate some of the traditionally low achievers, which means we have to do this in the inner cities. Why? Because the fifty largest school district in the country, though representing only 0.3 percent of the total, represent 17 percent of all U.S. school children in K-12. In a very real sense, “this country will succeed or fail in the same measure, as do the public schools in these districts.”

The problem is that 75 percent of these inner city children are comprised of racial and ethnic minorities. They constitute 50 percent of the entire country’s meal-subsidy recipients, and they are the ones who have to deal with more grief, drugs, and violence than most non-minority individuals would be equipped to endure. To add to this problem, these urban areas are growing at a rapid rate with LEP (limited English proficiency) problems mounting every year. Very few are trained enough to survive the criticisms from their counterparts, the media, and the many pundits who come into urban eareas to capitalize on the dismal situations.

Personal Reaction.

My reactions are similar to Wilson’s in that I agree that every few years, political struggles are, by their very nature, countering even the best of plans of school professionals. Like government in general, school boards are lay employers in charge of superintendents, which for the most part are professional employees. I doubt that our founding fathers anticipated the broad abuse of democracy at so many of our governmental structures. Between unions trying to protect their members regardless of their competence and too many politicians lobbying for change regardless of the validity of their proposed changes, it becomes increasingly harder to find competent people who are willing to work under such discouraging conditions. Our most urgent job needs to be the immunization of school officials against political manipulation. I know we need federal tax subsidies and some basic accounting to avoid thievery, but funds should not be tied to mandates that are not approved by the professionals who are expected to administer them. Superintendents and principals should have autonomy for at least four years at a time. Stints shorter than that are not likely to show the real performance changes of a school or district. I am not against the maintaining of a large Board of Directors in every county to speak up for the community at large and advise the superintendent on where and how real estate taxes might be best allocated, but the final decisions should be based on standards other than those dictated by politics. There are enough brains among educators to make decisions for themselves.

Yes, schools are a business, but “business as usual” is not good enough to educate our youngsters in the values they need to maintain the more permanent things in life. In summary, join me in more fully studying Jonathan Wilson’s article and then rise to the occasion and become an active part to the solution . . . by becoming a dedicated teacher and/or advocate for inner-city schools. I’ll see you there!