A cursory look at recent headlines across North Carolina reveals widespread parental frustration with public education. Our “common school,” envisioned by Horace Mann to be the “great equalizer” — curing poverty and a host of moral and social ills — has surely fallen short of its noble goals. While North Carolina public schools do educate children from all walks of life, our schools are increasingly hamstrung and impeded by an unresponsive bureaucracy. The unfortunate result is that public education’s good is increasingly overshadowed by the bad: misguided and intractable policies that result in waves of discontent among parents and families.
Consider some recent examples:
• Parents in Mecklenburg County are calling for significant changes to the school system, describing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as “cumbersome and unresponsive.” Over the past week, scores of parents and activists have turned out at meetings to call for school improvements, including splitting up the school district.
• In Wake County, decisions by the School Board have enraged parents. Concerned that a proposed school site in Wake Forest was both distant and dangerous, Wake County parents enlisted the support of County Commissioners. Yet, the School Board circumvented commissioners’ oversight, essentially telling them to go “fly a kite.” The decision angered parents and commissioners alike, leaving them wondering whether the School Board’s actions were even legal.
• In Bertie County, parents have rallied against a proposal to close three of the county’s elementary schools to fulfill a court order to make schools part of a “unified district.” Actions by the United States Justice Department and Judge Boyle, combined with a 1969 court order, have thrown this entire county into a frustrated mess!
• Finally, parents in Pitt County (access this story on our website) were overruled by their local school board. Even though 200 parents protested a plan to convert a primary and intermediate school into a K-8 school, the Pitt County Board of Education voted 6-5 to move ahead with the conversion.
Education bureaucrats disregard a glaring reality when they overrule parents: no one better represents the needs and interests of children than parents and guardians.
Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” When education bureaucrats persist in implementing the same failed policies over and over again at the expense of parents and families, how can we expect education to improve? It’s madness to circumvent, disregard, and sideline parents, while claiming to serve children.
I wonder how many more frustrated parents will mobilize before we reach the tipping point for change. In the final analysis, most Americans know that a competitive market, rather than a monopoly system, will best meet the needs of students. While attaching education dollars to the child (so that families are empowered to choose schools) doesn’t cure every education malady, but it does provide a sane and level-headed alternative to public education’s current chaos.
To learn more about parental activism, as well as the latest education news, visit the Alliance online at http://nceducationalliance.org/. We update the “Headlines” section of our home page daily with articles from every major newspaper in the state. At the Alliance, we are committed to keeping you informed and empowered as we join together to improve education for the children of North Carolina.