The New York Times has an interesting article up about freedom of expression (speech) in schools. Personally, I feel that students should be free to wear whatever pleases them. If someone doesn’t like what you are wearing, then they can ignore it. Basically, school should be regarded as a standard public place. Students deserve rights too. The most ubsurd of the attacks are of course when the administration uses its plainly authoritative powers to clamp down upon all unrest. Schools can certainly be incredibly dictatorial. Take the case of a 3rd greader not being allowed to start a petition:
In Walker-Serrano v. Leonard, parents sued when school officials, citing safety issues with pencils on the playground, halted a petition drive being conducted by a third-grade student unhappy with a planned class trip to the circus. (She was protesting animal cruelty.)
Give me a break. Pencils dangerous on the playground? It’s third grade for crying out loud… The worst part is that the district won.
Students deserve to be regarded as intelligent people too, not just robots bent upon hurting themselves. Freedom of expression shouldn’t just be limited to adults.
It looks like at least one major candidate is paying close attention to education - the attention it deserves. According to the New York Times, John Edwards has emerged as a champion for strengthening America’s schools on a national basis. Here’s what he has to say about why:
This issue is personal for me because I came up through public schools. My entire childhood, I went to schools in rural areas where most people didn’t go on to college, where most people lived in the same town their entire lives. I was the first in my family to go to college. And when I got there, I remember feeling like I was a little rough around the edges. Like maybe I was a little too country. Like maybe I didn’t fit in. But then I remember thinking about how I got there, and I realized that this was what makes America great. It didn’t matter where I came from. It didn’t matter that when I was born, my father had to borrow $50 to take my mother and me home from the hospital. It didn’t matter that I grew up in parts of America that are usually forgotten.
I have to admit the whole rural, middle class upbringing part will definitely work in his favor when it comes to these kind of issues. Nobody can accuse him of not understanding the problems. In terms of specifics, Edwards is adopting some of the more intelligent educational reform plans including rewarding teachers who work in high-poverty schools with up to $15,000 in incentive pay,
and overhauling the approach to standardized testing as a means of tracking the progress of students and schools.
The one idea I disagree with is the expansion of preschool. I feel our money could better be spent providing more resources to high schools and middle schools. We should use the time we have now with students effectively before immediately looking to expand it. While his next statement might be incredibly cliché, I have to agree that education shouldn’t be about politics - it should be about opportunity for all:
We are all in this together. Because this is not about politics. This is about who we are as a nation. This is about achieving our deepest aspiration: a country where birth doesn’t dictate destiny.
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