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Date:         Sat, 12 Sep 1992 10:50:35 -0400
From:         KILBURN@WVSVAX.WVNET.EDU
Subject:      Re: read my lips: I have family values

Hi, Missy J:
>As I recall, Chicago attempted to create a community-based educational
>system.  There were two results that I know of:
>1) the NEA sued
>2) after a year, people who had served on the community boards were
>   so fed up that they were going to the media and saying things
>   like, "nobody in their right mind would want this position."

Do you happen to recall the issues over which the NEA sued?  Just curious.
Although I've seen the teachers' unions (both NEA and AFT) do some real
good here, I'm not an blind supporter by any stretch :)

>Apparently, the primary difficulty was that every time the community
>gave any input, the teachers' union either refused to implement it
>or went back to court over control issues.

I can see how this would happen.  Even leaving aside trivial things (
whatever those are!), I can easily imagine community members and educators
clashing over very real differences in perspective.  Just as an example, my
ex-husband went to K-12 in a fairly rural district in CA.  Teachers were
basically "forbidden" to assign homework, 'cause the kids had to do chores
when they came home.  The local community enforced this by controlling the
school board, and from there, hiring and firing decisions.

Even in higher ed, I see the same kinds of problems.  The legislators tell
us that we need to be "more responsive to community needs", which is a very
nice idea.  But we can only teach so many Saturday, evening, and television
classes with our current resources, and there are some kinds of classes
that just don't work that way.

I guess one thing we need to work on is better understanding of what the
"job" of teaching means, on both sides of the table!

>Personally, I admire the idea of community-based schools, as I
>understand it.  It does not appear to have worked in the current
>climate, and my impression is that it requires a different attitude
>toward control of the public schools that is difficult to implement
>due to the problems referred to above.

At least not in Chicago :)  I've been thinking about this general issue
ever since my daughter started school.  I've definitely seen how much good
stuff can happen with real community support for local schools.  And one
correlate of that support here (I don't know whether it's cause or effect)
is that elementary and high school teachers are *really* valued members of
the community.  Unlike the neighborhood I grew up in, in which lawyers,
engineers, physicians, etc., tended to look down on teachers (those that
can't, teach -- right?), teaching here is a pretty prestigious profession.
Maybe not *quite* as high as physician, but pretty close.

I really don't know why that is, although I suspect it has something to do
with the nature of socioeconomic conditions in this area.  In any event,
I'm more and more convinced that it's a critical element to really making
schools work.

What do you think?
Kerry
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