Jay Mathews: Why So Few TV Squabbles About Education?
Jay Mathews' has an interesting column (no shocker there, eh?) examining why education writers aren't regularly featured on the current events talk show circuit. Mathews argues it's in part because Americans "don’t get very excited about education ... It doesn’t spark the same passion, anger, resentment and shouting on Fox and MSNBC that you get with discussions of politics, sports, business or celebrities."
Mathews then goes a step further, suggesting the lack of TV pundits screaming and yelling about schools is probably a good thing.
"Nearly all of us have been to school ... We know what makes it work: thoughtful and energetic teachers, attentive parents, flexible administrators and intelligent school board members," Mathews writes.
Mathews then goes a step further, suggesting the lack of TV pundits screaming and yelling about schools is probably a good thing.
"Nearly all of us have been to school ... We know what makes it work: thoughtful and energetic teachers, attentive parents, flexible administrators and intelligent school board members," Mathews writes.
The lack of arguing could lead to more civil discourse and swifter solutions, Mathews contends.
Having spent eight years covering school board meetings, I can verify Mathews' point that public attendance tends to be sparse. He's also spot-on in noting that voters tend to skip the school board section on their ballots, leaving a few hundred people to choose the representative for a few (and often many) thousand.
But I would contend the low meeting attendance reflects more than just a disaffected public. The meetings are often held in the evenings, when people are tired from work or looking forward to spending time with family. The agenda is often bogged down by ceremonial activities that feel like a huge time suck, unless it's your child's school's turn to provide the percussion performance or to receive a citation for its recycling campaign.
When the vote is on something that families see as directly affecting their child, such as plans to charge fees for extracurricular sports programs, they flood the school board chambers. But the day to day business of schooling just doesn't get people stirred up.
There's an interesting dichotomy at work here. In local polls, parents often report they are more than satisfied with the quality of their child's public school. But in nationwide polls asking people what issues top their lists of concerns, education and the economy are most frequently cited.
Do you agree with Mathews that relative consensus among presidential contenders about education reform is actually a benefit? Might it actually lead to faster action? To my education writer colleagues -- what's the average length of a school board meeting in your town, and how many people are typically in attendance?
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email Emily Richmond erichmond@ewa.org. She also tweets @EWAEmily.
Having spent eight years covering school board meetings, I can verify Mathews' point that public attendance tends to be sparse. He's also spot-on in noting that voters tend to skip the school board section on their ballots, leaving a few hundred people to choose the representative for a few (and often many) thousand.
But I would contend the low meeting attendance reflects more than just a disaffected public. The meetings are often held in the evenings, when people are tired from work or looking forward to spending time with family. The agenda is often bogged down by ceremonial activities that feel like a huge time suck, unless it's your child's school's turn to provide the percussion performance or to receive a citation for its recycling campaign.
When the vote is on something that families see as directly affecting their child, such as plans to charge fees for extracurricular sports programs, they flood the school board chambers. But the day to day business of schooling just doesn't get people stirred up.
There's an interesting dichotomy at work here. In local polls, parents often report they are more than satisfied with the quality of their child's public school. But in nationwide polls asking people what issues top their lists of concerns, education and the economy are most frequently cited.
Do you agree with Mathews that relative consensus among presidential contenders about education reform is actually a benefit? Might it actually lead to faster action? To my education writer colleagues -- what's the average length of a school board meeting in your town, and how many people are typically in attendance?
Have a question, comment or concern for the Educated Reporter? Email Emily Richmond erichmond@ewa.org. She also tweets @EWAEmily.
Labels: elections, Fox News, Jay Mathews, leaders, MSNBC, School Boards
posted by Emily Richmond at
3:00 AM
1 Comments:
Wait, so journalists are claiming that a disengaged, out-of-touch, uninformed, uninterested citizenry is a good thing? That's a pretty scary thing to suggest.
Yes, it's a great thing for the corporate-education-reform con job -- if nobody's paying attention, the privatizers can get away with all kinds of shenanigans. Also, by the way, an unengaged populace is not about to read education coverage, so the Education Writers Association would have to fold, or convert to the Kardashian Writers Association.
With all due respect and an eye-roll as well, Jay likes the fact that political factions agree on education because they're all agreed on the corporate-education-reform fads that he favors.
And why do political candidates agree on corporate education reform? For the same reason they pander to the 1% in every other area, and the same reason that Occupy Wall Street has become a significant movement -- money is squeezing the democracy out of our government.
Busy working parents (and all parents are working parents) have trouble fitting meetings into their schedule at any time of day or night. I don't think it means they aren't stirred up. It's just really hard for them to get information. Here in San Francisco, our Board of Ed meetings are broadcast on radio and cable TV, but not covered by any press. So unless you can get to the meeting or spend the evening monitoring the broadcast, you have to rely on gossip or our one Board of Ed commissioner, Rachel Norton, who blogs about the meetings.
However, our Board of Ed meetings are still very often packed -- quite often with people angry about one thing or another -- because our city is like that. We're also the highest-performing diverse, high-poverty urban school district in California (despite many challenges) -- just something to ponder. Of course it's ridiculous to link a disengaged, out-of-touch populace with better schools, but I think our district shows that the opposite is true in any case.
Post a Comment
Considerate comments are welcome. Uncivil remarks will be deleted. Anonymous comments -- including those unaccompanied by the author's first and last name -- are not permitted.
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home