I went to a meeting downtown last night. I was invited to speak at a public forum. The group calls itself U-Choose and it convenes to discuss matters of public policy. Meeting to discuss, and not even for a grade? I already liked them before we got started. Last night's topic was education...more precisely (according to the pre-meeting publicity) how 'K-12 Education' was a 'Failed Public Option'. I was grateful to see friendly Corbett faces in the audience, because I wasn't entirely sure how the presentation would be received.
Although I was warned that it was politically unwise (and evidently bad for my career) to attend, I am not much of a politician and any group that wants to sit down and talk about education without rancor can always have as much of my time as they can tolerate.
As evidence that I am not much of a politician, I opened my segment with a challenge to the premise of the conveners (two lovely people, by the way, who went out of their way to make me feel welcome). I pointed out that just as it is unfair to declare every economic downturn a 'failure of capitalism', it is absurd to declare the ineffectiveness of some schools a 'failure of public education'. There are good schools and bad schools, public and private, and it is not the funding mechanism that determines the quality of a school. Schools should be judged, I suggested, by their results and not by the means through which they are funded. I knew that it might be bad manners to poke a stick at the banner under which we all had gathered, but I could see that my argument struck a chord with the audience and I was encouraged at not being booed off the stage after the opening statement.
I spent the next 15 or 20 minutes sharing some of the values and beliefs that make Corbett Schools unique, and the presentation was very warmly received. As soon as the conversation was steered away from politics and toward kids and teachers and schools, it was apparent that we were among caring people who want the best for their kids and are less than fully certain how to go about getting it. A number of people wanted to visit after the meeting, and the tone wasn't unlike a number of charter meetings that we have conducted.
The big question in the room regarding public schools? "Since public schools can work, what can be done to make more of them successful?" My answer? "Public schools are not especially conducive to rapid and effective change. I believe that the Charter School movement represents the best hope for replicating quality schooling in the public domain." Based on twenty years in public education, hundreds of hours of training in how to change schools, and thousands of hours logged in fruitless meetings, I believe it to be the true. It's tempting to say that I would love to be proved wrong, but I have to think that if I am wrong the proof should have emerged at least a decade ago.
Along with other members of the Corbett staff, I have spoken to a number of groups around Oregon and at national conventions regarding the challenges and successes Corbett Schools. There was one respect in which this audience was absolutely unique. Because not many of the audience members were professional educators, there was no attempt to discount Corbett's success as being merely the result of student demographics. Most of the people who spoke were openly admiring and appreciative of what we have accomplished. Rooms filled with educators rarely exhibit that kind of reaction. For whatever reason, they immediately begin firing questions regarding SES, minority populations, ESL, Special Education...anything to overcome their concern that maybe we are on to something. There was no subterfuge in this room. Just a kind of genial curiosity that there was a small public school getting the job done. The consensus? "Good for you. Thanks for your work."
It was a good night. If we were successful, maybe there are a few engaged citizens in Multnomah County who had questions and who have been reminded of the potential of public schools. Maybe they will encourage others that we ought not throw out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to our obligations toward the next generation.
Many thanks to Debra Mervyn and Suzanne Gallagher for their wonderful hospitality.
