Learning and Zip Codes

I am inspired (ignited?) to write regarding two recent incidents.  The first was a robot phone survey I responded to last night regarding education, and the second is an article in CNN Money entitled, “You probably cannot afford to live near good schools.”  http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/19/real_estate/neighborhoods-good-schools-affordable/index.html.  The impact of these two incidents has left me pulling out my hair and running screaming down the street.  Good Lord, when will we learn?

The phone survey asked me if I supported school choice using tax credits for K-12 students, did I think big labor unions were pouring millions into Texas to block the school choice movement, and who did I have a favorable perception about from a list of elected politicians, mostly the fringe right wing.  Unbelievable.  Should the group who conducted this survey ever use the results for a political issue we must all stand up and say the survey was so dramatically skewed that the results are meaningless.  For instance, nowhere in the first question is it mentioned that such tax credits are to pay tuition for rich kids to attend private schools.  It does not mention that only parents who are currently sending their kids to private schools will benefit from such a policy.  It does not mention that there are nowhere near enough private-school seats to serve parents who might choose such a setting for their children.  It does not mention that public schools are performing as well if not better than private schools when income is accounted for.  It does not mention that such a tax credit will reduce public school funding.  Amazing.  Clearly the question is worded to get respondents to select “I support.” 

The second question is equally slanted.  What big unions are there in Texas?  We have a right-to-work state so there are no big unions.  Why would UAW or Teamsters pour money into Texas when they are fighting the same issue in their home states?  The real truth is that an organization called ALEC is funneling millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of our elected representatives so that they will support charter schools, vouchers, increased testing, teacher accountability, etc.  No “liberal” groups are spending much money here because Texas is seen as lost cause for progressive thinking.  It is the ultra-conservative billionaires and their front-man organizations who are shaping public school policy.  We should scream “Enough Already!

And hell no you cannot afford to live near a “good school.”  The data replicated dozens and dozens of times concludes student performance is most influenced and predictable based on the wealth of the parents.  The wealthier the parents, the more likely students are to be successful.  The poorer the parents the more likely students will perform poorly.  This is very old news.  But it appears that even modern day reporters do not know this.  Yep, wealthy conclaves have good schools because they have wealthy kids and wealthy parents.  Yep, poor performing schools serve poor families.  The entire right-wing agenda has been to punish the schools that serve the poorest kids via standardized testing, and robbing what little money they have with private sector get-rich strategies like charter schools and vouchers.  If conservatives were truly interested in promoting student success in poor schools they would support student and family social services.  They oppose that as well.

Bottom line, in our country there is a clear correlation between wealth and academic success.  The more wealth, the more success.  That wealth tends to congregate in certain zip codes.  So, though every state constitution I am aware of declares that there will be free public education for all children, the reality is learning is tied to zip code.  Want to improve your scores?  Move to another zip code and/or increase your wealth.  “Choice” does not improve outcomes for kids.  Charter schools do not improve outcomes for kids, but they do improve the profit of private sector charter school groups.  Vouchers do not improve outcomes for kids, but they do give wealthy parents who send kids to private schools a tax break...  Standardized tests do not improve outcomes for kids, but they do allow conservatives to identify and hammer on poor schools rather than support them.  Tougher teacher evaluations do not improve outcomes for kids, they simply add stress to the noblest profession on the planet, and help serve to break up teacher unions so that teacher managers have more authority.  The motives for all these so-called school reforms are so blatantly obvious, why do we continue to support such un-democratic notions?

Ah, the answer to that may lie in your zip code. 

Or, you are middle class or poor and drank the Kool Aide prepared for you by the wealthiest of citizens and corporations.