Society has been overwhelmed by propaganda and malign intent by a group determined to delude and manipulate citizen understandings for their own political purposes. It is time for change.
(BEND, Ore.) - Local control of our schools, from grade one through Grad level, has been a basic American principle ever since Colonial days. Our founders placed control of education within the domain of every state for good reasons.
In general, "local control" has provided the close supervision and honored the preferences of those paying-the-bill through school funding via property taxes set by each state by its own voters.
"The little red schoolhouse", common then across the nation, provided purposeful community access to the basics of “readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmetic” for a number of generations --most of whom turned out quite well, thank you very much. (Ask any community-member!)
Built on the basic principle of a common school experience for all citizens-to-be in our communities, that first-beginnings for our democratic system has more than proven its worth: that very basic system organization rightfully became the worldwide mirror-principle reflecting what made America the home of the dramatic new approach to realities of education demanded in that time, for those reasons we then realized, and in ways workable at realistic and acceptable costs, too.
BUT the only certainty in life is CHANGE, as we’ve learned most painfully ever since the Civil War --the first major “wasting war” costing us dearly and dreadfully in far more serious issues and problems than the mere dollar-losses --themselves at the time setting world records for economic damages and decimations for our whole society.
In the 21st Century, now already nearing the end of its first decade (!), we must face the realization that what worked THEN for all of us NO LONGER can provide not only the major new funding demanded to keep pace with worldwide change, but also the very basic standards shaping and securing the much more diverse and demanding education now needed for every American child.
What has happened to our educational system in the past several decades, as the onrush into the 21st Century has taken place, is that both our conception of reality-needs and of the return-on-investment to be achieved via education for all have been overwhelmed by political propaganda and proven malign intent laid on us in every channel and every conceivable manner and method of communication by a determined group using their huge "noise machine" to delude and manipulate citizen understandings-- for their own political purposes.
They have even made us believe that "less can be more" by the kind, level, composition and process of funding manipulation they have imposed on our basic competitive-advantage/maker: the education system.
There can be little question of the long-proven effectiveness of America’s educational progress, from Colonial days until after World War II, with extremely obvious proof to be seen in every possible avenue, domain and level of achievement. Any comprehensive historical examination of the real public record for those decades will prove up precisely and very persuasively each and every area of human achievement, to which our people contributed higher-level after higher-level, all those years.
Of course we had our problems, absolutely unavoidable when millions worked with other millions in a nation of widespread developments in every area of life, running wildly and without as wise-and-comprehensive national level control as we should have put into place and used aggressively, too.
That’s the very definition of governance, as recognized all down through the centuries ever since the first republic-approach was set up, secured, and traditionalized in Roman days.
The most basic foundations of our American tradition demand that government "OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people" DO SOME THINGS possible in no other way.
That’s why roads, bridges, public safety, transportation and travel and postal service, education and national security and many, many other basic concerns are provided, maintained and managed by government, for the commonweal.
It has never worked and never will work, simply to leave these needs to the chance operations of "privatization" and "deregulation", in which governance essentially does nothing. This leads to the globalization now decimating developmental prospects for emerging nations deprived until now by the unprecedented share of world resources manipulated by early-emergers.
We either control our national responses to emerging trends worldwide --or they will control us, and reshape our entire lifestyle, inexorably and without mercy. What we can and must do is to put into place the changes which are completely obvious from examination of our past history.
So "what went wrong" and "who made it that way" must then become the immediate questions, as the most essential and important guide to how do we fix what went wrong?
We must redesign not only basic corporate formats and purposes, as now demanded for our own protection from present predation, but also other elements of our overwhelming modern "surround" shaping life at every level, for everyone, assuredly including our education system which is so fundamental in preparation of every new citizen.
The high-point of American progress is now universally recognized across the world by economists, historians, every academic-study area, and millions of plain citizens in every nation, as "The New Deal" and what it meant, then, to American life and to formation of "the American Dream".
That surely included solid home life and values, secure and protected job acquisition and continuance, human rights precisely spelled out in world-acclaimed historical documents, and mutually profitable working relations with most job providers.
But that pleasant picture aroused the antagonism of certain segments in our society who could not countenance any possible chance of diminution for their large share of what the American system was then providing for all.
So, they mounted a malign and intentional manipulation of every possible channel for information --the now-notorious right-wing "noise machine"-- and, with cognizance and, sometimes, cooperation from a mainly deluded and misinformed national press-and-media, managed to seduce, sabotage and overcome much of the American working force that had supported and extended "the New Deal", including the unions protecting workers from undue and sometimes desperate attack and despoliation.
Ever since, through successive political situations involving not only the Presidency but the domination of Congressional process and progress, these self-selected neocon manipulators have continued in contemptuous disregard of clearly-expressed national majorities demanding both change and redirection --in the face of overwhelming damage via further tax slashes for the very-rich and further funding/slashes in every succeeding New Deal-generated program or plan.
Thus we find ourselves fighting "the imperial Presidency", seeking empire building via still another wasting war; defying Congressional direction via offsetting Letters attached to legislation, blocking its application, and a bewildering, overwhelming constant-attack on our protective Constitutional rights and privileges --while slashing and slicing away any possible progressive project or plan offered by our elected Congressional representatives.
It becomes completely obvious what the first step in our now-demanded rehabilitation process must be, not only for education but across-the-board in all that America set out to become.
This is the second Op Ed in our series concerning current educational problems and prospects. See also the ongoing story and thread re educational issues and practical experience reported by others of Salem-News staff.
Documentation for every statement herein is contained in a working file kept since the late ‘70s. Its contents and the supporting books, clips, reports, studies and other documents are available for later access, but not while writer’s files from 50 years are in process of culling and clean-out.
Op-Ed: Education Funding,Salem-News.com