Gingrich: Will Detroit save its kids or bureaucracy?
It's not Illinois, but Gingrich gave the talking points every Illinois GOPer should be using in this Editorial about Detroit's schools.
I also heard Gingrich's National Press Club speech from a few days ago on CSPAN. Excellent and radical talk about the shake up this country needs. I never cared for Gingrich much he sure changed my mind in that speech.
On Detroit,
But this failure is not just Detroit's failure. It is an American failure. When American children are being cheated out of the education needed to succeed and an American city is allowed to decline while its leaders refuse to confront the failure, it should concern every American.Instead of talking to the AFL CIO that evening at Soldier Field, it would have been nice to hear those Democrats talking to some folks on the streets of Chicago that muggy summer evening.
This human tragedy extends well beyond the schools. The New York Times reported that an African-American male who drops out of high school faces a 72 percent unemployment rate in his 20s and a 60 percent possibility of going to jail by his mid-30s. The Detroit bureaucracy now presides over a school system whose black male students are more likely to go to jail than go to college.
And why in the world can't Andy McKenna get the GOP out their talking like Gingrich does below? They think these issues aren't their issues?
These numbers raise a critical question: What is the purpose of our government bureaucracies? Clearly, we have a fundamental disagreement about how to measure success, and it goes right to the heart of the issue.Business as usual or real change. That's what the Illinois GOP should be shouting all over the place. Heck Illinois's Greens too but we barely a peep out of them. Has that party folded?
If the purpose of the Detroit school system is to provide jobs for members of a unionized bureaucracy, pay them well and pay them on time, then Detroit's school system is a stunning success. If this is the primary purpose of the bureaucracy, Detroit may very well be the most successful school district in the nation.
If, however, the purpose of the school system is to provide Detroit's children with an education, the knowledge, the tools and the motivation to succeed in the real world, a prerequisite to prosperous, productive communities, then Detroit's bureaucratic schools are an abysmal failure.
There is ample evidence of what works in education, but the bureaucracy has systematically ignored all of it. The innovations include merit-based pay; increasing teacher-to-student ratios; revamping union rules to reward the best teachers; bonuses and incentives for new teachers; charter schools; and offering parents a coupon that allows them to send their children to the school that works best for their children and not the bureaucracies.
I've even suggested rewarding students in the poorest neighborhoods by paying them if they get a "B" or better in math and science.
Ultimately, Detroiters must decide what is in the best interests of their children and the future of their city. They can decide to accept business as usual, or they can demand real change.
But real change requires real change, not new rhetoric while doing more of the same old thing. Propping up the failed past at the expense of future generations leads to prison and poverty vouchers for too many of our children.
The time for excuses is over. The crisis is not about money. The crisis is a failure of responsibility, accountability, honesty, transparency and determination to protect the children from the bureaucracies that are crippling their lives. Who will the people of Detroit save -- their failing bureaucracies or our American children?
7 comments:
I am impressed with Gingrich's comments here. Funny how a republican makes them, rather than a democrat. I guess that makes sense though, because it does seem that the teacher's union cares more about getting paid than actually helping students. We have the worlds best college and university system, but our public schools system, for the most part is pathetic. I wish this would be more of an issue.
Here I thought I was pushing the rules by cross-posting the story about a 10th CD supporter of Mark Kirk's blasting out an attack email....
Gingrich has at least grown a bit of an honesty bone since he left Congress. He recently also called the President's misadventure in Iraq a "phony war" distracting us from the real war against al Qaida.
You didn't push any rules Rob.
It was an appropriate topic about valid concerns of a voter in the 10th about the attendance of Democratic Candidates at Kos, and the statements gone unchallanged at Kos that:
It's US support of Israel fueling Islamic Terrorists,
and Israel directing US Foreign Policy
Had I been at Kos, I would have challanged those statements.
The Dems running in the 10th should have challanged them.
Now, back to schools...
I'll delete further off topic.
Bill,
On my blog (and on today's show), I connected Reagan's policy of viewing the Soviet Union as "illegitimate" with my (and others) view that the education bureaucracy in America suffers from the same moral failings - it is an illegitamate force in America - from both a political and educational viewpoint.
Reagan's insight was that you don't "compromise" with illegitimate nations and forces - you defeat them.
The financial and educational continuation of this nation can not peacefully co-exist with an unsustainable and essentially corrupt bureaucracy - especially one that actively retards learning to enhance their growth an power.
There was a story about a new KIPP school in Helena, Ark. that had stellar results for its highly disadvantaged children. In N. Chicago, one of my listeners asked the Board President why their district couldn't have a KIPP charter. The usual run-around ensued, resulting in a total rejection of the idea.
Any person keeping a KIPP charter out of a place N. Chicago lacks legitimacy vis-a-vis ANY involvement in ANY educational capacity.
The progressive left's embrace and defense of piggish bureaucracy over poor kids' better education is ugly, and it is time for more decent people of all political stripes to hold up the mirror to their faces.
Fund Children, not bureaucracies.
What do you say guys, let's deport Koz, the education bureaucrats, union bosses and them l-i-b-e-r-a-l-s to Cuba. Then the moral fiber of our country will be restored.
Cuba? Well that Penn fellow ought to consider staying in Venezula.
Moore to Cube maybe?
Newt wrote,
The New York Times reported that an African-American male who drops out of high school faces a 72 percent unemployment rate in his 20s and a 60 percent possibility of going to jail by his mid-30s. The Detroit bureaucracy now presides over a school system whose black male students are more likely to go to jail than go to college.
He's right. Liberals don't want to talk about it either. The Illinois GOP should talk about it a louder and with the same radical fervor as Newt.
That's hard for the Illinois GOP to do.
Bill,
When you combine the racial make up of Detroit, DC, and Chicago Teacher's union leadership with the statistic of black achievement and drop out rates, one could argue that Uraban Public Education is the largest example of "Black on Black" crime in history.
Sen. Meeks, phone home. Why are you shilling for the wrong people while whipping their victims into a frenzy.
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