Stark contract between the Strib's editorial yesterday on the firestorm unleashed by Don Samuel's cry to burn down North HS and the city council member's own column on the subject in the paper today:
Editorial: http://www.startribune.com/561/story/990843.html
Samuels: http://www.startribune.com/562/story/992944.html
What's most striking to me is that Samuels is still giving a one-note answer: fix the schools. Nothing about fixing the kids, families, neighborhoods, housing policies, health care policies, education funding or juvenile justice system, all of which are players in this drama as well.
Now Samuels wants to bring "outstanding educators" from around the nation to Minneapolis this spring to teach us what we apparently don't know. Give me a break. He doesn't seem to have a clue what we ARE doing already. Come spend some time in the schools, Mr. Samuels, then we'll talk. (Your kids may never darken our doorways, but as an elected official, you should.)
It's my opinion that there is nothing new under the sun. Educators know what works, and what doesn't. As one of my colleagues once quipped: "Want to solve all the problems in the schools? Staff at 3:1." Ha ha ha. (My school staffed this year at 38:1, if you're not an educator & didn't get it. That means average classes of 38 kids with one teacher.) We simply don't have the resources needed to work the miracles asked of us. The people of Minnesota need to choose to pay for the results they want.
At least the Strib's editorial staff had the sense to speak to the larger issues affecting schools: "Turning all of that around is a lot to ask of the public schools, especially in light of the funding cuts forced on education, police and social services, and the persistence of a destructive popular culture that celebrates failure, glorifies crime and disrespects academic achievement." BINGO.
The editorial goes on to point out: "Mayor R.T. Rybak has it right when he routinely lists the city's two most basic problems: 'Too many kids raising themselves, and too many kids having kids.'" DUH.
In the end, Samuels asks, rightly, "Why aren't more people pushed beyond the boundaries of politeness and rational discourse - shouldn't this make us all crazy?" Right question - wrong topic. Go back up a paragraph to the mayor's quote and direct your anger where it belongs. We in the schools are doing God's work and having great success. Not 100%? Come fight WITH us, not against us.
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