The predominant
theme in our education system has been—and is—competition. Schools in one
neighborhood are compared to schools in another, town against city, state
against state, and our nation against all others. Often such comparisons are
ill conceived and without merit. Nevertheless, the idea that competition is
good is conventional wisdom. Policymakers at every level promote competition, embedding
it in the very language of policy. “Race to the Top” is a prime example.
However, that
phrase and the concept behind it are incompatible with a
rising-tide-lifts-all-boats philosophy presumed to be foundational in American
public education. Horace Mann, the “father of American education,” believed
that the common school would be the “great equalizer.” That ideal has yet to be
realized.
Politicians and
policy leaders prize the sentiment. The titling of No Child Left Behind bears
witness. But NCLB rhetoric rang hollow from the beginning. No broad-based,
legitimate effort has been made over the past three decades and more to address
affirmatively the fundamental public education goals of equality and equity,
regardless of rhetorical pandering to these notions by pundits, politicians,
and policymakers of every stripe. Public schools today are more poorly funded
than ever, the gap between haves and have-nots has widened, many schools are
experiencing resegregation, and the culture of competition ensures that the
education playing field will never be level.
Technology is
inextricably intertwined in today’s education. From the federal office to the
local classroom, from attendance software to apps on students’ tablet
computers, technology is integral to schooling at all levels. Technology
proponents, echoing Horace Mann, have envisioned technology as the “great
equalizer.” Often, to the contrary, education technology is being coopted to
serve the national mania for competition. The use of technology to support
testing based on the Common Core State Standards is an example.
Sarah Irvin
Belson, dean of the American University School of Education, Teaching, and
Health, recently commented, “If reformers were
interested in making real change, they would address the real issues that
underpin the school quality, such as increasing teachers’ professional
authority and encouraging high quality curriculum and instruction (note that
standards do not equal curriculum). Current school reformers (including
the current secretary of education, Arne Duncan) are focused on a misguided
principle that competition and disclosure can be a powerful tonic for school
improvement.”*
All
available evidence points in precisely the opposite direction. Unbridled competition
is harming our schools and the children they serve.
(*Quoted
in Valerie Strauss, “Is Competition in Education Killing Our Sense of
Community?” Washington Post, June 17,
2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/06/17/will-competition-in-education-kill-our-sense-of-community/)
