Public Education in the U. S.

Public Education in the U. S.

The issue of public education and its quality never occurred to me at all until I became a consultant.  Till the happened, I only needed to pay attention to my job and and little else. I never thought about issues like funding, or educational quality or effective schools, or another of the other issues that percolated below the surface in those halcyon days.  However, as soon as I became a consultant I began to be caught up in academic issues that mattered to everyone, not just myself. I was always a dedicated professional and so, in my job as a consultant, I started to read everything I could get my hands on that had to do with being an effective professional helping others along the way.  Even during those years, I was not that academically driven that I read any journals or books dealing with the BIG issues in education.  Working towards my PhD, my Doctorate in Education made all the difference.  I got to go to conferences where I listened to the problems others were confronting in their school districts or in their states or even in the countries.  I enjoyed going to those conferences immensely and the participation in them opened my eyes to why there was always such a difference between what I was experiencing in Ontario, Canada and what others were experiencing, especially in the U. S..  It was only there where there were such wide discrepancies between one state and another, between one university and another, between one city and another.  Dwelling on these issues, as I often did, I realized that what we had in Ontario was superior to most of what was happening in the States. I was not at all amused by the actions of the Harris government to eliminate half the boards and thrust us into a maelstrom of curricular reform  but, looking back, I can suggest that maybe the end justified the means.  A student can go anywhere in Ontario and be governed by the same educational standards and the same curriculum. Every teacher in Ontario has to adhere to the same Standards of Practice set by the Ontario College of Teachers.  There is a system of evaluations of Colleges of Education and Boards of Education that standardize education across the province and it is a big province, bigger than most of the states in the union to our south.  As the various jurisdictions deal with the effects of the shutdown due to the pandemic and the implementation of online learning to overcome social distancing, the huge chasm between what we have here and what they have south of us is only becoming more apparent.  Every day there are articles I glance over that deal with the lack of preparedness for change, the inability to meet the demands of the 21st century, the lack of standards.  Today, if a student moves from Colorado to Utah, he or she might as well be moving to a different country.   If a student lives in Niagara Falls, NY, he or she will be confronted by a huge number of disadvantages relative to if he or she lived in Kenmore, which is a part of Buffalo.  If a student goes to a charter school or a private school and not a public school, the quality of education, the funding of that education and the standards of that education can be hugely different. It is no wonder the Americans are finding it difficult to deal with racial injustices. They are often at root caused by poorer educational institutions, lack of attention to the needs of the poorer schools, and so forth.  In Niagara Falls, ON, there are huge pockets of poverty, but the teachers in the schools and the monies given to the schools and the services put into those schools are the same regardless.  It makes a huge difference in educational outcomes. Until such a time as these differences caused by political structure disappear, no progress will be made. The U. S. is bound as a country to fall further and further behind those countries who possess the institutional structure to bring about and control change.