The Change We Need?

President Barack Obama, then on the campaign trail, speaking about his policy to reform America's education system in Dayton, Ohio. So far, say his critics, he hasn't delivered on his promise for change. (AP Photo/Skip Peterson)

By Jodi Broadwater

So much for President Obama’s campaign for “change.” When it comes to education policies, the White House is sticking close to the same path as its predecessors, say New York City education critics.

Panelists at the April 7 event arranged at New York University expressed concern for Obama’s apparent conservative agenda, citing such policy goals as expanding the charter school sector, maintaining standards and accountability, and instituting a merit-pay system to reward high quality teachers.

The most vehement of the critiques came from Diane Ravitch, an education historian at New York University, who claimed that Obama was “giving George W. Bush a third term in education.” Though Ravitch was unable to make the discussion at New York University’s Kimball Hall, she issued a last-minute statement that read: “Choice, accountability and merit pay — these are all Republican themes. They do not represent change.”

Ravitch, who served as assistant U.S. secretary of education under George Bush Sr., focused her criticism on Obama’s plan to expand the charter school system, claiming that charter schools are “the death of public education,” serving only to “encourage the best kids in poor communities to leave public schools.” By expanding such a system, said Ravitch, Obama would set America on a path toward “seriously impairing education,” as “no nation can have great education unless it has a great public school system.”

Pedro Noguera, a sociologist and professor in NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development and a self-described “ardent Obama supporter,” said he views the president’s policies as an attempt to “win points with conservatives.” Joining Ravitch in concern for the emphasis on charter schools, Noguera said that, realistically, the majority of children don’t go to charter schools. “Boutique health clinics don’t solve the healthcare problem.”

Instead of focusing on the quantity of such schools, said Amy Stuart Wells, a professor of sociology and education at Columbia’s Teachers College, President Obama should center his efforts on improving their quality.

The panelists noted disappointment with Obama’s system for standards and accountability, predicting that the president would merely “tinker” with No Child Left Behind. But who can blame him, said Wells, when he has bigger fish to fry — like fixing the economy. At least, added Noguera, he’s “recognizing that schools can’t do it all by themselves,” and an unprecedented $100 billion for education’s not bad. In fact, “that’s a tremendous step forward.”

Check out EdWeek for a recent article article making the same argument.

— Jodi Broadwater