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April 22, 2008Education Reform Is No Cure-All for Low-Income, Low-Achieving Schools |
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From Economic Policy Institute: What follows, in part, is Economic Policy Institute president Lawrence Mishel's op-ed about how the Nation at Risk report distorted the debate on education reform. For a quarter-century, A Nation at Risk has set the terms of debate on education, with mixed results. Schools are cutting back history, civics, the sciences, art and music, just to prepare for tests in math and reading. Industries such as auto, steel, consumer electronics, and clothing and textiles were closing factories; unemployment approached 10%; and workers' wages were flat lining. The report claimed that increased market shares for Japanese automobiles, German machine tools and Korean steel reflected those nation's superior schools. Yes, we need to improve education from kindergarten through grade 12, as well as expand opportunities for college education and career training. But we also need to fix the credit crisis, expand health coverage, renegotiate unfair trade deals, invest in transportation and technology, and restore workers' rights to organize unions and bargain for better pay and benefits. In fact, education reform, by itself, isn't even the cure-all for low-performing schools in low-income neighborhoods. Kids in these communities need better nutrition, health care and dental care so that they can come to school ready to learn. That's a sobering thought on the 25th anniversary of A Nation at Risk. Lawrence Mishel is president of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Readers may redistribute this material to other individuals for noncommercial use, provided that the text, data, and all HTML code remain intact and unaltered in any way. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission.
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