And I have to disagree with the whole premise, not just its unfortunate phrasing. Situational psychology research persuades me thjat public schooling won’t be hunky-dory when we can get rid of some problem individuals who don’t measure up, can’t make the grade (students OR teachers.) Just like it’s not about the money, the entire complex culture of School needs transformation. And public schooling won’t be fine if only the good parents would come back from private schools and charters and home education, and get involved again.

““You can’t be a sweet cucumber in a vinegar barrel.”

Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo details how “place” can win over “person” through concepts like institutionalization, escalating dehumanization, stress and stereotyping, the seduction of boredom, the evil of inaction and much more.

Psychology situationists might describe schools and organized homeschool groups as either “poor” or “privileged” worlds that shape the choices of all individuals good and bad within them. The situation defines, inspires and/or degrades the individual by influencing one’s responses, thinking, independence, the quality of one’s relationships and choices, perhaps even our humanity itself. . .

This article lights up some high-score bonuses in the pinball game of my thinking. Anonymity, boredom, intellectual impoverishment, an environment where aggression against others is tolerated, modeled, perhaps even rewarded . . . sounds like some places I’ve fallen into, school environments, workplaces, legislative offices, home education “support” too. (Thankfully never a family environment, but I meet many not so lucky.)

So it’s the the whole vinegar barrel, not a few apocryphal sour cucumbers we can’t quite ever find and eradicate — that’s pickling kids and teachers and whole families, thus in need of America’s most creative, mighty, highest-minded efforts at change.

I do see quite a bit of teacher bashing, but the media is not helpful in this area. Bad news is news and good news is boring.

There is a constant flow of sensational reports of teachers molesting students and being involved in other less-than-savory activities. This is sad and very alarming, but we don’t live on lilypads- we know that there are bad people in every vocation on the planet.

I’ve blogged about how there are inept teachers in the sytem, but IMO it’s the teacher’s unions that handcuff admins and principals so that they cannot find and keep the best teachers. I hear complaints from good teachers and dedicated principals quite often about how they are required to ‘pass the trash’ from one school to another. I think teacher ‘bashing’ would be greatly reduced by empowering communities and schools to be able to recruit the best and brightest, and dismiss those who have proven to be unsuited for the job.

We can choose whether to keep thinking and sounding like a beleaguered fringe interest group, or not. I see all the political stars aligning for the ascendence of intelligent public debate about well-organized, practical programs and choices, universal access without universal mandates, non-ideological governance accountable to US rather than the other way around, enhanced personal privacy, etc etc — not one kind of schooling as social control but for all kinds of real education, for the good of America.

Poorly educated kids who grow up to be poor voters, workers, parents are a dangerous problem for all of us, no matter how they get that way. I’m genuinely excited about the huge opening we have right now, to rethink our own thinking about education politics and leap forward together instead of shooting at each other over grudge-holding identity politics.