President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Arne Duncan to become his secretary of education—a man whose name is often synonymous with education “reform.”
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As the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, Duncan was a major force behind Chicago’s Renaissance 2010. The initiative, launched in 2004, called for the closing of 60 “failing” schools and opening 100 new smaller schools by the year 2010.
Duncan has also been an ardent proponent of charter schools. But according to the “UCLA Charter School Study,” charter schools do not generate higher academic achievement, nor do they enroll a greater number of disadvantaged students. Smaller class sizes are made possible in charter schools by corporate contributions, but less qualified, non-certified and non-union teachers offset this advantage.
Duncan expanded the militarization of the public schools in Chicago, the city with the most militarized school system in the nation. Thousands of students are enrolled in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs and numerous military high schools are in operation. Rather than focus on education, military schools essentially prepare students to become cannon fodder for the U.S. war machine.
Duncan is well known for his ability to “turn around” schools. A turnaround is essentially the firing all of the staff at a given school, including educators. Concerned citizens, teachers, unions and other organizations have been fighting back. Heads of the Chicago Teachers Union and others protested the Board of Education meeting and demanded a moratorium on new turnarounds.
Duncan’s reforms have done nothing to change the educational outcome of oppressed communities in Chicago. According to a University of Chicago study, only 3 of every 100 Black and Latino high school freshman boys will graduate from a four-year college. The statistics at Chicago public schools are even more alarming: A 2006 University of Chicago’s Consortium study showed that just eight of every 100 Chicago high school freshmen attained a college degree by their mid-20s. (Christian Science Monitor, Mar. 19, 2008)
The school year started with a massive demonstration that brought the underfunded schools of Chicago to the attention of the media. Duncan is to make decisions about education on a national level when he does not even have the support of his own district.
His track record speaks loud and clear: Draconian turnarounds, school closures, militarization and corporatization of our public schools. Education reform should mean an expansion of free, quality public education through college and beyond.
Duncan’s selection as secretary of education will mean further attacks on public schools. Fighting back is the only option. Education is a right, not a commodity!
