Resisting the Threat to Public Education

Too many Americans have bought into the idea that most of our nation's problems can be blamed on our school system, and that the only way to solve them is through "school reform." It's an old story, but it became the bipartisan line in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk and came to fruition in the catastrophic No child Left Behind Act of 2001. An odd alliance pulled this story together, led by corporate interests, neoconservatives, and the media, and joined by civil rights organizations, activists, some institutional liberals, and some school leaders eager for the attention that brings money. Together they have relentlessly sold a story that has wasted our time, energy, and resources and pointed us in the wrong direction.