Observations

1. Moral Imperative: Education was used to eradicate the "heathen". Brandt mentions this in her article, De Witt Clinton mentions it in his speech "Address to the Free School Society of New York" in 1809, and various others make good use of the moral imperative.

2.The World Wars: Education is being implemented on bigger and better scales to help protect our free Democracy from the flourishing Axis powers by training our soldiers and developing testing.

3. N.D.E.A.: In the Cold War and through the fear of superior Russian technology (i.e. Sputnik) education gets overhauled in the fields of Science, Mathematics, and funding to is increased to promote more secondary education.

4. The Production Imperative & Economic Crisis: After the slight recession in the early 80's (after Stagflation and before Reaganomics kicks in) we fear the Japanese takeover of the predominantly U.S. fueled automotive market. Reagan is ready to kill the freshly born Department of Education and in their defense "Nation At Risk" is published in April 1983.


********THE DOUBLE EDGE SWORD*********


"Nation" as we read, makes some pretty bold claims and uses some pretty ridiculous rhetoric to prove a point. I feel in doing so, the Department of Education has created the new "Other" we will single out.

Using rhetoric like, and I quote: "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war."
The E.D. takes full responsibility for not allowing this "act of war" to happen, but when the sh*t goes down, will they take the blame.... probably not, they're a Government Agency. They'll push the blame somewhere else.

As we've seen these literacy "crisis" come in waves, and I believe we are building up to one. Good jobs have disappeared to India and China in the last decade, this will undoubtedly bring on another "crisis" such as the Japanese car scare of the early 80's. Someone will have to take the blame, and chances are it will be the U.S. education system.

Bush tries to move the blame around by dusting off and renaming (as his predecessors did) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which now makes the teachers accountable... not heathens, Sputnik, or the Japanese.

In Wisconsin crazy things are happening. The heat is on the teachers. Union's are dissolving, tenures are being suspended, and the fire will come down on the teacher's heads; they will become the "other".

Teacher's will be forced to say one of two things: Yes, Public Education works! or No, Public Education doesn't work without the right teachers/funding! Either way they are going to take the brunt of this wave. It doesn't matter if other factors get overlooked: Socioeconomic background is sadly a great predictor of how we will turn out, A child's home life will shape his study and learning habits more than any amount of schooling, et cetera.

It's a lose/lose situation when educators are the enemy. I wonder how this will play out? Thoughts?