The Sentinel carries a couple of education articles this morning: an opinion piece on Oprah’s investment in a South African school (as opposed to an inner-city school here at home), and a news report on a poll conducted last month about Tennesseans’ grading of education, and our willingness to do something about it.
Why did Oprah choose not to invest here at home?
Oprah made her few billion on her own, and she runs her own philanthropy program. It’s her money, and it’s her business how she chooses to give it away.
It’s also eminently clear, as her defenders already have pointed out, that Oprah has given tons of money away in her own backyard.
And, frankly, it’s hard to question the fundamental instincts of a self-made billionaire when it comes to investment decisions.
“I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going,” she says in a Newsweek story about her new school. “If you ask the kids what they want or need, they say an iPod or some sneakers.”
In an interview in USA Today, Winfrey says, when she has tried to help kids in this country, “I have failed.”
Over at Domestic Psychology, Cathy notes a therapist’s opinion of two skills for success:
…children need to learn two skills in order to be successful. They must learn delayed gratification and to do things they don’t want to do. Is it really that simple?
It’s not quite that simple, but those are certainly two skills that must be mastered. The iPod or sneakers response is so indicative of a larger problem that pervades not only inner-city schools, but schools and society in general.
Closer to home, the Peabody poll found that Tennesseans are not satisfied that we’re doing a good job of educating students, but are unwilling to pay more in state or local taxes, despite the fact that most believe that teachers are inadequately paid. The majority said that the problem is not one that can be solved by funding:
Even though poll respondents were unhappy with the state’s job, they blame parents most for the failures in education, with 71 percent saying parents’ lack of commitment to their children’s education is the largest problem.
While there are measures that can compensate, to some degree, for the students’ home environment, they require both local and state investment.
What is different between today and, say, schools of 50 years ago? One is that we cover much more material today than we used to — the problem of the curriculum being “a mile wide and an inch deep,” as some say. Another difference is that in a world where it was acceptable to leave some children behind, parents tried harder to ensure that it wasn’t their child kicked out for atrocious behavior or simply refusing to work.
To be sure, economic disparity existed as much 50 years ago as it does today. Expectations are different though; we live in a world of instant gratification and aversion to effort. In school as in life, some can coast through with less effort than others.
Fixing the problem requires more than money, but to get results quickly (as the public desires and NCLB requires), it will absolutely require more money.