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The problem is that those of us who do protest the education system in America feel as if we are shouting in the wind, though we do our best to somehow change the system from the inside, which in a system ultimately overseen and controlled by the federal government is next to impossible.
Recently, I was talking to someone who suggested the decline in American education can be directly linked to the formation of the federal Department of Education, which was not its own Cabinet-level department until 1980. I disagree with that basic premise, but I do think that No Child Left Behind has given the federal government far too much control over what happens in our local school districts.
That said, one of the biggest things to gut Oregon school was the passing of property tax reform measures. One of the measures passed requires every levy or bond to be approved by a supermajority--a 2/3rd vote--instead of a simple majority. As you can probably guess, this makes it next to impossible to pass levies and bonds, and the difference physically between Oregon schools and Washington schools is very, very obvious. Oregon schools are much more likely to be overcrowded, for one, and they're also more likely to be technologically behind the curve. Fortunately, our new legislature has been able to undo some of the damage, and Oregon has always struggled through despite lack of funding.
Mostly, what worries me is that thousands of American teachers are on the verge of retirement, and school districts around the country are going to have a bear of a time enticing young people such as myself to join a broken system. Personally, I get too much joy out of the act of actually educating others, and I am fortunate to live in a part of the country where the education system is still good, despite funding cuts and NCLB.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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