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Advocate Online
Speaking Out
Working Together PreK-University
Marian Wright Edelman recently delivered a most compelling call to action to the participants at the NEA Pacific Leadership Regional conference, including a demand to the current administration that it destroy the present trajectory that moves our nation’s youth from communities and neighborhoods to prison, instead of ensuring a place for them in a quality public school.
I submit that in order to provide our youth with a quality education and a meaningful place in society, we must provide everyone an opportunity to attend school, PreK–university.
I have been active in NEA for over 30 years, as a classroom teacher, a staff employee, and a representative in higher education. My experience tells me that we must educate the American public to understand that a college degree is no longer a privilege, it is a necessity.
As a college professor, I agonize over the control of teachers exercised by school boards, state and federal agencies, and out-of-touch district administrations. I deplore the demoralization permeating our schools because of the narrow focus on standardized testing.
In higher education, we are facing similar challenges to our academic freedom. As we attempt to expose our students to multiple perspectives on social and political issues, we are confronted by right-wing ideologues intent on silencing our voices and threatening our livelihoods. Current federal policies also threaten our students. If the present administration is successful, programs for underrepresented students such as GEAR-UP, Perkins, and TRIO will disappear.
If NEA’s mission is to ensure each and every child the right to a quality public education, we must work to expand the discourse on public education to include higher education. It is time for teachers, education support professionals, and professors to collectively oppose all policies that undermine our efforts to educate our children and youth. We must call for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in a way that increases access to higher education for all students. We must increase our effectiveness through joint participation in public awareness campaigns, legislative lobbying, and electing pro-education candidates.
We must struggle against those who pit one form of education against another. Finally, we must seek a national education policy that protects and rebuilds our public schools, PreK– university.
 Theresa Montaño, an assistant professor of Chicana/o Studies at California State University Northridge, is a higher ed member on the NEA Board of Directors. She has also served on the United Teachers Los Angeles Board of Directors.
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I'd like to say!
While I might be less certain than Frank Edler is about the search for truth (February Dialogue), I agree strongly with his reaction to the potential sterilization of the learning process. It is a good idea to think about what we hope the students gain in our courses, but so much of the impact cannot be measured in bytes and bits.
—Patricia Huckle
San Diego State University
I believe BOTH points of view in the February Dialogue can be valid and used together if we remember that outcome-based objectives are based on the minimum information that a student “should” obtain in that level class.
Most teachers in upper level courses complain if students are not prepared. To me this means basic information and critical thinking skills. I believe every class—regardless of discipline—should contain both.
It was interesting that you chose two professors from Nebraska, with long teaching experience but from two (seemingly) different disciplines, education and philosophy. Each discipline has a body of basic knowledge—testable with outcome-based assessment—and the need for critical thinking.
Where would we be if Darwin didn’t use both—basic knowledge and critical thinking skills? (Probably in Kansas).
—Kathleen M. Wolf Colorado Mountain College
Share your opinion
Write to the editor at: Clehane@nea.org
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