Watching the President’s Address tonight gave me hope that we might have reforms in education, but as I kept listening I wavered between feeling hopeful and wondering if what he was saying would, in fact, be any different that the struggles that we have now. It is one thing to say that “dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country – and this country needs and values the talents of every American” and that education begins at home. But, this fails to recognize the deep-seated, systemic barriers that many youth face in our educational system. In many ways, it is not simply a matter of choice for these youth and for their parents. Similarly, as laudable as it is to encourage everyone to commit to at least one year of higher education and to say that all children will have opportunities to learn, I’m afraid that what Obama actually advocates, such as charter schools and increased accountability, will, in actuality, be little different from the No Child Left Behind policies that have had adverse effects on the ability of youth to learn (for an intriguing and frustrating look at how the current policy goal is “rebranding” NCLB rather than fixing it, see Rename Law? No Wisecrack is Left Behind, and for an insightful study of how NCLB is increasing the drop-out rate, see Valenzuela’s Leaving Children Behind.) I still have faith in Obama and his policies, but even so, I think that it is important to make sure that we really are serving America’s youth, all of them, in the ways that he is promising.
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