Education Secretary Arne Duncan Says School Principals Must Act Like CEOs

The students today, especially in the inner cities, are different from those of 40 years ago. Our educational decline has been around for four decades and a lot has to do with substance abuse and the decline of the nuclear family. Our government seems to place the blame on educational achievement gaps, truancy, and poor graduation rates directly on the shoulders of teachers and on large anonymous high schools. While both bad teachers and large schools are two variables for educational decline, they are not the only ones. Single parent homes ( no supervision); Socio-economic levels ( little education, poverty);negative peer pressure; no role models in neighborhoods,anti-studious attitudes, and individual deviant behaviors are the other variables to blame in this decline. However, politicians find that discussing these variables makes them uncomfortable. They shun being tied to any utterance of racism, classism, or discrimination, but if they do not address these reasons why many kids fail, then we will remain a " Nation at Risk." Only by a multi-modal approach that attacks these variables can we ever hope. Small schools are not a panacea, but small classes are.In the 1970's the anti-poverty programs closed the achievement gaps between minorities and the dominant group.Clearly, all of what I propose is expensive, but the alternative is more expensive. Do we want a nation of a permanent underclass, exploding prison populations, and groups who cannot forgive us. I hope not. Thanks, Dr. John Marvul.

Dr. John Marvul of NY 11:36AM December 20, 2009