An open letter to Maureen Downey

Dear Ms. Downey: 

You were so close. Really, you were. In your most recent post on the AJC opinion blog, you recounted a frustrating event where a public school administrator refused to allow your children into a class because, basically, he/she could. 

That event was, in educator parlance, a “teachable moment.” It was a brush with a system that treats our children like numbers, caring more about moving them through and out of the system than actually what’s in their best interest. 

Schools can’t afford to brush off parents as irrelevant, irritating and uninformed. They can’t ask parents to hold bake sales, chaperone class trips and organize field days and then deny them a meaningful voice in their children’s education.

I wouldn’t pull my kids out of public school because they didn’t get the teacher I wanted — I’m aware of the many pressures on principals, and can recall only one other time in 16 years that I even met with a principal about one of my children. But I left the principal’s office that day feeling that she valued absolute control more than parental goodwill, and that she preferred parents be seen and not heard. For the rest of her tenure, I kept my distance and my tongue.

Like I said, so close. 

I’m going to assume that if you get poor service at a restaurant, you’re not going to return. After all, there are plenty of restaurants out there that would be more than happy to take your money. And I doubt you’d make excuses for your rude waiter while you tip him 20% (“Oh, he’s under a lot of stress, there’s a lot of people here tonight.” “I’m sure it’s the kitchen’s fault the food was cold.”). 

The good news is that most waiters and restaurants provide a decent, if not pleasant, experience. After all, if you’re not happy, they’re not getting paid. 

So why would you make excuses for a rude principal and continue to support the system that perpetuates that type of attitude? Again, I doubt you value your dinner more than you value your kids. But the current education system we have today only serves to incentivize such poor behavior. That principal’s got a job for the rest of his/her life (with a pretty decent paycheck and awesome benefits) if he/she wants it. The “dearly loved” teacher you wanted to teach your kids gets paid the same if he/she just goes through the motions. 

Oh, I know. I know.  ”Private doesn’t equal better.” Everyone with half a brain understands that. But we’re not talking about private vs. public. We’re talking about competition — where bad schools go out of business and good ones can’t stop expanding. Where schools can’t rest on their laurels or assume students will keep coming back — who knows what that new school down the street offers?

I don’t know if vouchers are the answer. Maybe some combination of vouchers and tax credits would work. After all, public schools still have to provide education for special needs and other students that private schools don’t have to accept.  

But I do know that competition and choice help the consumer. Had you a choice of two or three other schools in the area that you could take your tax dollars to, rest assured that school administrator would have been a lot more ameniable to your request. And maybe that beloved teacher would have made more than the other teachers in the building.

Until you realize this and try and figure out a better solution than “I really wish….” you’re only perpetuating the system that put your kids in a different class than you wanted for no reason. 

But you’re lucky if that’s your biggest concern. After all, it’s not like your kids have to walk through metal detectors and sit in classes that are nothing more than glorified babysitting every day. Pity the parents who are forced to send their kids to terrible, failing schools only because of where they live.