Who better to “examin[e] everything from teacher recruitment and performance, to whether the current school calendar is appropriate, and how the state’s more than 700 school districts are structured” than a “retired Citibank Chair and Time Warner President Richard Parsons . . . the SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, State Education Commissioner John King, and the chairs of the Senate and Assembly Education committees, as well as private sector advocate[s] . . . Geoffrey Canada.” At least that is the thought process of Governor Cuomo.
This is the makeup and charge of Guomo’s newly appointed education commission that includes a banker, a businessmen, a lawyer, two politicians, and an educator thrown in for good measure.
It is unclear how, but the Governor expects this group to be more interested in the educational needs of children than “the priorities of the financial interests.” Cuomo also named Randi Weingarten to the panel with no response from the President of the American Federation of Teachers.
There are however no parents on the panel, no education advocates, no students, no in-class or even retired teachers or administrators on the panel, except for Geoffrey Canada. This is no surprise since this is almost the same make-up as the State’s Board of Regents.
Is there any wonder why our system of education is in the failing condition that it is? Both locally and in the State, businessmen, lawyers, and politicians are running the educational show and have been doing so for years. And for years, education, locally and in the State, has been failing our children miserably.
We, the people of the United States, have the ultimate say in the policies our elected officials create and the decisions they make. When our voices are not heard the educational failure our children experience is not attributable to those we elected, the onus is on us for continuing to re-elect the individuals who choose not to listen. Our voice is our vote, it is time we speak up.
Our children suffer educationally and because of the lack of an excellent education provided our society suffers with them.
Join the Movement to Save Our Children!
