June 19, 2002
I don't know how many times I've heard that we need more money ‘for the children' yet no one can point to exactly how this money will help the children. The bulk of the new money they want to spend goes to teachers' raises. Sure, teachers can always use more money but are they going to perform better with a 5 percent raise? If so, they have their priorities mixed up. I doubt seriously if a new administrative building has any effect on the test scores of an elementary school student. The central question is this – Does more money equal better education?
As the debate rages on over more money for schools as the cure-all, Nashville Schools Director, Pedro Garcia, has just settled the issue once and for all. Come September, Garcia will have to shave his head and kiss a pig, a promise he made to Nashville teachers and students if public school test scores improved by a statistically significant 4 percent. Nashville elementary and middle school test scores actually improved by an amazing 6.7 percent but one major point is being overlooked. Media accounts acknowledge the success but fail to connect the dots or, perhaps, refuse to. Garcia put out the underachievement fire in just one year without pouring tons of tax money on it.
These test scores in Nashville were the highest in ten years. That covers the entire time the Basic Education Plan has been in existence. The BEP was instituted in the early ‘90s to do what Garcia has done in one year.
So, how has he done it? Through common sense and focusing on the basics. Instead of worrying about field trips and recess and class parties, Garcia has directed everyone's attention to reading, language and math. He has completely ignored the teachers union which has its own hierarchical preservation in mind rather than truly caring about the teachers, much less the students. The union was conspicuously quiet on test score announcement day, with a lot to be quiet about.
What Garcia has proven is exactly what President Bush has been saying about ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations.' For too many years those in charge of educating our children have looked at the inhabitants of cities, particularly minorities, and resolved that nothing will change because these children are not capable of making it. They see these children as ones only to be pitied and propped up, shuffled through the system until they reach the age of consent at which point they'll be locked away in the cellar of welfare and government dependency. People like George Bush and Pedro Garcia look at these very same kids and see the embryonic stage of a thousand American success stories. That's the difference. Not more money. Not more government.
The rest of the state should be paying attention to Dr. Garcia and where he's going in Nashville. The lesson to be learned is to never be satisfied with the status quo, no matter where on the path of knowledge you may find yourself. The old saying ‘you must conceive and believe to achieve' is very true but it leaves out one important component - hard work. Not just busy work going in circles but hard work toward a specific goal.
Bill Cosby was once asked if he thought he'd been very lucky in his life. He said, ‘Yeah, and it's funny. The harder I work, the luckier I get.' Pedro Garcia and Nashville schools are now lucky in the Cosby tradition. It should be a lesson to the rest of the state that money can't buy happiness.