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Not long after John Kasich was elected governor of Ohio, I attended a meeting of superintendents from around the state that was led by the executive director of the educational organization to which we all belonged. During our meeting he apprised us of the governor's “new direction” for education. There was a great deal of experience sitting in the room that day, so this new direction was little more than a repackaging of the same old political rhetoric that we had all heard many times before. So, cynics that we had all become, the common feeling in the room was, “Here
we go again.”
After listening to the nonsense for nearly an hour I decided to ask, “Are we, as a professional organization, ever going to stand up and speak out against what we all know is wrong, or are we just going to once again politely maintain our silence, pretend that what comes out of Columbus makes sense, and continue to blindly follow the very people we know have no idea what they are talking about?” The answer I received was sobering.
Our executive director, a man I respect very much, suggested that to take such an aggressive stance would be political suicide; that at least now we (educational organizations) are invited to sit at the political table to try to reduce the damage caused by poorly conceived legislation. He explained that, while he agreed with my assessment that many of the decisions are being made in a vacuum with little chance of success, if our organization would denounce them as I suggested, we would be summarily dismissed from future political discussions resulting in even less control over the decisions that impact us. So, in other words, our choices are to keep our mouths shut and try to minimize the damage or to speak up and risk being kicked to the curb. Now, isn't that a heck of a proposition? How sad is it that the goal of the people
who actually know a little bit about educating children is nothing more than trying to minimize the damage caused by the people making the decisions?
As depressing as the answer was, I knew it to be true. So, our executive director has spent much of his time in the months since testifying at legislative hearings and lobbying with legislators in an attempt to limit the damage being done to education by political mandates.
That was the day I decided to begin writing the articles the Troy Daily News so graciously runs. I also decided that instead of politely nodding at state-level meetings while our “leaders” take us down still another dead-end road, I would stand up and tell them they are wrong in what they are saying. I now take advantage of every opportunity I am given to speak out against the ridiculous laws constantly being implemented in the name of “improving education.”
Professional organizations may have no choice but to maintain the status quo in order to protect their special interests, but we as individuals can certainly step outside the fray in the hope that we can make a difference. Maybe if enough of us point out the obvious fallacies we are being sold, the public will finally stand up and scream, “Enough!” I may be incredibly naïve in thinking that will happen, but maintaining the status quo makes no sense. And, really, what can it hurt?
Tom Dunn, Superintendent, Miami County Educational Service Center
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