Politics and Education

Del Hanson

Both candidates for office of the governor have continually inundated the airwaves and newspapers with brilliant plans to improve education. The chance that substantive change in our state educational system will occur as a result of either candidate’s plank is nil. In light of this, both would be well-advised to just shut up. Let’s face it, neither has a deep and abiding background in education. They both assuredly want the best for our students. I have no doubt about that. However, neither has been in the classroom instructing children. Both base their educational policy stands from advisors, and in recent “debates” or forums, it is painfully obvious that nothing new is forthcoming from either side. Lt. Governor Denish supports a turbo-charged version of more of the same, and governor hopeful Martinez echoes the tired and oft-used admonition to “cut waste” and give parents vouchers. If either gets her way, education will not and cannot move forward. It will continue to stagger sideways.


Diane Denish



Solutions for the questions which confront education in New Mexico do not lie with politicians. Sadly, they are the only ones who have the power to make the needed changes. So who should they be talking to? Who, if anyone, has the answers?

Let me first list the persons who most assuredly do not have the answers: 1. think tanks of any size and any political persuasion, 2. Arne Duncan, 3. any state department of education, 4. school superintendents or their associates, 5. nationally syndicated talk show hosts, 6. the union, 7. university colleges of education, and 8. anyone running for political office. Who then might that leave to help us understand the problems endemic to education? Let me pose this question first: who might you ask if you needed to determine why patients were developing severe reactions to medicines given to them after a particular kind of surgery? Hospital administrators? How about night custodians? Maybe afternoon talk show hosts? What about aspiring gubernatorial candidates? I would hope and pray one would ask doctors. Now, I pose the question again: Who might we ask about questions pertaining to public education? Perhaps, just maybe, we might ask teachers. I know it cuts across the grain of all common sense and intelligence, but just possibly teachers would have insight grounded in reality. We not only do not ask them, but we shun their input, lest it might be tainted with the residue of poor standardized test performance. Instead, before we ask teachers, we consult numbers one through eight listed previously.



Susana Martinez



My advice to governor of New Mexico hopefuls Martinez and Denish? Convene working committees of teachers to assist them in defining, pinpointing, and synthesizing concerns and problems within the system which diminish their ability to teach students. The fear of the right is that the unions will have undue influence. The fear of the left is that the unions won’t have enough influence. The only true insight into the problems and solutions particular to public education lies with the practitioners--the teachers. Use them and quote them. Somewhere and somehow over the past eight years or so teachers have been the labeled the culprits in the demise of public education. The profession has certainly been dealt a mighty blow, if not lethal. If a kid is not at or above average, much of public perception is that it must be the teacher’s fault. Some of that blame most assuredly lies with her, but an equal responsibility must lie with parents, and, heaven forbid, the child himself. In the disaster and folly of the new century, No Child Left Behind assigns sole culpability in non-achievement to schools and teachers.

The child and her parents are mere spectators who flow through the flawed system. The truth is that no educational system in the world departs markedly from what we try to do with our public education system, except to make their systems selective and non-universal after about eighth grade. Essentially, other nations field their ball teams with students who want to be there and cull the herd each year beginning about middle school, much like our university system does to students between the freshman and senior years of college. In America, using the ball team metaphor, we field teams using every child who walks through the door, no matter the level of disability or inability. It is truly universal to the point of excess. U.S. public education is expensive and not competitive compared to the other nations who do not embrace universally egalitarian education. This writer cringes every time a politician announces how he or she will “reform” education. I heard today that the Martinez campaign, and I am quoting, will “end social promotion.” Really? A new law will just like that end social promotion? Does Ms. Martinez or her expert advisors realize that the vast majority of social promotions come at the bequest of parents, who often override the decision of the teacher?

Who will decide who advances to the next grade? ?A test? Yet another expletive deleted test? What appeal process will be in place to ensure due process? Who will pay for the litigation of court cases when a student is denied grade placement? What if the student is held back four consecutive years? Will we create parallel schools in which to house them, or will we have 15 year olds in fifth grade in the same school with first graders? Does the Martinez camp realize that, due to the Draconian punishment meted out by NCLB sanctions, current law puts incredible pressure on districts to graduate every warm body in the senior class? I would guess neither of those concerns have been addressed, but the sound byte is sweet to the ears of those whose understanding of education is but superficial. The sound I hear coming out of the mouths of the candidates for governor reminds me of the muted trumpet sound issuing from Snoopy’s mouth in the old cartoon specials: waaamp, waaamp, waaamp, waaamp waamp. If they want to reform schools, go to the source. Ask teachers. It’s my guess it isn’t going to happen. It’s a shame. They hold the answers.

Politics and Education