Page 38 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 38
šolsko polje, letnik xxviii, številka 3–4
– exposing increasing racial inequalities which are likely to become even
more pronounced as states begin to trim their budgets and cut back sav-
agely into education and welfare entitlements. Under state budget cuts,
students have lost tuition waivers, teachers have been sacked, collective
bargaining is curtailed and sometimes abolished, and deeps cuts have
been made to the funding of K-12 and higher education.6
Can education continue to play the role as the great equalizer, sus-
taining the American Dream and providing the key to equality of oppor-
tunity?7 Arne Duncan (2011), the Secretary of Education in the Obama
administration, addressed the theme of education reform in the United
States in a series of remarks to the World Bank. In his remarks, he com-
ments on the traditional values of education as the “great equalizer” and
its new role in the competitive knowledge economy of developing human
capital. “Education is now the key to eliminating gender inequality, to
reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless
deaths and illness, and to fostering peace,” said Duncan. “And in a knowl-
edge economy, education is the new currency by which nations maintain
economic competitiveness and global prosperity. Education today is in-
separable from the development of human capital.”8
In his report on US reforms, he rejects the notion that improving
economic competitiveness is a zero-sum game and, in effect, loads educa-
tion with even more responsibility for “achieving America,” as Rorty puts
it. Improving education is important to “winning the future,” Duncan
suggests, quoting President Obama. He also quotes with approval Thom-
as Friedman, Nelson Mandela (“Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world”) and Ben Bernanke (“The best
solution to income inequality is producing a high-quality education for
everyone”). And he puts the point in graphic terms:
6 See the report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on state budget cuts
at http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1214. Gov. Jerry Brown in Cal-
ifornia aims to cut half a billion dollars from state education funding in 2011; Arizona,
$83.7 million; Georgia, $187 million from higher education; Texas, $5 billion from public
schools, and so on. In a much publicized episode, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, in the
largest cut in modern state history, has cut $900 million in aid to school districts (also
preventing any rise in property taxes) and eliminated collective bargaining rights of state
employees, leading to historic protests against him. See the full text of his budget speech
at http://walker.wi.gov/journal_media_detail.asp?prid=5668&locid=177 and the Senate
bill at http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/JR1SB-11.pdf.
7 See Bill Gates’ (2011) Ted Talk on “How State Budgets are breaking US schools” at http://
w w w.ted.com/ta lks/bill_ gates_how_state_budgets_are_brea k ing _us_schools.html.
8 See his “Improving Human Capital in a Competitive World - Education Reform in the
United States,” Remarks of US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, World Bank, Hu-
man Development Network Forum, March 2, 2011.
36
– exposing increasing racial inequalities which are likely to become even
more pronounced as states begin to trim their budgets and cut back sav-
agely into education and welfare entitlements. Under state budget cuts,
students have lost tuition waivers, teachers have been sacked, collective
bargaining is curtailed and sometimes abolished, and deeps cuts have
been made to the funding of K-12 and higher education.6
Can education continue to play the role as the great equalizer, sus-
taining the American Dream and providing the key to equality of oppor-
tunity?7 Arne Duncan (2011), the Secretary of Education in the Obama
administration, addressed the theme of education reform in the United
States in a series of remarks to the World Bank. In his remarks, he com-
ments on the traditional values of education as the “great equalizer” and
its new role in the competitive knowledge economy of developing human
capital. “Education is now the key to eliminating gender inequality, to
reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless
deaths and illness, and to fostering peace,” said Duncan. “And in a knowl-
edge economy, education is the new currency by which nations maintain
economic competitiveness and global prosperity. Education today is in-
separable from the development of human capital.”8
In his report on US reforms, he rejects the notion that improving
economic competitiveness is a zero-sum game and, in effect, loads educa-
tion with even more responsibility for “achieving America,” as Rorty puts
it. Improving education is important to “winning the future,” Duncan
suggests, quoting President Obama. He also quotes with approval Thom-
as Friedman, Nelson Mandela (“Education is the most powerful weapon
which you can use to change the world”) and Ben Bernanke (“The best
solution to income inequality is producing a high-quality education for
everyone”). And he puts the point in graphic terms:
6 See the report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on state budget cuts
at http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1214. Gov. Jerry Brown in Cal-
ifornia aims to cut half a billion dollars from state education funding in 2011; Arizona,
$83.7 million; Georgia, $187 million from higher education; Texas, $5 billion from public
schools, and so on. In a much publicized episode, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, in the
largest cut in modern state history, has cut $900 million in aid to school districts (also
preventing any rise in property taxes) and eliminated collective bargaining rights of state
employees, leading to historic protests against him. See the full text of his budget speech
at http://walker.wi.gov/journal_media_detail.asp?prid=5668&locid=177 and the Senate
bill at http://legis.wisconsin.gov/2011/data/JR1SB-11.pdf.
7 See Bill Gates’ (2011) Ted Talk on “How State Budgets are breaking US schools” at http://
w w w.ted.com/ta lks/bill_ gates_how_state_budgets_are_brea k ing _us_schools.html.
8 See his “Improving Human Capital in a Competitive World - Education Reform in the
United States,” Remarks of US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, World Bank, Hu-
man Development Network Forum, March 2, 2011.
36
