Tidwell: Playing The Education Blame Game
Keep choice at the center of the education debate
By JOHN M. TIDWELL
Education dominated the Oklahoma political landscape this year.
Whether the superintendents race or at the state Capitol throughout the legislative session, so many policy debates grabbed headlines across the Sooner State: the repeal of the national Common Core standards, the legislation to expand and bolster the Lindsay Nicole Henry Scholarships, the debate over expanding public charter schools and the reading skills testing for all Oklahoma third-graders.
Education has not dominated the policy debate like this in a long time. But it always seemed that folks had their backs in a corner with fingers pointed out. They were playing the blame game and nothing was getting done.
Something occurred to me midway through the session as I was watching a press conference by a local superintendent. The answer, possibly the key, to the education debate which our state has been engaged in for so long was right in front of me: We’re all to blame.We have to accept our results: Everyone is at fault.
It’s not the state superintendent or the district administrators. It’s everyone. It’s groups of past and present: legislatures, teachers, parents, think-tanks and activist groups, the “education associations” more commonly referred to as teachers unions, governors and state superintendents, chambers of commerce and everyone in between.
We’re all to blame and until we agree on a plan to change it, we are destined to repeat the failures and continue limiting our success.
Let’s stop the blame game and focus on helping Oklahoma’s children succeed.