Sharpton/Gingrich Team On Failed Public Education

AJC: Sharpton, Gingrich add metro Atlanta to education reform tour

In my estimation this cannot be a "tour of equals" - but not for the reasons that most would assume (racial).

Instead the over riding issue that prevents the team of Sharpton and Gingrich from being "equal" is due to the significant INCUMBENCY that is present in these failing schools and school systems by the machine that Al Sharpton is associated with.

Bottom line - there is not one majority Black school system which has problem plagued schools in which the school system is "Republican Dominated". The truth is that these school systems are now run by the people who the community has chosen via their own free will.

Let me clean this one up in an attempt at full disclosure. Some people point to Indianapolis, IN as an example of where the school system of the city proper is indeed majority Black, the system has been sculpted into the form where "poor Blacks" are segregated into their own system while the Whites who live in the same county have a district of their own. If there was "social justice" then these two or more school districts would be fused into one and thus "White Republicans" would have their equal share of "failed schools".

I am forced to ultimately reject this line of thinking. Whereas I agree that school district boundaries can be a point of demarcation of school funding levels. And the people elect the school board, not the individual principles for the schools, thus the people only get to speak to the district level results. Yes both of these points are true. My point of disagreement is that the attempt to make these failures resident in the school district political administration and funding levels alone side steps the truth about the aggregate problems that all converge to produce the failed results that are seen.

Those who seek to focus upon difference in funding levels and then later on - the allocation of poor kids in a given district are ultimately seeking to skirt the key issue. When they make it "all about the money" - they WIN! The people who stand counter to their assessment are left to "put up more money or shut up".

The reason why Al Sharpton is more on the hook for this situation than is Newt Gingrich is that Sharpton represents more of the forces that ultimately work toward the detriment of a "quality educational outcome"

Sharpton is affiliated with:

• The Elected Political Establishment of the Schools
• The Elected Municipal Political Establishment
• The School Administration
• The Teachers Unions
• The Parents Of The Children

Let's just be honest - in the average urban school district that is plagued with problems - none of the key players voted to have Newt Gingrich's party represent any of their interests - locally, state-wide, nationally.

Instead Newt Gingrich's party was said to be stifling the agenda of the machine that is itemized above. This includes either failing to provide the school system with more money to supplement the funds that the local economic environment was able to produce for school funding or by introducing policies which the machine thought was an attempt to strip them of power and autonomy (NCLB for example). Thus the bulk of the work of the incumbent machine has been to fight against the perceived threat that Newt Gingrich and his ilk represented.

The key point that is lacking, however, is any notable separation between the educational community (the parents, the teachers, the administrators) from their preferred machine (the Democrats) as they attempted to hold it accountable per the dominate control that it has over all of the political institutions that impact the schools.

Instead - all of the elements in the "educational community" chose to MAKE USE OF the Democratic Party framework to achieve their ends.

We now stand at the point where some transparent observer must come in and appraise the situation to determine the EFFECT of this chosen path by the education community in question.

Therefore I am not about to allow Al Sharpton to walk into the situation as if he has clean hands. He does not.

My bottom line remains that when the political machine took over all of the key institutions within these cities that they now control it was incumbent upon them to also field and economic order that could fund all of the vital institutions. Instead they were in it for power and control. In the process of accumulating this the people PERMANENT INTERESTS were harmed.

The only way equilibrium will be restored is to have the community that is being served make more transparent scrutiny of the INCUMBENT POWER, making note of where they now stand as compared to that which they were promised.

The root of the "Black Voter Nullification" that I incessantly speak about resides with the notion that we as a people are fighting AGAINST the agents that are represented by "Newt Gingrich". When we slip up and "win control over the entire board" - the machine that is in place is not prepared to actually manage the situation. Instead as a well oiled "political protest and grievance" machine they simply continue their land grab as they fight the fight of attrition.

The local failed school systems will receive their "fix" once a national power block is established and the resources that have long been denied are forwarded.

QUESTION - What happens when you get these EQUAL RESOURCES and the unfavorable outcomes still linger?