Educating a nation

Running late for work this a.m., chasing down socks, shoes and assorted kids paraphernalia, I stopped in my tracks to watch a news story about the first school to have a motion picture studio. The charter school featured on the Today Show, allows film makers and other media companies to use the studio only if they use the school's students as extras and support staff . What a great concept! Lately, I've been thinking about the arts and its impact on academic achievement. Schools budgets have forced draconian cuts in art, music and other areas. When you're trimming down to the bone, the mindset is to save reading, writing and 'rithmetic. But its short-sighted. Arts has a tremendous emotional and intellectual boost on academics, a contention supported in studies and laid out well by a blogger here.

Happy New Year!

If 2011 builds on the foundation of its predecessor, this year will continue unprecedented federal spending on public schools and a horrifying lack of spending by budget-strapped states.

I'm upbeat thanks to a public far more educated and aware of education's fiscal and public policy dynamics than ever before. Think about it, people may be anxious about the condition of public schools but most education funding levies still pass by healthy margins. Education is one of the few services voters agree to raise their taxes to pay for.

This New York Times story recounts a pullback by parents burned out on volunteering in schools. Yet, those portrayed, and the hundreds who took to the comments section to air their grievances about heavy volunteering loads, acknowledge parental importance to the basic functioning of schools. Zero parent involvement would be akin to shutting off the lights or getting rid of the teachers, learning would cease immediately.

I bet you're wondering if that's not an overstatement, considering the armies of teachers and specialists deployed to each school. No, I don't think it is. Class sizes are up (after tens of millions spent to lower them to something more manageable) at the same time a growing body of brain research tells us children learn in varying ways and ought to be taught in a way that reaches them.

My New Year's resolution (I know, I know: old habits are hard to break) is to be more present in my own life, which means being less present in other people's lives and that includes school. But it doesn't mean disappearing. I'll remain the art docent for my son's class. I'll pass on the grueling PTA meetings held smack in the dinner hour and opt for the PowerPoint read at my leisure. Easy to keep up with national education trends via the PTA's news website. How about you?