The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Grade D for Education

Nov 23, 2015

The nation’s biannual report card looks bad. NAEP, the National Assessment of Education Progress, showed falling scores on reading and math for fourth and eighth graders. LESS than HALF of fourth and eighth graders measure as proficient at reading and math.

Overall city scores are lower than suburban scores, and that is hardly surprising, given that most suburbs–the wealthy ones–have more resources for their schools than do the cities. Nor is it surprising that children who live in poor neighborhoods had lower scores than others. This society almost across-the-board devotes fewer resources, less experienced teachers and more crowded classrooms to their education.

The NAEP report card tells us what has long been known: When students have more of what they need for a good education, their test scores tend to be higher.

It’s obvious that a society, IF it were democratic, would draw the necessary conclusion: to put enough money into poor neighborhoods to provide the education needed!

It’s equally obvious, American society doesn’t do that.

Democratic? Not by a long shot!