Our public schools are not just physical structures. It is the embodiment of our civic values and ideals.
Those values include the fact that education opens doors to all, and should be free and accessible to all without exception; that all young people have the opportunity to attend a safe and welcoming school that prepares them for university, career and life; and that their school experience should support them academically, socially and emotionally.
But some people want the cornerstones of our society — the schools at the heart of our societies, that not only teach our children but often feed them, teach them understanding and tolerance, and prepare them to engage in our democracy — to collapse, and they are using sledgehammers to make it happen.
Democrats and Republicans have long embraced public education support. But while there have always been detractors, attacks on public education by a vocal minority — many who identify themselves as MAGA Republicans — have increased and been exacerbated by pandemic-related debates about how best to support children and schools during a global health crisis.
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Instead of coming together around solutions that we know will help our students, some are unfortunately bent on destroying public education to advance a political and school privatization agenda.
Parents, educators, and supporters of public schools are overwhelmingly against this continuing divisive rhetoric and against systematically defunding schools. But we must do more. We must develop commonsense solutions that focus on what children and communities need, including strategies that will meet the challenges our students face such as learning loss, anxiety and depression.
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Our schools need well-trained and supported teachers who are free to teach, collaborate with parents and help their children discover who they want to be. Students need additional mental health resources to deal with trauma, anxiety, and High suicide rates. And school districts need to expand experiential learning opportunities, so that students can learn by doing.
Of course, without paying and respecting teachers more, we wouldn’t have the staff we need to attract any of this and make it possible.
Working together, teachers, parents, and administrators continue to do the work every day to help children do well and get through their last few years, both in and out of school. And while adversaries are quick to ban books, censor curricula, and demonize teachers and school staff, our work to meet the needs of students and families centers on these solutions. Because this is the kind of creative thinking our students need.
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What they don’t need is a politicized classroom where MAGA Republicans pit their neighbors against their neighbors; observing rigorous, age-appropriate history, science, and social studies lessons; and stripping teachers of their ability to communicate with students and parents to ensure a healthy, supportive, and safe learning environment.
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Fortunately, we’ve seen efforts to fight back against these toxic and beneficial measures. We’ve seen Florida parents are calling for culture wars He warned other states of the danger if politicians like Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to pull resources out of public schools.
We’ve seen authors like Jodi Picoult and James Patterson are staunchly opposed to banning books and removing their titles from school libraries. The NAACP is partnering with our union to Book distribution Show Black Americans to prove the content censorship removes from diverse student groups.
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Unfortunately, many of our teachers and schools face these issues in isolation. We need Americans—from elected officials to democratic groups to civic groups to religious leaders—to join with parents, teachers, students, and other members of society to help us fight back, like unions, religious and community groups. I did it recently in Floridaduring a workday to protest DeSantis’ agenda.
If we are to effectively confront extremists who want to put their political vendettas and ideologies before children’s education, we need more people and groups speaking out about how these culture wars are siphoning money, resources, and support away from public schools.
Public education is a vital institution that needs the support of the entire civil society. Let’s protect and strengthen it, with our agenda that addresses the issues – learning loss, teacher retention and student success – rather than fanning the flames further.
Randy Weingarten is the president American Federation of Teachers.