Let's Get Political

  As a naive educator many years ago at the SC Department of Education, I witnessed ugly politics up close and personal.  A new superintendent had been elected and great things were expected.  However, from the inside, all I could see was the formation of a "good ole girl" clique, reminiscent of high school.   There were rumors of a hit list, folks had their computers taking away in the night, promotions based on who you knew rather than competence, watching good people get tarnished by false rumors, and other ugly events that opened my eyes to the dark side of politics.  So it is surprising to find myself, older and hopefully wiser, realizing that politics can have a bright side, that connecting with politicians, policy-makers, and others who influence how education is defined and translated can actually be a good thing.  It may be that the  President elect  is inspiring hope in even the most jaded of us.  I am trying to connect with politicians, their communication vehicles, and others in our state thru Twitter, subscribing and commenting on their blogs, and otherwise trying to engage them in conversations about the future of education and technology in our state..  It is time for all of us to get out of the echo chambers!

In the larger education blogspace, Will Richardson recently expressed his disappointment with Obam'as choice of education secretary.  My comment to Will as well as to Ira Socol  was

There are very few in any policy-making positions that know “in a personal way” that our schools don’t work. That is especially true in my state of SC where the governor sends his children to a private school and the “choice” folks are in full force–although there are not “quality” schools for poor children to go to in most of the state! In my own small way, I am making it a mission to connect with as many of our state politicians as possible through Twitter and blogging. A handful–mostly Republicans (my version of “across the aisle”?–have blogs and Twitter accounts. I have reached out to all of them–commenting on their blogs how exciting it is that they are inviting conversation. Some have even ventured to my blog to take a look. I am also encouraging all the other SC edublogosphere to do likewise. Will it have an impact? I don’t know but at least it’s a small start that gets us out of the echo chamber and making connections that hopefully will move us forward. We have a long, long way to go!

To which Will responded

Hey Shirley, Thanks for hanging around this thread. I agree about the “personal way” comment. And thanks for this strategy insight. Maybe if we ALL take up digital arms…

To that end, I have added a widget to this blog to take up "digital arms" on a national level as well.  Last week, President-Elect Obama outlined his economic recovery plan in his weekly address to the nation. His remarks included, “my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.” (To which I say "From his mouth to G-d's ears! "an old Yiddish saying.)

To repeat Tim Holt, 

"Now is the time for to contact Congress with your support for President-Elect Obama’s vision for our nation’s schools and request that Congress include funding for classroom technology and school broadband access in the economic recovery package. Congress is at the initial stage of drafting this legislation. It is crucial that they hear from YOU and YOUR COLLEAGUES NOW!
Now, for the first time in many years, we have a real opportunity to upgrade our schools’ broadband connectivity and bring to scale proven education technology initiatives. Moreover, a school technology investment can jump-start the economy by adding public and private sector instructional technology coaches and IT support positions and can energize the technology and telecommunications sectors.
Don’t delay telling Congress how much our schools, our students and our nation need this support."

Click on the ETAN widget to the right of this blog to get YOUR voice heard.

Comments

[Kobus van Wyk]

Ia m following this debate with great interest. In South Africa we had some major political changes over the past 15 years, and some more changes are currently sweeping the country. It has been my experience that education is so close to the hearts of many people that politicians like to make promises in this direction - they are likely to get a lot of mileage out of them. But often these promises do not materialise. Where does it leave our children? I believe we simply have to buckle down and do our best regardless of the powers to be.