Oklahoma ranks third in ‘lying to children and families’

President Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan, told The Wall Street Journal last month that some states are, ahem, "lying to children and families" about the quality of education they're providing. He repeated the assertion this month, telling George Will that "we have been lying to children and their parents because states have dumbed down their standards."

Now, which states might Mr. Duncan be talking about? This graphic from the Spring 2009 issue of Education Next speaks volumes:

Black senator says 'public education is hurting our kids'

The Education Gadfly reports that South Carolina state Senator Robert Ford (D-Charleston) has

introduced a bill to give students tax credits or tuition grants. His rationale is who will benefit the most: poor African-American students who are stuck in failing schools. "Public education is hurting our kids," he explained. "All of us have been defending the system. It's time to stop. I'm not pussyfooting with this anymore."

Welcome to the real world

Arguing that unionized public-school teachers are "professionals," labor union official Patti Ferguson of Tulsa writes in a recent letter to the editor that "teachers unions aren't about gaining power; they're about empowering teachers to give their all without having to worry about whether they'll have a job the next day."

But why should anyone -- professional or not -- be guaranteed a job? I strongly suspect that, especially in this economy, there are plenty of lawyers and accountants and other professionals who "worry about whether they'll have a job the next day."

Schools destroying freedom of speech

"Looking at America's public schools, it is difficult to imagine that they were once considered the hope of freedom and democracy," writes constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead. "That dream is no longer true."

The majority of students today have little knowledge of the freedoms they possess in the Constitution and, specifically, in the Bill of Rights. ... Clearly, high school civics classes are failing to teach the importance of our constitutional liberties. ... The horrific lesson being taught to our young people is that the government has absolute power over its citizens and young people have very little freedom.

Why we must fight ...

... for school choice.

Improving performance among Hispanic children

President Barack Obama recently delivered a speech on education reform to a national conference of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In a panel discussion later that day, Heritage Foundation analyst Dan Lips, co-author of an OCPA report on school choice, told the conferees of successful reforms in Florida.

"Over the past decade, no state has been more aggressive in reforming its public education system than Florida," Lips said. "And after 10 years, students in Florida have made dramatic gains in academic achievement." Indeed, on the NAEP 4th-grade reading test, Hispanic students in Florida now outscore the statewide average of all students in Oklahoma (something OCPA has pointed out before).

No excuses

From an editorial column today by Yatin Mondkar in the student newspaper at Fullerton College:

Dove Science Academy, a predominately Latino charter school in Oklahoma, is comprised of a majority of students that come from poor families in communities where 60 percent of households do not speak English; yet the school achieves 100 percent graduation and college acceptance rates.

Hundreds of labor union members ...

... decided to skip class today.

Sen. Jolley echoes Obama’s education secretary

President Obama's education secretary recently acknowledged that "sometimes you have to call the baby ugly." Clark Jolley agrees. Sen. Jolley, vice chairman of the state Senate Education Committee, writes in The Norman Transcript:

It is simply fact that 90 percent of fourth-graders were deemed "proficient and above" on the reading/English portion of a 2007 Oklahoma state test. But on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as "The Nation's Report Card," only 26 percent of fourth-graders were deemed proficient. That gap was similar for eighth-grade reading and math scores.

Quote of the day

Despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us. The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy, and unacceptable for our children. We cannot afford to let it continue. What is at stake is nothing less than the American dream.

-- President Barack Obama

For early-childhood choices

Adam Schaeffer, an education policy analyst at the Cato Institute, says the push for universal preschool is really all about money, monopoly, and misdirection. A better idea: scholarship tax credits for low-income 4-year-olds.

‘Some ugly baby, huh?’

"We have been lying to children and their parents because states have dumbed down their standards," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently told George Will. "Sometimes you have to call the baby ugly."

Homeschooling gave Blake Griffin a 'foundation'

There's a very moving story in The Kansas City Star about "a quiet little boy who blossomed into a 6-foot-10 behemoth with a million-dollar contract waiting for him after college." Bill Reiter reports that Tommy and Gail Griffin

had a son, Taylor. They'd take him to day care, and he'd sit quietly and wait to be dropped off. Then they had a second son, Blake, and this time he didn't follow his brother's example. He'd wail and cry. He wanted to be with his family.

"He'd always start out the same way," Tommy said. "He'd put his arms out and start crying. So Gail's crying the whole way in the car. It broke her heart every time."

As a result, they settled on a decision: They would homeschool their kids. Gail waited until the end of the semester and then quit her job teaching. In the quiet comfort of their home, using the dining room table as the schoolhouse, they instilled their values in their children. Home became a shelter from what the Griffins view as an America less and less open to the presence of God in our lives.

"Home school helped them a lot," Tommy said. "Because it gave them a foundation. We've deviated (in America) from our past to where we are right now. Here's a nation founded on the opportunity for freedom of religion, and every time you look around, there’s people saying God has to be taken out of this, out of this."

This, too, shaped that little boy into the Blake Griffin now leading the Sooners: Faith paramount to life.

"Our plans are good, but God's plans are better," Tommy said.