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Before We Blow Up Public Education Again: Lets Ask Some Teachers
As a public school teacher I have felt trapped lately in a bizarre version. of Back to the Past. My own high school years played out in the upper middle class suburbs of Upstate New York. We jokingly call it “Wegman’s Country.”
It was a kind of “Lake Wobegone” for white children where we were sheltered from the feminist and racial tumults of the seventies through nineties. We had winning sports teams, exclusive golf clubs, and an occasional trip into the city if we needed a bit more excitement in our white washed lives.
It was a great time to be Republican, not so great to live in the inner city, central America, or South America. Our public schools were incredible, in many ways more elite private schools than typical suburban schools. The elites would retreat, if necessary, to Exeter, Andover, or the Groton School. Catholics had their own parallel track, one chosen by Abby Wombach, before she rebelled against the rules and expectations.
