Audacious or Modest? Hopes for Funkhouser's Education Summit

I'm supporting Mayor Funkhouser's Education Summit, but I feel I ought to explain myself. Really, after dozens of blue-ribbon panels, grass-roots movements, concerned citizen gatherings, neighborhood committees, business roundtables, and academic colloquia, what possible good can yet another gathering of people talking accomplish? What new thoughts, what new programs, what new ideas?

Haven't we talked things to death, while flaws in our education system continue to breed crime, dampen economic development, and divide our community? Didn't the KCMSD just hire a new Superintendent to come in and make his own changes? At first blush, it is an insulting and arrogant waste of time for a bunch of well-meaning people to meet in a room somewhere, wring their hands and produce a vision of what "we" (meaning "they", of course) ought to be doing.

At first blush, perhaps, but the state of education in Kansas City ought to provoke more than one blush. We all ought to be blushing.

Simply stated, the hope I have for the Summit is that it could get our community to agree on a few ideals related to education, and foster a dialog across the dividing lines we have built up.

Is that hope too modest? Is it simply a waste of time that our community might gather, at considerable expense, and agree on some ridiculously obvious sentiment like "K-8 education in Kansas City should provide the tools for additional learning" or "High Schools in Kansas City should be free of crime and violence"? (I'm just tossing those out there - I have no idea what a Summit might come up with.)

Or is it too audacious? Can one event really break down the "us vs. them, I've got mine" attitude that seems to permeate our "system" of education here? Each of us raising children comes up with our own solution to the problem of how to get the education we feel is best for our circumstances, and doing so requires decisions and actions we might not otherwise undertake.

And then, we are forced to defend our choices. We become an interest group. Support Charter Schools. Support Catholic Schools. Support Home-Schooling. Move to the suburbs. Raid the savings for Pembroke or St. Paul's. Support Afro-centric schools in the District. Insist on bi-lingual education for children of immigrants. We all love our children, so we decide what is best for them under our circumstances, and we make the best of it.

It's like we're all forced to find our ways through an incredibly complex obstacle course, where we have to make trade-offs based upon our own values and circumstances. We all find our own individual paths through the thicket of options, like a corn maze.

What if we, together, lowered the walls of the maze? What if we could acknowledge that the people who send their kids to Charter schools share values with the people whose children attend private schools, and that those of us whose children went to KCMSD schools are not guilty of intellectual child abuse? What if we focused on some commonalities instead of distinctions? What if we walked away from a day together and understood each other better, and even respected the interests and perspectives of "those people"?

Is that even possible? And, if it is possible, what meaningful good could come from it?

By my support of the Summit, I'm saying that I believe it is possible. I think (I know) that the vast majority of people in each camp are good, sincere people wanting what is best for children. And I believe in my core that good builds upon good, just as bad brings more bad.

How does that translate into meaningful good? I have no idea, other than to reduce hostility between the camps (which, in itself, would be an achievement). But maybe someday homeschoolers gete invited to participate in Lincoln's Science Fair. Or a suburban district supports a bond issue for the KCMSD. Or district kids are welcomed to one of Pembroke's dramatic productions of a play they are studying.

I don't know exactly what good could come from increased ownership and caring about the education being received by others in our community, but I feel certain that some good would come from it - perhaps the beginnings of something transformative.

Ironically, I recently participated in an email exchange with a group of people concerned about education, and one of the participants asserted as a fact that charter schools perform significantly better than traditional public schools. I pointed out that the data are conflicting on that point, and he, in turn, directed me to a summary of about a hundred studies on the issue, with conflicting results that shockingly corresponded to who was paying for the study. The undeniable truth is that Charter school advocates will cherry-pick whatever data will generate more support for Charter schools, and traditional school districts will find data that shows the Charter schools are resource-robbing underachievers.

That right there is the problem. Seeing such bought and paid for spinning leads to cynicism, and a lack of trust. My inherent lack of trust is the currency I use to purchase my absolution from caring or getting involved. If the problem is hopeless, and the data are all unreliable, then I am justified in my refusal to work toward solutions or change.

I believe that a forum can break down that inherent lack of trust. Yes, we will definitely have intellectually dishonest partisans who will try to skew things to support their predetermined positions. But I share the faith that the VAST majority of parents and citizens are like me - we may have our biases and our cynicism, but we fundamentally want what is best for the children in our community. If we come together and have a frank and honest dialog, we may or may not agree on everything, but we can begin to destroy that inherent lack of trust that absolves us from thinking that the "other side" is working in good faith, and absolves us from working toward solutions.

Experts have had their say. We've had those seminars, colloquia, roundtables and committees. I think Funkhouser's Summit can do something different than what we've done in the past. I might be wrong, but I think it's worth a try.

Second Thoughts on Humor in the Senate?

A Missouri Republican Senator has introduced a bill to make the Jayhawk the official state game bird for Missouri.

Yeah, that made me smirk for just a moment.

And then it made me shake my head. Unfortunately, those of us who are not Missouri Republicans are cursed with these things called "second thoughts", and they take the humor out of many such things that seem okay on first impression. Here are just a few of those kinds of thoughts that apparently never flickered across Senator Clemens' mind.

- Humor about shooting rivals really isn't all that funny, particularly in light of the bloody history of the Missouri/Kansas border wars.

- You've just blown your party's opportunity to argue that anything whatsoever the opposition introduces is a waste of time and Senatorial resources.

- After your party has decimated MOHELA and damaged the ability of average Missourians to pursue education at Mizzou or elsewhere, it's ironic to see you rallying around Mizzou sports instead of Mizzou academics.

- Proposing that Missourians be able to hunt fictional birds reminds many of us that your party has a penchant for trying to stir up trouble based on chimeras, such as gay weddings and activist judges.

- Will Cheney be invited on the first hunt? Will Senator Clemens go hunting with him?

- I'm a Mizzou fan, but, let's face it, Saturday's basketball game against KU is not necessarily going to be a Mizzou win. When #71 is suiting up against #1, a humble and hopeful determination is a better tool than a loud mouth.

Senator Clemens, I appreciate your attempt at expressing pride in our state's flagship University, and I can understand why republicans would rather talk about other things than the 100,000 kids they deprived of health care, but I don't think humor is really your strength, either. Maybe you should have thought twice about your bill . . .

Mayor's Education Summit - Brave Idea - Can We Pull It Off?

One of Kansas City's greatest civic concerns is the education of children in its urban core. For the past several decades, parents of school-age children in Kansas City, Missouri have struggled with either finding schools they like, or moving to the suburbs. Much of the growth of Johnson County can be attributed to the perception of educational opportunity.

Despite the prominence of education as a civic issue, Kansas City's mayors have been granted a "free pass" on getting involved. The Kansas City, Missouri School District is not under the governance of the Mayor - it is an entirely separate beast. "Not my problem" has been the general attitude of city government toward education in Kansas City.

Mayor Funkhouser was elected to eliminate politics as usual in Kansas City, and this is one area where he is making some progress. He is working on putting together an educational summit in January to find areas where the community is "on the same page" about education. "It is time to stop talking about the city this, the schools that, it's time to get on the same page," Funkhouser said.

I've been involved in some of the early planning for this summit, and it's important to keep in mind that this is a community issue - not a KCMSD event. Education in Kansas City's urban core comes in many forms - there are private schools, charter schools, home-schoolers, and religious schools. Students, parents and teachers are obviously interested in the issues, but so are employers, real estate developers, unions, police, suburbanites, etc.

Wouldn't it be great if we could draw people from all over our community and find five or so areas of agreement on urban education in Kansas City?

It's almost sad that we are at such a fundamental stage, but we are. Already, I can see that there are those who want this forum to be a referendum on Mr. Amato, or a sales job for the community schools idea. Already, I can see that some people want the whole thing to be about the KCMSD - and I think that would be misguided in a half-dozen different ways.

Education in Kansas City's urban core is a community issue, and, if this education summit is going to be more than just another "bitch and defend" session about the KCMSD, it needs to draw in the entire community.

I hope that every community-spirited individual in the Kansas City metro region puts a tentative "save the date" note on January 15, and starts thinking about education in Kansas City's urban core. Mayor Funkhouser could have washed his hands of this issue, but he's trying to accomplish something positive. It is an issue for the Mayor, and it is an issue for all Kansas Citians.

My Wife is a Mistress

(Shouldn't women who get Master's degrees really get Mistress's degrees?)

Yesterday was graduation, and Kansas University conferred the degree of Master of Public Health on her. Not only that, but they gave her the Analee E. "Betsy" Beisecker Public Health Excellence Award - she was selected as the best student of the program!

She started working toward this degree several years ago, taking advantage of an employer tuition plan, and has stuck with it through classes she didn't like, through distracting pressures of work and home, and hundreds of excuses to do other things with her time. Throughout, it has been pure intellectual curiosity that has motivated her - there's no direct benefit to earning the degree, such as an automatic pay raise or promotion.

She earned a perfect 4.0. She never settled for doing "okay" in a class she didn't particularly like, nor did she focus less attention on the classes taught by professors she didn't enjoy. She worked diligently on a thesis - producing original research and winning Honors.

It was interesting to see the group of fellow-graduates. Some were in their early twenties, and some were in their forties. Some were already MDs, and some were fresh from undergraduate programs. Many or most had multiple degrees, but my wife was one who launched into the program after a two-decade break from classroom education.

Obviously, I'm quite proud of my wife/mistress. She's a private person who I tend to avoid mentioning in this space, but she was awfully cute in her cap and gown!