School leaders have their pants in a bunch over school choice. Get over it. The world of education is changing and it is not done changing, yet. The school of the future will be the school of choice. Be that school.
School choice was inevitable. No one in our contemporary society likes to be told what to do or that they have no choice. Today, “no choice” is fighting words. Often it does not make any difference that there may be little to no difference in the choices or that what you choose may cost more or that many of the choices may provide less. Choice has been politicized into a fundamental right meaning that choice is good and no choice is politically toxic.
It was not always this way. There was a time when choices were either non-existent or very limited. You can have this or you can have that – you get to choose. Not so much today. Regardless of the subject, try to identify a “thing” for which there only is one choice. My wife just looked up from the bowl of strawberries she was devouring, held up a berry and said “strawberries. A strawberry looks like this, smells like this, and tastes like this. A berry of any other color or taste could not be a strawberry. If you want a strawberry, there is no choice but this!” I would like to agree with her. At that moment, we both wanted her strawberry to be that rare and pure form of simplicity – juicy, red, plump and delicious and the model of what a strawberry should be. Alas, there are 103 species and sub-species of strawberry and choice abounds. With this knowledge, she can now sort through these species and find the perfect strawberry for her. She has choices to make. In fact, to find her perfect strawberry once again she must make choices.
When I was a kid, choice was very selective. Seldom in that long ago day was there something we wanted for which there were no choices. But, choice was a small, closed set of numbers. Gym shoes were PF Flyers or Keds. Later the shoe of choice was a Chuck Taylor Converse and no other shoe would do. Television, if you had one, was tuned to ABC, CBS or NBC. Music was on a radio or record player. Jeans were blue, leather shoes were black or brown, and t-shirts were white. Ice cream was vanilla or chocolate and always hard packed. Mail order was from Sears and Roebuck or Montgomery-Ward and a young boy’s hair was either cut in the “crew” style or worn as a DA. These were our choices.
There was one item for which there was no choice. Your telephone service was Bell. “Ma” Bell or one of her closely tied subs, Northwest Bell for us, was the one and only telephone option.
School also was a no or little choice issue. Countless children had no choice – they attended the school in the neighborhood where their family always had lived. Whether it was a PS school in a borough of New York or the one room school in What Cheer, Iowa, this was the school their parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and cousins since Noah had attended and it was their school also. School choice lay between the school district and the parish. If not a public school, families tied their child’s education to a Catholic or Lutheran parochial school. A parochial education was not free and the line between church and state was suspended. Uniforms, chapel and Bible study, and several different versions of school discipline accompanied attendance at church school. We had a choice or no choice schools.
Life may not have been austere, but compared with the options we have in the “age of choice” living in the “old days” was black and white. Did choice begin with the “greatest generation” who raised their families in the constantly expanding economy of post-WW2? Did choice blossom with the “baby boomers” who, due to their population bulge, needed more of everything? Did the idea of choice begin with protesting in the 60s and a generational refusal to accept the traditions and the unquestioned authority of their elders? Did the demand for choice come with an affluence bred by the two-income family? More disposable income led to more consumerism which led to more things to consume. Is choice part of “keeping up with the Joneses?” Has the right to choose joined the Bill of Rights?
No and yes to each of these would be a right answer. Whichever reason, choice demands entry into every decision. It was inevitable that how and where a child is educated would become a matter of choice. It also was inevitable after politicians and special interest monies observed that the choice of school could be used as a wedge between partisan voter groups. Our own governor uses school choice to lure the “generation of choice” to his ballot issues. Once school choice moved from a mom and dad decision to the political arena, it was only a matter of time before school choice became a right under the law.
Now that school choice is a legal reality, there only is one course of action left for educators. Certainly, that is not to moan and wail against choice. How futile! The only course of action is to be the best school available to families in your community. School choice is a “field of dreams.” Be the school that fulfills parents’ dreams for how their children will be educated and parents will choose your school. There is a corollary to school choice. Schools that meet and exceed the needs of those who are choosing will succeed; schools that cannot match with the needs of choosing consumers will fail. Matching parental choice with a high quality choice is what will count now and in the future.
At first blush “best” can be very subjective. Best at what? Best at teaching children to score well on academic tests? Best athletic school? Best arts school? Best vocational and technical school? Best overall school? Best virtual school? Best at supporting home-schooled children? Yes. Best can be any of these. Once we accept that parents will be choosing a school for their children, public school leaders can become proactive and use choice to fashion schools that meet parental choice needs. A design may include schools within a school, diploma majors, specialty schools within a school district, or what we always wanted a school to be, a high quality, comprehensive school.
Becoming the best demands focus and focusing a school includes choices. Leaders must choose only the most effective and efficient teachers. Choices must be made in how time and resources are prioritized. Choices must be made regarding what will NOT be in the school program as well as what will be.
So, there you are. School choice includes choices made by public school leaders. Succeed or fail in the age of choice – it is your choice.