Are Bad Policies Part of an Intentional Effort to Destroy Public Education?
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder considers whether the accumulation of harmful education policies is deliberate sabotage or just well-intentioned incompetence.
Key Takeaways
- The question is worth asking - When enough bad policies accumulate, it's reasonable to wonder if the damage is intentional
- Intent matters less than impact - Whether policies are intentionally destructive or merely incompetent, students are still harmed
- Focus on fixing the policies - Debating intent is less productive than working to reverse harmful practices
Transcript
Are bad policies an intentional effort to destroy public education?
I get this comment quite a lot, and I think it's worth thinking about.
And certainly there are specific parties in specific states, specific stakeholders who do want to destroy public education, who do want to go to more of a voucher system.
So, I mean, that desire is definitely out there, but I don't think it explains the policies that I'm on here regularly talking about, like discipline policies and special education policies and grading policies and just all these different things that really are having the effect of destroying public education.
But I think they're well-intentioned, and that gives them zero credit in my book.
It doesn't matter if it's well-intentioned.
If it's a stupid policy, it doesn't matter why you're advocating for it.
It's still a bad policy.
I think what's really happening...
It's not that anybody who's behind these policies is intending to destroy public education, but they're advocating for very narrow issues without any understanding of how those issues affect the whole, right?
Like we don't want students to get suspended.
We don't want students to miss recess.
We don't want students to get restrained.
Sounds great, but...
But without an alternative, how do we keep kids safe?
They're not responsible for answering those questions.
And that's what bugs me so much about these special interest groups.
They don't actually have to deal with the consequences of these policies that they're pushing.
So like, they're not really trying to hurt public schools.
They're trying to advocate for students in very specific situations without thinking about the big picture.
So I I think this is why educator voice is so important.
So why it's so important for principals and teachers to say, you know what?
I know that sounds good, but I cannot do my job with that policy.
We have to stand up and say, we need the support.
We need the working conditions.
We need the authority to do our jobs.
Let me know what you think.
Is this intentional as an effort to destroy public education or is it something else?
Let me know what you think.