Young letter: Education poll
After being “briefed” about Albertson Foundation’s latest education poll being fully released in January, Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke said, “I think this polling shows that they have raised awareness ....”
Agreed. But if “they” are people pushing the market-based theory of reform that climaxes in privatizing a public service, then, thinking critically, you should question what exactly “they” raised awareness of and why.
House Education Committee Chairman Reed DeMordaunt, R- Eagle, who was also “briefed” on the results, said support for charter schools “is probably indicative that parents value choice.”
True. In a national 1986 poll, 68 percent of parents said “they would like to have the right to choose” but “only one in four would take advantage of that right if it were available.”
More parents liked their schools back then. After 30 years of test-based reforms, that percentage has dropped as a result of bad reform laws driving bad practices.
And “choice” is such a powerful word for marketing purposes that the 30-year campaign by the charter school/industry movement has used the word to effectively increase their market with startups now being liberally funded federally.
The reliability of any survey depends on design. Marketing matters and parents are the targets. Time to think critically?
Victoria M. Young, Caldwell
This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 12:19 AM with the headline "Young letter: Education poll."