I hope that you will refrain from the kind of rhetoric found in this line in your UMass-Boston speech: ?No policymaker, no leader, no citizen could look into those same eyes or these before us this morning, and say that we cannot do what we must do. This is not simply about the future of our schools. This is about the future of our state and of our civilization.? I agree with your mission, but your logic is flawed. As your critics, and no doubt your supporters, will point out, the importance of a mission does not solve the very real problem of effecting a solution. Hoping to silence critics with appeals to fear for the future of our children and indeed our civilization is similarly disingenuous. It?s the Nation at Risk strategy. Every would-be education reformer uses it. In the 1950?s, Admiral Hyman Rickover argued for reform by insisting that the Soviet Union would otherwise overtake us. In the 1980?s, the fear was that Japan was economically overtaking America.
We need to commit ourselves to justice, to a better world. But all the good intentions in the world will not be enough if we ignore the complexity of education and reform. If we are truly going to change the status quo, if we are going to convince the people we need to convince, we need to think and speak clearly and straightforwardly. We need to dedicate ourselves not only to a better world, but to the truth. As Senator Stan Rosenberg affirmed at the Democratic State Convention, ?We are correct in our belief that we can win by the telling the truth.?
Respectfully Yours,
Mark L. Bail
