BROOKLYN, February 20 — “Whose schools? Our schools!” “They say cut back, we say fight back!” These were some of the chants coming from about 100 students, parents, and teachers at a high-energy rally outside the Tilden High School campus last week. They were responding to the Department of Education’s (DOE) plan to push a charter elementary school into the building, which already houses three high schools. Following the rally was the DOE’s Public Hearing. Students, teachers, and parents spoke passionately about the negative effects this colocation would have on the education of students throughout the district and about the racism of the education system.
The Tilden campus already contains three high schools, each having its own floor. The racist DOE has been neglecting and shutting down schools with overwhelming black and Latino student bodies, instead of supporting them. The Tilden schools have passed the bosses’ test standards. Much of the staff and students are trying their best to create better schools, but this is still within the limits of this system which is plagued by racist budget cuts.
Tilden is located in a predominately black, mostly Caribbean-immigrant, East Flatbush neighborhood. The DOE has made the racist statement that this new charter elementary school is necessary because there are no high-quality options in the district, despite some highly-rated schools close by, including one two blocks away. These schools are already under-enrolled, making them under-funded as well, and could now continue to lose significant numbers of students if parents choose the new school. The bosses have not yet even assessed this school by their own standards. They are calling it high-quality without even having given it state tests (the bosses’ favorite tool to determine “quality”).
Students Take the Lead
The bosses attack even so-called successful schools, with constant budget cuts, school reorganization and colocations. A student slogan in this fight at Tilden is “Education, not Racist Experimentation.” They see that the DOE makes decisions about black and Latino working-class schools, which attack their education.
Capitalism will never serve the needs of the working class. To maintain their system, the ruling class needs a reserve of unemployed workers and youth to use as cannon fodder in their imperialist wars. A communist system will truly educate workers and students to lead society. Under communism, the need to educate all to their fullest potential would be realized.
Before the Soviet Union became capitalist, education was a priority. Students with the highest needs were given the most resources. In “Soviet Education: Achievements and Goals,” Elizabeth Moos writes, “…Now pupils were given not only self-government but control over programs and teachers…Pupils were given experience in the democratic process as citizens of their school community” (p 12).
Contrast that with capitalist education, a system that looks to control the minds and actions of our youth, not promote critical thinking and action. And so while we fight for the survival of our schools and against the immediate attacks of the capitalist education system, Tilden students, parents and teachers need to see that we must fight against capitalist education as a whole.
We are working on building that unity within this class struggle. PL’ers in the school are working with the Student Activism club, Student Government, the PTA, and the union chapters. We’re forging strong unity among the three schools in the building, unusual for many campus schools. There has been outreach by students and teachers to nearby elementary schools to build unity with other teachers and parents throughout the district.
We will fight this colocation tooth and nail because it’s important to train our youth to fight back. As capitalism’s economic crisis sharpens, the only real alternative will be to have a clear understanding that this system benefits only the capitalist class. We have a world to win!