Januar
Ms. Michelle Stevens
The Chicago Sun-Times
Op-Ed Letters Page Editor
350 North Orleans
Chicago, IL 60654
Dear Editor:
Neil Steinberg says he doesn't like me because he has a bias that I'm not very smart. Note that he doesn't just say my ideas are dumb, but that I am dumb - a very personal and subjective view without a factual basis. The last time I checked they don't award college, seminary, law and honorary degrees to dumb people.
Steinberg says I'm dumb because I've offered an amendment to the Constitution that would provide all American students with a "public education of equal high quality." It's not a dumb idea to put one of our basic beliefs into our most important legal document - that every child in America has the right to a public education of equal high quality.
He says such an amendment would be a "waste of time and make the Constitution a place for meaningless symbolism." That's like saying the phrase "shall provide for the common defense" is merely symbolic when it just resulted in a 2006 Defense Department appropriation of $453 billion. While it is no silver bullet, I believe a constitutional amendment would result in major educational gains for all of America's students by allowing common standards and more equal funding for public schools.
We currently have a Tenth Amendment constitutionally based states' rights educational system with 50 states, 3,067 counties and 15,000 boards of education - all "separate and unequal." In some West Virginia counties, public education is funded by the struggling coal mining industry, while in some California counties public education funds come from high-earning micro-chip and computer companies. Therefore, generations of Americans educated in West Virginia public schools end up in coal mines with limited opportunities, while a new generation of Americans educated in the public education system of Silicon Valley end up in corporate suites with multiple opportunities. Some Americans are literally stuck in holes, while other Americans get to touch the sky.
Apply my amendment's (House Joint Resolution 29) standards to Chicago, Cook County and Illinois. Is Harper High School like Walter Payton? Is Englewood like Northside Prep? Is Bloom Trail like New Trier? Obviously not! Only the Constitution can "even the playing field" for a "common and equal high quality education" by giving every parent in America the legal right to challenge such inequities. My amendment is, in part, a response to a Supreme Court precedent set forth in Rodriguez v. San Antonio (1973) which states that the right to an education is not guaranteed, either explicitly or implicitly, in the Constitution and, therefore, is not a fundamental right. (Rodriguez was a precedent setting case on behalf of poor school children challenging the Texas system of financing public schools based on local property taxes. The Court ruled that the system did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause because education is not a fundamental right and property is no reason to hold otherwise.)
Jonathan Kozol, one of America's foremost educators and best selling authors, recommends my constitutional amendment in his latest book, Shame of the Nation, as critical to improving public education. Thirty-five other "dumb" members of Congress are co-sponsors of my amendment. And I have signed petitions from thousands of "dumb" American citizens all over the country who agree with my amendment.
Now Mr. Steinberg knows my "scam," which is to use the law (the U.S.
Constitution) to assist poor and working class children (and their parents) of all races trapped in inferior public education systems, to aid them in obtaining equal high quality public schools. Maybe Mr. Steinberg's primary focus should be on grappling with domestic issues closer to home and leave understanding, analyzing, and interpreting the Constitution to me.
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In case you missed the Neil Steinberg's Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times Commentary:
"The [New York Times] article casts Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. as the best hope to unseat Daley. Maybe. I still maintain that Jackson's mayoral noises are a ploy to increase the size of his slice of pie.
"But what if he's serious -- or his scam gathers enough momentum that he actually runs? Should he win?
"Jesse Jr. is a pleasant man, surprisingly undamaged, considering who his dad is. No stutter or anything. But I have a bias against him, and I will state it plainly, because I half hope that someone will convince me I'm mistaken.
"My bias is this: I don't think he's very bright. I believe this because he was pushing -- sincerely, energetically -- for a constitutional amendment to require that all students receive an equal quality education.
"A noble goal. But a constitutional amendment is not the way to do it. In fact, it wouldn't do anything at all, besides waste time and make the Constitution a place for meaningless symbolism. I remember quizzing Jackson closely over this, and he stuck to his guns, unfortunately.
"To me, it seemed a silly endeavor, mauling the Constitution toward a quixotic end. It would be like passing a constitutional amendment requiring that all students be good-looking.
"Say what you want about Richard "Corruption Shadows His Every Step" Daley, but he isn't dumb."
Click here to read more of Congressman Jackson's Issues and Positions.
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