Events outside the classroom got more chatter and started more arguments than what was going on inside them in 2016, as rapidly changing American culture created friction when the new rubbed up against the old. Several of those events will restart discussions early in 2017 as politicians in the Georgia General Assembly could get involved in everything from deciding who can go to our universities to where some students can go to the bathroom.
The bathroom issue popped up and transgender students were forced into a sometimes unwanted spotlight after the U.S. Department of Education asked schools to let those students use the toilets in the room of their choosing. Many parents were upset over “federal overreach” and the continued dissolving of traditional cultural standards. It will be interested to see if the new President-elect Donald Trump will take any action on the federal directive.
Gov. Nathan Deal was pushed back by voters, who saw overreach on his part when he proposed a constitutional amendment that would create a new state bureaucracy to take over and run failing schools. After that went down by a 2-1 margin in the November vote, Deal and others concerned about helping those students promised to create a less intrusive but effective system in the coming General Assembly to lift those schools and lives out of a cycle of failure.
Other extra-classroom cultural issues also burst into flames this year, as parents in one Cobb County school became upset over the teaching of yoga, because of the religious implications; racial issues were discussed as studies came out that showed black children were more likely to be suspended, down the kindergarten level, especially by white teachers; the national discussion about immigration came to roost in Georgia largely on the issue of whether children of illegal immigrants can get into Georgia’s best college; and a shapely teacher assistant in Atlanta set Twitter twittering, tongues wagging and eyeballs straining by posting picture of some of the form fitting outfits that she wore in the classroom.
Teachers in the mean time, kept plowing ahead in their classrooms, trying to find real-world solutions to politically motivated solutions to our “education problems.” And there is plenty more to come of that in 2017, as Gov. Deal and other politicians have promised to make education reform a major issue – everything from how Georgia spends its education budget to teacher pay and expanding the growing role that charter schools play in our public education system.
Stay tuned.
Top education stories of 2016
- New teacher evaluation system offers vague measure in place of tests
- #TeacherBae questions: Can teachers really dress like that?
- Classroom disruptions bring suspensions for … kindergartners
- Classroom yoga exercises prompt parent concerns in Cobb
- Pulled from the shadows: Georgia transgender students hope for positive change
- What stopped the Opportunity schools measure, and what comes next?
- Secretive justice: How Georgia colleges handle rape on campus
- Eight myths about getting into Georgia Tech: What applicants need to know
- Eight myths about getting into the University of Georgia
- Immigrant students protest Georgia's college enrollment policies
- Georgia's ban on undocumented college students puts state on wrong side of history
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