As the author of several books and two plays about Abraham Lincoln, I am the last person to tell journalists not to tell the truth.
But wisdom requires the teller of truth take care how and when and to whom he tells it. We all know that telling the truth at the wrong time or to the wrong person or not telling all the truth can do great harm.
Though the AJC writers and editors had good intentions, researched diligently and wrote well, their work on cheating in Atlanta Public Schools has done harm.
It may have done much good, too. But it has given racists new weapons since the majority of test cheaters were black. It created a media frenzy. It led to an insane overreach by the judicial system. Racketeering! C’mon. Felonies!
And it created the impression all Atlanta public schools are worthless.
And the costs of dealing with the scandal. The millions in legal fees that could have gone for better things, like books and computers.
And the wreckage of careers. Could these teachers not have been disciplined, perhaps severely, and placed on probation like we do for other non-violent offenders?
Instead of helping the APS, as a result of the coverage, parents are more afraid than ever to send their children to Atlanta schools. Hence more flight.
I have a grandson in the Atlanta Public Schools. His school is doing many things brilliantly. I have toured an all-black school that was remarkable. Spotless. Students wonderfully engaged and well behaved. One of the middle schools in northern Fulton is a model of diversity, a perennial state champion in several fields.
Maybe the AJC has carried stories about these important accomplishments. But the public seems not aware of the good.
All the schools are being judged primarily by how they do on standardized tests. And how valid are the tests? How good are they at predicting success? And how do we measure success?
And should public teachers be measured by how their students do on these tests if they accept special needs students, which many charters refuse to take, and have to keep unruly students, which many charters expel, thereby inflating charter school scores?
I know the newspaper may have touched on many or all of these topics — I do not profess to have read every word — but the message that we’ve heard is how very bad these educators are and how terrible the Atlanta school system is.
If that was not the intent, that is what the public has gathered.
Every good communicator knows that what is most important is not what you say but what the other person hears.
You may say a journalist is not responsible for what is heard. To a large extent that is true, but there are ways to increase the likelihood that what is heard is what was meant to be heard.
