Comics Journalism Takes on Education Reform

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http://graphicnovelreporter.com/content/comics-journalism-takes-education-reform-feature-stories

We hear it on the television news, radio talk shows, and the internet: America’s public education system is failing. At least that’s what the media wants you to believe.

In fact, American school children are doing better than ever. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that American school children between fourth and eighth grade score above the international average on The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Bill Knapp, a senior media strategist for five U.S. presidential campaigns and a Washington Post writer, reminds Americans, “As a nation we have never been better educated. In 1940, only a quarter of Americans 25 and older had achieved a high school degree or higher. In 2009, that number was close to 90 percent. The increase in the percentage of Americans who have had some college experience rose from 10 percent in 1940 to 56 percent in 2009.” American Journalism Review, a publication that covers the “news behind the news,” gives fear-mongering journalists an F when it comes to reporting on this serious issue. “The American education system has never been better, several important measures show. But you’d never know that from reading overheated media reports about ‘failing’ schools and enthusiastic pieces on unproven ‘reform’ efforts,” reports Paul Fahri in his article on the news media “Flunking the Test.” So why does everyone think our schools are on the brink of disaster and how does the media capitalize on reports of education reform and failing schools?

That’s a question explored in a three-part comics journalism series on education over at Truth-out.org (the first two articles in the series are linked at the bottom of this page). Adam Bessie, assistant professor at Diablo Valley College, teamed up with Dan Archer, John S. Knight Fellowship for Professional Journalists at Stanford University in 2010–11—the first ever comic journalist to be admitted to their journalism program—and now a freelance comics journalist for hire. The two examine how the reforms intended to save our "failing schools" have, in some cases, failed our schools and, more broadly, perhaps, how society has failed our schools. Archer and Bessie want readers to think critically about hyped-up GERM (Global Education Reform Movement) reforms and provide ideas about improving schools that most readers haven't been exposed to. In other words, here’s a starting point for a discussion about our nation’s public schools.

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What made you write this comic?
BESSIE: In the last few years, there has been a barrage of media on “education reform,” with vitriolic attacks on our public schools, and teachers–and this has all happened while our public schools are being slashed by “austerity measures.” By and large, the mainstream corporate media has aired only this side: that our schools are failing, and our teachers are to blame. I wanted to show another side to the issue, to reach out to a more general audience and show them a perspective they probably haven’t heard, so that they are more skeptical or questioning of this misleading narrative.

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Link to interactive comic: http://www.archcomix.com/Education.html

[hedda_foil]

1. knr -- Fantastically creative, seriously informative. MUST SEE!

This is way beyond a well-done comic. It tells the whole benighted story of ed-deform from Friedman, to Katrina to Bain. (Yes, that Bain.)

[Starry Messenger]

2. Good eyes!

I went back and noticed the Bain reference after you highlighted it.