Author, educator and sociologist Peter Cookson will keynote a July 29 morning session at the STN EXPO on why the school bus is a model for how students nationwide should be able to receive an equitable and accessible public education, no matter their race or socioeconomic status.
In December, the principal researcher at the American Institutes of Research in Washington, D.C., wrote a commentary for Education Week titled, “The Yellow School Bus: A Model for Equity.” Cookson wrote about the 16th Century legend of Grigory Potemkin, who erected villages with fake facades in war-torn Crimea to hide the dilapidation and squalor from Catherine the Great, who was touring the area.
Today, Potemkin Villages have become synonymous with an impressive front to hide an undesirable fact, in this case the state of public education in America, Cookson said. He wrote that he recently completed a study of five American high schools, including a private school, an upper-middle-class school, a middle-class school, a working-class school and a school located in an area of concentrated poverty that he said unveiled shockingly thorough segregation of students by social class. This, he said, determines “where a student goes to school, and with whom; determines what he or she will study, with whom he or she will study, what colleges he or she will attend, and his or her life chances.”
But, he continued, school buses continue to serve impressively in combatting that class by integrating students from all different neighborhoods. Cookson said many students rely on school buses when they might not otherwise be able to receive even a chance at a quality education.
“There are approximately 480,000 of them on the road, serving 25 million students every day,” he wrote. “By law, we stop our cars if we are behind or on the other side of the road when a school bus stops. That’s a lot of stops we make every day to ensure our children are safe and educated. We stop not just for our own children, but also for our neighbors’ children and our neighbors’ neighbors’ children. Rich or poor. No matter the color of their skin. No matter their academic ability. That’s what public education means.”
He told STN last month that school buses are a direct extension of the children’s education bill of rights, which he penned in the form of his 2011 book, “Sacred Trust.” Additionally, he said any argument that politicians or educators make in cutting transportation to funnel more money to classrooms is “illogical” and “a false choice.”
“School buses are the lifeblood of our school system,” he added.
He also said school bus drivers have one of the most difficult jobs in our society, as they shoulder an immense amount of responsibility for student safety while also serving as educators themselves as well as authority figures.
Cookson also leads the Equity Project, an educational think tank, at AIR. He also founded the Center for Educational Outreach and Innovation as a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University and currently teaches sociology at Georgetown University.
In all, Cookson has authored or co-authored more than 15 books on education reform and policy. His most recent publication is the 2013 book “Class Rules: Exposing Inequity in America’s High Schools.” He also wrote “What Would Socrates Say?” and “Is $600 Billion Enough?” (Wilson Quarterly, 2011). He serves on the editorial board of The Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education.
Editor’s note — The North American School Bus EXPO is scheduled for July 26 through 30 and returns to the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno. For more information on registration and curriculum, visit www.stnexpo.com.
