Pedagogical Incompetence and the Courts

John Elson Northwestern University School of Law Chicago, Illinois Justice Pashman of the New Jersey Supreme Court in his concurring opinion in Robinson v. Cahill1 noted the practical and theoretical obstacles to adopting and enforcing standards focused directly upon the question of whether public schools are in fact educating the students who attend them. Nevertheless, he said question is precisely the one that is of most importance to children, their parents, and, ultimately, to society as a whole.2 In any discussion of the relation between student rights and educational quality it is important to keep in mind this seemingly obvious yet unique judicial insight; for, the significance of all of the recent student rights cases that have reduced or eliminated barriers to equal access to schooling on the basis of race, sex, language, poverty and physical and mental handicaps depends upon the validity of the assumption that whatever is going on inside the classroom is benefiting students. In finding that the State of New Jersey was not meeting its state constitutional obligation of providing students with a thorough and efficient education and in demanding that the State take financial and educational measures to meet that obligation, the New Jersey Supreme Court has thus far been the only appellate level court willing to treat seriously a direct legal challenge to the quality of a school system's educational services. The general unwillingness of lawyers and courts to challenge the assumption of educational competence is seen by many inner city parents as a personal affront, for they are unwilling to accept the blame for themselves or their children for the fact that each year in school massive numbers of inner city students fall further and further behind national norms until they drop-out, or graduate, in either case without elementary reading, writing, or math skills. These parents realize that their children begin school with as much innate ability and eagerness to learn as any other group of students, and that as parents they have as much desire for their children's success as any other group of parents

Constitutional right · Obligation · Political science · Sociology · Supreme court · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Law · Legal Issues in Education · Legal Systems and Judicial Processes · Psychology

• Crisis in the classroom

  Charles E Silberman•Crisis in the classroom•1970

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