A Statement of Support

"I applaud Dr. Austin and CRP, Inc. (CRP) for launching the American Education Think Tank, a progressive national voice that will be fueled by a distinguished group of scholars who will share their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing American education. Ideally, the Think Tank will exert pressure on the public and private sector to address the enduring values underlying education and the principles of economic democracy. While the idyllic vision of the education remains deeply embedded in the American consciousness as a place where intellect, knowledge and the sacredness of the human spirit transforms us and the world into a mosaic of social and cultural harmony, we overlook the more important role of the academy as a place where truth and purpose are advanced as a counter force to racism, poverty and oppression. Too often, we fail to build on the organic relationship between education and social and economic reform. Indeed, as Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis wrote in Schooling in Capitalistic America:

Since inequality has its origins in the structure of the capitalist economy, educational reform will be a powerful force for equalization only to the extent that it can alter those aspects of the economic system which provide the institutional bases of inequality. (Bowles and Gintis 1976)

In short, education is a political process that serves as an instrument for economic and social mobility for some � while undermining the promise and prosperity of others who find themselves locked in obscenely ill-equipped institutions of learning. Mindful of these dynamics, if we are to dismantle the roots of inequality, education must become an integral part of the nation�s economic system. Clearly, America�s capacity to compete in the world market place is tied to its ability to invest in the full development of all its citizens � regardless of race, ethnicity and economic status."

DR. N. Joyce Payne