Arlington's David W. Brown Planetarium has been a beloved institution for generations for local schoolchildren. But with the Arlington school system in a budget crunch, the planetarium may soon get the axe. We'll learn more about a grassroots effort to save it.
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Comments
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I am clear on my position. No cuts to science. What a treasure the planetarium is. It has my full support as School Board Candidate. Save baby save!
Please provide the Web site address of where we can go to donate to this great cause.
Here is the link (also posted above on the show page):
http://www.saveplanetarium.org/
Those in education, particularly at the elementary school level, know that children who have had enriching experiences outside of the classroom come prepared for school with a much broader perspective of the world around them. Children raised in middle-class or upper-class families have a far greater chance of exposure to enriching experiences outside the classroom, thereby providing them an academic edge from the outset.
Classroom teachers know that the public schools have limited means to close the gap between children of limited to modest means and children from more affluent families. Teachers see the "gap" developing as early as kindergarten. In addition, it is unfair and unrealistic for anyone to expect the public schools to solve the "achievement gap" because that gap is the result of variables that go far beyond classroom teaching. The reasons why children perform poorly in the areas of reading comprehension, math, writing, and other areas is not solely the fault of the school system. These children also lack enriching experiences outside the classroom. The planetarium is one of these enriching experiences.
If Arlington County truly wants to close the achievement gap and do it in a way that attacks the issue systemically, rather than through classroom-based testing, closing the planetarium is the wrong approach. To a student whose parents have the income, education, and discretionary time to take their child to the Einstein Planetarium or the Hayden Planetarium on the weekend, this is not an issue of concern. To the student whose parents are of lower income status, lower educational level, and who work weekends to make ends meet, this a a major concern. Closing the planetarium will simply hit those hardest who need it the most. From this perspective, closing the planetarium is simply bad public policy, and it is at odds with the long-stated Arlington Public Schools goal by at least two superintendents to close the achievement gap between White and minority students once and for all. Those in positions of authority in the Arlington Public School system need to open their eyes and look beyond short-term budgetary considerations to the long-term needs of its minority student population.