Navraj Narula
What policy or issue are you most following while in Washington?
By Navraj Narula
Summer 2014
I am not a news junkie. You have every right to call me ignorant. I mean, I am here in Washington, D.C. and I walk past the man at the Woodley Park metro station trying to hand me a newspaper: “Sorry, sir, but I’d rather pair my morning coffee with fiction.” That was me during my first two weeks in this amazing, amazing city.
This is me – excited to be in DC for the first time!
I am currently entering my sixth week. No, I am not yet obsessed with the news, but I have learned to follow it. It’s been quite a ride reading Politico and the Washington Post. I find myself to be attracted to many headlines, but if you know me, you would know that I am more inclined to read, reflect, and think deeply about an issue related to education.
I already see myself as one of those teachers who will be stuck thinking about the world inside my classroom, which is a wonderful thing. However, there is more beyond those four walls and I am so glad that I came to Washington, D.C. to discover what I had always been missing out on: educational policy and the news associated with it. As an intern at the Center for Education (CER), I come across 20-30 articles each day that speak of changes in legislature, the proposal of new bills, and the opening of a new charter school. So much is happening in the world of education and I had little idea how much was truly going on until I began to read the news. I have learned of several things, but let me elaborate a little bit on the issue of teacher tenure.
When teachers receive tenure, they have the right to keep their teaching job for as long as they desire. Firing a teacher who has the job security associated with tenure can be a very difficult process. In an effort to make it easier to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom, the Vergara v. California case pushed for eliminating teacher tenure on June 10, 2014. The state of New York is also attempting to abolish the rule. California’s move is progressive; it is encouraging to see a change take place that will improve teacher quality.
CER’s Media Bullpen grades articles related to education on their reliability.
In reading the news, though, I have also learned to take caution. Some papers lean left; some papers lean right. Journalists sometimes seek to frame issues to appeal to a certain audience. Though newspapers seek to convey truth, they are often partisan or lean in one direction. Facts are mentioned, but so is opinion. At CER, I am challenged to think more about the media and the manner in which information is conveyed. Aside from reading articles and entering important findings into the database, I write reviews on the articles I read and I always seem to ask the following: Is the information accurate? Is data lacking? How could this article have done a better job of presenting the information? Working with the news has allowed me to be more cautious of it, and also to read it more carefully.
Overall, I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to come to Washington. Here, I have learned to read outside of my comfort zone, network with people I never thought I would meet, and even consider a career in educational policy. I look forward to following reliable sources of media that work to cover news related to all areas, not only education. I wonder what I’ll be reading during my tenth week in DC.
Navraj is an Education major currently interning at the Center for Education reform.
