The Concord Review - Will's Blog

COMMON STANDARD [1993]

"Equally important, the published essays can let youngsters see what other students their own age are capable of and what they themselves can aspire to.

The Review also has a vital message for teachers. American education suffers from an impoverishment of standards at all levels. We see that when we look at what is expected of students in other industrialized nations and at what they achieve. Could American students achieve at that level? Of course, but our teachers often have a hard time knowing exactly what they can expect of their students or even what a first-rate essay looks like. The Concord Review sets a high but realistic standard; and it could be invaluable for teachers trying to recalibrate their own standards of excellence."

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AFT
Albert Shanker, President
American Federation of Teachers
55 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001


June 7, 1993


Samuel M. Grupper
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
140 South Dearborn Street
Suite 1100
Chicago, Illinois 60603-5285


Dear Mr. Grupper,


I’ve admired the soundness and clarity of Will Fitzhugh’s vision about education ever since I happened to see one of the early issues of The Concord Review. I’ve also thought Mr. Fitzhugh an excellent and obvious choice for a MacArthur fellowship, and it’s a great pleasure to support his candidacy.

One of the premises of The Concord Review is that, once youngsters have gotten immersed in a subject and, in some sense, made it their own, they will be able to produce excellent writing on the subject. Many teachers have found this to be true. But Will Fitzhugh decided that young writers needed and deserved more of an audience than their teachers. Whey not give them what adult writers have—an audience of their peers?

The result is a journal that is wonderful in itself—sound, well-written, full of vitality. (Will Fitzhugh tells a story about a foundation official who had just turned down his request for a grant. The man glanced at an essay in a copy of the Review Fitzhugh had sent him and didn’t stop reading until he had finished the issue.) But the journal is more than a good read.

Will Fitzhugh sees publication in The Concord Review as a kind of prize—a recognition of excellence and a validation of intellectual achievement—that could be for young historians what the Westinghouse [Intel & Siemens] Science Competition is for young scientists. Equally important, the published essays can let youngsters see what other students their own age are capable of and what they themselves can aspire to.

The Review also has a vital message for teachers. American education suffers from an impoverishment of standards at all levels. We see that when we look at what is expected of students in other industrialized nations and at what they achieve. Could American students achieve at that level? Of course, but our teachers often have a hard time knowing exactly what they can expect of their students or even what a first-rate essay looks like. The Concord Review sets a high but realistic standard; and it could be invaluable for teachers trying to recalibrate their own standards of excellence.

Let me say that I think The Concord Review could be especially useful to poor and disadvantaged children and their teachers. Last year, I was privileged to hear John Jacob, the president of the National Urban League, talk about how poor black children, in particular, need to be held up to higher academic standards. Jacob believes that, instead of lowering our sights, we must raise them and demand high academic performance. Among the specific standards he suggested was that every African-American child—and in fact every American child—write a 25-page paper in order to graduate from high school. I think Jacob is right. I also think The Concord Review could be a vehicle for raising the sights of disadvantaged children and their teachers. And I plan to work with leaders in one or more of the American Federation of Teachers’ urban locals to help set up special issues of The Concord Review for their cities similar to the special International Baccalaureate issue the Review recently published.

I’ve been speaking of “can” and “could” because Will Fitzhugh has always operated the Review on a shoestring. He began it with his own money, and ever since that ran out, it’s been a scramble just to find the funds to print the next issue. So he’s never had the resources to promote the journal or develop its possibilities. As a result, it does not have the wide audience it deserves and needs in order to do the work I have been talking about. But that, I hope, is where the MacArthur Foundation comes in.

I know that you support people, not projects, but in this case that’s a distinction without a difference because the Review embodies Will Fitzhugh’s idea about how to get students thinking and writing. In supporting him, you would be helping a person who is building what should and can become a national education treasure.

Will Fitzhugh is also an ideal candidate for your generosity because, even though what he wants to do is solid and important, he hasn’t been successful in getting the kind of foundation support he needs. The typical refusal indicates that he doesn’t fall within the foundation’s guidelines. This may mean he’s ahead of his time, but that will be scant consolation if he has to give up his work for lack of money.

I am enclosing two [New York Times] articles I have written about The Concord Review, as well as a letter to Lynne Cheney, written when she was head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a recent letter I sent to over 2,000 presidents of AFT locals. They will give you a fuller idea of why I think Will Fitzhugh’s work deserves your support. I hope you will be able to give him the help he needs.

Please contact me if there is anything more you would like to ask me.



Sincerely,
[signed]
Albert Shanker
President
American Federation of Teachers