An Orwellian vision for the city's schools

In George Orwell's 1984, they are the "proles." In America, they are the underclass. In Philadelphia, they are the students.

Orwell's nightmarish novel described a one-party state whose people were treated as a pent-up herd. That may sound like a quaint vision of a future abandoned on the highway of history, but take a look in the rearview mirror: It's gaining on us.

Philadelphia is facing a $377 million cut in state aid to its schools. According to the School District, that will mean laying off 1,260 teachers and 1,281 other employees - aides, custodians, counselors, and nurses. Also expected are massive cuts to busing (including for parochial and other private schools) and to kindergarten, which could be reduced to a half-day schedule or eliminated altogether.

Can you imagine the effect of eliminating an entire year of early-childhood education, which research has shown to be a crucial foundation of academic achievement? To what future does this lead?

And what will become of our city when the educational gains of recent years are discarded in favor of supposed cost-effectiveness? What will be the future cost in ignorance and despair?

While the drums beat for tax breaks for the rich and the governor refuses to tax the gas-drilling companies exploiting the Marcellus Shale, the burden is being foisted onto the shoulders of our city and the backs of our kids. In Orwell's world, it was totalitarianism that ran amok; in ours, it's capitalism.

In 1984, the world is run by and for the few. The rest merely inhabit the planet. To keep them distracted and unthreatening, the state supplies them with "Victory gin." Lets them stay drunk or addicted to drugs. Lets them engage in violence as long as it's against each other. Lets them live in poverty and misery as long as they stay out of sight and out of mind.

Sound familiar? Maybe you've been listening in the halls of Harrisburg. There's no doubt that there, the people of Philadelphia have been written off - most clearly the children.

As in Orwell's world, we effectively have a one-party state. Our two-party system has become a charade. Where is the loud opposition to the draconian cuts in Gov. Corbett's budget? Where are the media watchdogs?