Education in the United States is a disgrace. Education is all bubble and no champagne. It should be viewed as one of the biggest tragedies ever imposed by government, perhaps even including the violence of war.
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Government runs education like it runs everything else — terribly. Whatever government “fixes” it makes worse! It mucks things up at all levels. Education is an easily demonstrated government example of ineptness that need not be.
The tragedy of the education system is that it destroys lives. Generations of poor are condemned to stay poor without proper education. Schools in poor neighborhoods are sub-standard, guaranteeing no escape. This outcome is considered political collateral damage. Politicians, especially Democrats, find it politically expedient to write off lives to placate constituents. Some say creating more ignorant people is good for the political class.
A Long Time Ago
I recall having a discussion with a school-board member over forty years ago in Upstate New York. Yes, the education problem was apparent then and has only gotten much worse. She was excited about the reforms that the local school board was adopting.
After listening to her enthusiastic litany of changes, I explained that similar changes had been heralded for the prior twenty years with the intent of “fixing” things. Similar reforms had produced no results except a continuing downtrend in educational metrics. I opined that the simple mission of education was to educate and that this mission was compromised by all the tertiary functions that schools and teachers were burdened with. She agreed that education/learning was the primary and overriding objective.
Then we discussed some of the non-educational functions included in the laundry list of what schools were supposed to provide — indoctrination, homogenization, driver-ed., self-image enhancement, etc. etc. Agreement between us on these issues was more common than disagreement, although I was stubborn in my belief that elements in the new program addressed none of these.
Somewhat frustrated, she asked what it would take to convince me that schools were improving. I answered simply: “Sixteen year-olds in the fifth grade.”
Continue reading “Education — All Bubble and No Champagne”
