There is perhaps no more important feature of society than its method of educating its children. Education is the means by which a society sustains itself. The greatest political and economic system in the world will disappear in one generation if that generation is not adequately educated. The U.S. has for a long time been sustained on the world stage by its emphasis on education. That time appears to be ending. We now rank in the middle (17th-27th) for educational achievement compared to 50 other industrialized countries, despite spending the 4th highest amounts on education. In the absence of a sea change in our approach to education, this slide will ultimately mean the end of U.S. world leadership, not to mention our own economic and political devolution. Unfortunately, we as a society have lost sight of what lies behind a successful approach to education. It isn't the school system and it isn't the teachers.
It is the students.
In the time of Jefferson, necessary education meant that the elite in society were brought up with books and expected to master (or at least have facility with) a broad range of ideas, including literature, history, politics, religion, economics, philosophy, and science. With an agrarian society, it was sufficient that the political leadership be educated. Yet most leaders, and especially people like Jefferson, understood that economic and political progress was vastly enhanced by the education of all members of society. The ability to read and write and perform basic mathematics meant that advances in technology would spread more quickly and lead to an informed citizenry that would make better decisions.
This emphasis on education led to the creation of one of the greatest public school systems on the planet. By 1880 fully 83% of the U.S. population was literate, and the U.S. led the world in literacy at 97% by 1940. American institutions of higher learning, despite a 500 year head-start by Europe, quickly rivaled the achievements of the top Universities of England, Germany, and France And what powered them was the rising educational level of the populace. Education was, rightfully, seen as the great equalizer. It was the means by which the poorest in society could overcome the disabilities of wealth and class to rise in economic and political power. Immigrants came to the United States and sacrificed in order to educate their children. That was the goal. Not to provide their children with wealth, but to provide them with an education. This was the focus of our immigrant society. And it led to the true American revolution. Not a revolution of politics, but a revolution of education-powered economics, in which new ideas, new inventions, and new companies dominated the world scene with the automobile, the airplane, the battleship, the washing-machine, the radio, and the computer.
Yet somewhere along the way, the fact that education was the driving force behind this achievement became lost. When most everyone has an automobile and a washing-machine and a computer, etc., education begins to seem less of a critical need, and more of an article of consumption itself. Everyone is expected to graduate from high school and colleges become the equivalent of a flashy car. Most unfortunately, the need for an educational focus that begins at home is lost. Read a sample of even the best newspapers. Or more tellingly, listen to the nightly news. The inchoate ability to communicate among those whose job it is to communicate glaringly highlights the fact that reading is not something that is taken seriously any more. Look at our politicians - the fact that many of our Presidential candidates (already "successful") don't understand basic facts of science, economics, history, or even the English language itself indicates just how far we have fallen.
The U.S. public is not blind to the fact that our up-coming generations are not educated. They just misinterpret this as the fault of the school system. It's "liberal political correctness" or "the loss of religious standards" or "racial segregation" or "economic disparity" that is to blame. But few point to the true problem, namely, the failure of parents to focus on education and to instill in their children a love of learning. Parents are quick to buy their children televisions, computers, and cell phones, but they don't sit and read. The average family spends $2700 on entertainment and $118 on reading (for a family of 4) per year. Many middle class families have almost no books in their household. Education is at best seen as a means to acquire the diploma or the certificate that unlocks a job, but the liberal education is no longer seen as a good in itself, nor as the true ladder to success. Worse yet, it is the school system that is incorrectly blamed as the responsible entity for the failures in education.
Unless we reform our focus on the importance of education as a parent's primary responsibility, all the reforms of NCLB, common core, school vouchers, etc. are equally doomed to failure. Well-intentioned liberals will continue to throw money at the schools and misguided conservatives will continue to try to shift from public education to education as business model.
Neither will succeed.