Education 2020

An endless drumbeat on television and in the cinema promotes the belief that good students are nerds.  They are portrayed as socially awkward, bespectacled, pencil-necked geeks who exist to be picked on and who can’t get any girls.  It’s no wonder that our kids are not interested in academics and are embarrassed when they get good grades.  The anti-intellectual propaganda from the media is just one of many short-sighted ways that the entertainment industry leads us astray.

On the other hand, many of us baby boomers turn to our grandkids when we need to learn how to operate our new digital alarm clocks and smart phones.  Video games are so popular with our children that we have to pry their gaming gadgets out of their clenched little hands to get them to do something physical … like run, play, climb trees, and throw a ball for the dog to fetch.  Maybe there is a lesson in that.  Gaming technology may be a way to make academics attractive.

The United States ranks fifth in expenditures per full-time student amongst  the countries compared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (1)  There is a long-standing public perception, however, that the American school system is not giving the taxpayer his or her money’s worth.  This view is reinforced by the poor academic achievement test scores our students get, which compares unfavorably with the achievement scores kids attain in other “developed” countries:

     One of the biggest cross-national tests is the Programme for International
     Student Assessment (PISA), which every three years measures reading ability,
     math and science literacy and other key skills among 15-year-olds in dozens
     of developed and developing countries. The most recent PISA results, from
     2015, placed the U.S. an unimpressive 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th
     in science. Among the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
     and Development, which sponsors the PISA initiative, the U.S. ranked 30th in math
     and 19th in science. (2)

Americans dislike coming in second at anything.  Most of us find the middle of the pack unacceptable.

To be fair, using achievement tests alone to compare the effectiveness of educational systems in various countries is one-dimensional.  The tests may not measure what they are purported to.  Testing may measure the students’ test-taking ability, rather than whether they are able to apply learning to a real-world environment.    American teachers say that over-reliance on testing forces them to teach to the test, rather than to provide a well-rounded educational experience.  Directly comparing the test results from various countries without regard to variables like the size of their general population, level of cultural diversity, incidence of drug abuse, and familial support for education may be misleading.  Nevertheless, testing is the measurement that is most workable when comparing academic achievement on a worldwide scale, and negative outcomes cannot continue to be ignored.

Unless we use learning on a regular basis in our lives, though, we forget much of what we learned after we have been out of school for say five or ten years.  Hopefully, what we take away from school are the skills we need to inform ourselves when we need to, and to understand the world around us.  We absolutely must have the ability to convey ideas (more or less intact) to others.  So, how important is education to individuals and to society, really?

In the United States:

     Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in the United States

      in 2015–16 amounted to $706 billion, or $13,847 per public school student enrolled

      in the fall (in constant 2017–18 dollars).  Total expenditures included $12,330

     per student in current expenditures, which includes salaries, employee

     benefits, purchased services, tuition, and supplies. Total expenditures also

     included $1,155 per student in capital outlay (expenditures for property and for
     buildings and alterations completed by school district staff or contractors) and $362
     for interest on school debt. (3)

That’s a lot of money.  We must, therefore, conclude that our society places a high value on education.  The conventional wisdom is that the lifetime earnings of educated people are generally higher than those who are less educated.  The level of education, and which schools the applicant attended, are almost always a factor employers use in  the selection of employees.  We worry that we will fall behind in our ability to compete with other nations whose students have higher academic testing scores.

Think about where you stand regarding education when you pick the candidates you will vote for in November.  Do they understand educational issues?  Do they even care?  Since our reality will  include an educational system, what should it be like?  There are those who believe that public education should focus on teaching the “basics,” and eliminate the “fluff” in our schools’ curriculum.  On the other hand, Liberals, progressives, socialists and leftist special interest groups like the teachers’ union have been using the schools as a vehicle for social change.  Is that what you want your taxes to be used for?  Abraham Lincoln is reported to have said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”

More often than not our teachers go straight into the classroom after graduation from college.  Many have little experience in the real world of private industry or public service (other than teaching).  Indoctrinated by leftist professors, they teach that the profit motive is greedy and that businesses get rich by exploiting the poor.  As they mature through life experience, seasoned teachers are often considered to be “out of touch” and impediments to progress.  Their contributions based on a lifetime of acquired know-how are disregarded.  Do you like that?

A large chunk of the funding for education in the United States comes from the federal government.  If you have worked in state and local government, you quickly learn that federal money always comes with strings attached.  Each new presidential administration comes into office with a plan to “fix” the schools.  So, the educational system often has to change how it does business every four to eight years.  Does that seem to be wasteful and destructive to you?

Germany has a more successful educational system than ours (14^th in Science, 15^th in Mathematics, and 11^th in Reading). (4)  Students’ progress through Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education, Tertiary Education, and Continuing Education based on academic achievement. (5)  Academic standards and administrative laws or rules are set by the federal government in cooperation with the states (Bundesländer). (6)  Japanese students score even more highly on academic achievement tests ( 2^nd in Science, 5^th in Mathematics, and 8^th in Reading). (7)  Japan has a five-tired educational system (including college), and progress is based on the ability to pass stringent entrance examinations to enter each level. (8)  Perhaps our efforts to reform our educational system might benefit from a consideration of successful educational systems in other countries.

I intend to vote for candidates who have made themselves aware of the challenges we face in education, and who offer positive, constructive solutions to the problems we face.  I want to elect people who will work toward emphasizing the skills students needed contribute to the success of our capitalist economic system and constitutional republic.  I want the schools to produce students who will ensure that America will be able to compete effectively with other countries.  I would like to see our academic achievement ranked in the top five in disciplines like Science, Mathematics, Foreign Languages, Reading, and Writing.  We need people who are proficient in Research, Geography, Geology, and honest History (not the Anti-American,  revisionist pap the schools are teaching now).  We should be giving our children the ability to understand Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting, and Computer Science.  They do not need Values Clarification, Sensitivity Training, and Underwater Basket Weaving.

I will not vote for candidates who want to use our public, taxpayer funded school systems as “change agents” to promote socialism, alternative lifestyles, and other progressive causes.

I think I have been clear.  Where do you stand?  We all have a stake in it.

(1) Letter From the Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics Education Expenditures by Country (Last Updated: May 2020) https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp

(2) Pew Research Center, FEBRUARY 15, 2017, U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries, BY DREW DESILVER https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/

(3) National Center for Educational Statistics, Fast Facts,  https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66

(4) Pew Research Center, FEBRUARY 15, 2017, U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries, BY DREW DESILVER https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/

(5)  https://www.studying-in-germany.org/german-education-system/

(6) The German Way & More Language and Culture in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

 https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/education/the-german-school-system/

(7) Pew Research Center, FEBRUARY 15, 2017, U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries, BY DREW DESILVER https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/

(8)  The Japanese education system: Similarities and unique differences to the Western world By Cornelius Phanthanh - 4 July 2018 https://gogonihon.com/en/blog/learn-about-the-japanese-education-system/