I want to write a Jack’s Journal article about education, and I want to be optimistic, but that is proving to be difficult. There is little to be optimistic about.
Consider the data on student performance. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) report on the Condition of Education, the percentage of 4th grade students who scored at or above Proficient in math in 2022 was 36%. For 8th grade students the percentage was 26%, for 12th graders it was 24%.
In reading, the numbers are remarkably similar. Similar also in science. In summary, only about a third, or less, of our students are ‘Proficient’ in math, reading, and science. The percentage proficient ranges from 22% to 37%. In all cases the numbers are decreasing with time.
Hard to be optimistic.
But wait! There’s more. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) placed the U.S., out of 71 countries, 24th in reading, 38th in math, and 25th in science. This is about the middle and well below most other advanced industrialized nations.
Though all countries experienced the Covid pandemic, some of the most recent poor data can possibly be blamed on the pandemic — remote learning and all that. But the downward trend is long term. In 1983, A Nation at Risk was published by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. One conclusion: “The results demonstrate a virtually unbroken decline from 1963 to 1980. Average verbal scores fell over 50 points and average mathematics scores dropped nearly 40 points. Moreover the report said “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”
Why a “rising tide of mediocrity” in U.S. education? A lot of reasons. The teachers’ unions are surely one. State and National, the unions oppose any setting of standards for students or teachers. Without standards, anything will get mediocre.
The unions are very effective at raising money for schools, but there is no evidence that the increased money does anything for student’s learning.
And the unions very effectively oppose charter schools which have a good record of improving education results. The unions claim that charter schools “are funded by diverting dollars from local school districts.” That is not an honest statement. Per student funding is not generally affected by charter schools. Indeed, most charter schools receive less money per student than their counterparts since charter schools provide their own facilities.
Unions also oppose charter schools because charter schools are not required to hire union teachers.
After I retired from the University, and after I got tired of being retired, I got a job teaching high school math at a private, religious school. When I started teaching, I found that the kids were woefully behind their grade level in math. They were bright and learned quickly, but they were way behind. The school had not had a math person teaching math in years, using English and religion teachers for math.
The school did not value math education; they were surprised when I objected to the religion teacher keeping his class so they were always late to my math class. I lasted three years at this place only because the kids liked learning math.
I learned from this experience that there are no doubt schools that don’t value education, I mean true education which teaches facts and critical thinking, which has objectives and standards that tell them how they are doing, and which creates an atmosphere of caring about the kids’ learning. If schools (administrators, teachers, janitors) don’t care about education, the kids won’t care either. Here’s a little math equation: no caring + no standards = mediocrity.
Parents are the key. We have in this country of many cultures, some that don’t value education either as a way to get ahead or as an exercise that develops happier, more satisfied, more productive citizens. In these cultures, education is neglected, actually devalued. That’s the opposite of the way people used to feel about education. Children were damned well aware that their parents expected them to study and do well in school. It was the same in my generation and culture of middle Americans. It’s still that way for some kids, but by no means all. The stats shown above show that about a third of students are getting a valued education. We can easily imagine that a third more are going along, doing what they must. And about a third of parents and kids just don’t give a damn.
It’s not just math, science, and reading. It’s also civics and art and literature. And it’s critical, analytical thinking. In a democracy, we need citizens who are smart and educated enough to recognize and dismiss fake conspiracy theories, lies and liars, astrology, and narcissistic, autocratic politicians.
But what can be done? Change the unions? Not likely. Change the teachers’ colleges? Not likely. Change the negligent parents? Not likely. Change the kids? Maybe.
Teaching tenth and eleventh grade algebra, I got the question: “What good is this stuff? We’ll never use it for anything.”
“Yes, you will”, I would say. “You will use it for thinking, for learning other things, for recognizing nonsense, for feeling confident. You’re learning methods for solving problems . . . Algebra is like exercise for an athlete. He or she won’t use sit-ups or weight lifting or deep-knee bends in whatever games they play – but the exercise makes them much better players. You’re learning here to turn words into equations, to solve equations, to be accurate, to check your own work, and to care, because I care, about doing it right.
A school, curriculum, or teacher is a means to an end for individual students to become a more capable, more interesting, more satisfied, happier persons. How do we get students, young as they are, to value education in civics, literature, algebra, and all of it? Somehow we have to show them their self-interest lies in education. Parents used to know this and teach it to their kids. Now, too many don’t.
Just Sayin’.
John R. Dixon 