American Democracy is "On the Brink" and Public Education is Part of the Problem

Gallup: By a 55% to 42% Margin, Americans are Dissatisfied with Public Education

Count me among those dissatisfied with the American public education system, though not for the same reason most people find themselves feeling that way.  This particular poll, along with other recent polling data, attributes some of the recent increase in dissatisfaction happening among conservatives and the far right, who have bought into a false narrative about instructional objectives which "groom" students to consider a gender identity other than the one they were born with, and which promotes other "woke" ideas like racial equality, critical race theory and this whole idea that all Americans, regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion or lack therof, native language or other distinguishing differences, have equal rights guaranteed by the constitution.  

Did you detect a note of sarcasm there?  

Schools are a microcosm of the communities they serve, so naturally, they reflect community values.  They are government-owned institutions, which means that they cannot constitutionally promote or favor students or employees based on their religious beliefs, or the absence of them.  But they should be fulfilling a primary purpose, one that was intended by those who saw the value of providing the opportunity for education to everyone in the country, and that was to use education as a primary means of preserving the democracy through having a well-informed, educated electorate.  

I'm not convinced that public education in this country is living up to that expectation, nor has it been doing so for a while.  My opinion is based partly on observation, from having been an educator for most of my career, and having a front row seat to observe what is happening in schools.  And it is based on the observation of what has been happening in politics and government.  We're seeing some dangerous extremes, not that we haven't seen this sort of thing before, but we haven't seen the widespread acceptance of ideas that have no factual foundation, and which gain acceptance without any evaluation of their truthfulness or any evidence that the issue driving them is a reality.  

Education Doesn't Work as a "For-Profit" Business Enterprise 

The absolute reality of education in a free society, especially in a constitutional, representative democracy, is that it must have adequate resources to succeed.  And the primary key to success in education is the quality of those who are engaged in the occupation of teaching the students, starting in the lowest grade levels.  Private business, motivated by profit margins, secures the best employees it can find to staff its operations because the ability to make a profit depends on their ability to compete in the marketplace.  

The inequity of achievement among American schools is directly related to the inequity of funding available.  More accurately, it is directly related to teacher compensation and the provision made for their continued professional development and advancement.  The difference between overall levels of student achievement in states where teacher salaries are similar to other professional occupations, and where professional development in the form of both graduate-level education and in-house training are provided by the school systems, and those where teacher salaries are low by comparison, and teachers must pay for most of their own training, is staggering.  

That inequity of funding is as political as it gets.  It's one of the fundamental differences between Democrats, who support public education at a high level and understand that providing high quality, competitive education requires paying for high quality, well-trained teachers, and Republicans, who seem willing to let public schools deteriorate and collapse around the students enrolled in them to give tax breaks to the wealthy and to corporate business.  Then those same businesses seek their employees from those places where Democrats are in charge of the schools. 

The difference in teacher pay and benefits across the country is also as staggering as the differences in levels of student achievement.  The two things go hand in hand.  And the level of student achievement directly affects the issue of political awareness required to be members of the supportive electorate in a representative democracy.  

Start Social Studies Education Early, and Make it Equal with Science and Mathematics Requirements

The emphasis on technical education, and on mathematics and science core objectives in schools is understandable, given the comparisons between American students and those in the rest of the industrial and developed world.  But it has come at a sacrifice of time spent in other subjects, most specifically social studies.  From someone who has taught government and constitution over a period of time, and who has seen the objectives reduced and the requirements downgraded, this has been discouraging.  It also explains, in my humble opinion, exactly why our democracy has come to this particular point in its history.  Ignorance exhibited publicly about matters pertaining to American history, the founders, the constitution and how government and the economy actually work, by members of Congress who missed out on simple, eighth grade instruction, has been appalling.  

And if that's what members of Congress don't know, the level of misinformation among the electorate is also appalling.  And dangerous. 

The common complaint I've heard, when I bring this up in educational circles, is that math and science requirements take up too much of the time, and they've crowded out the social studies requirements.  But the solution to that is simple.  Students in European countries, and in places like Japan, China, Singapore and Korea, have a longer school day, as much as two hours longer in some cases.  While most American students are in between 8:00 and 8:45 a.m., they're out by 2:30 in most cases, earlier in some places, on their way home and done with school for the day.  Many of them will only log on to their computer to play games or get on social media after that.  But elsewhere in the world, leaving before 4:00 p.m. is unusual, and depending on the block schedule for the day, dismissal at 5:00 is not unusual.  

Several years back, I lived and worked in a school in the suburbs of a large city in a southern state where many of the students were the children of Asian immigrants from Singapore, Malaysia and China, engaged in the research side of two major oilfield companies near the school.  Almost all of these students would leave our school at dismissal, and would spend another two hours a day every Monday through Thursday in a supplemental educational program hosted at a local ethnic community center, where they studied Chinese, English grammar, composition and public speaking skills, and studied American History, Government and Democracy.  One of the parents told me flat out it was because they observed the inadequacy of the public school education and because of the "glass ceilings" which existed in the American culture in which they chose to live, the added education gave their children an advantage.  They came here because of the opportunities and freedom provided by American democracy, and wanted their children to understand it, respect it and benefit from it.  

Imagine that.  

So what would be the problem with adding an hour to the school day and making sure our students in every school are educated in the full scope of American history and civics, not only to avoid the mistakes of the past, but to help students understand the scope of the freedom they enjoy, not to take it for granted or expect that it will always be there, but to encourage direct involvement to help make it work even better than it does?  Is that not worth an additional hour of school per day, which would still not equal a 40 hour week? 

Education is the Power to Fight Against Ignorance

Nelson Mandela said, "The worst enemy of humanity is ignorance and fear, and the best weapon to fight this is education.  If you educate a person, you are empowering that person."  

This isn't an instant solution for what has become a chronic, long term problem.  Undermining education appears to be part of the strategy that is being used to slowly destroy or completely change American democracy.  It's one of many things that must be done now to put up a front against the ignorance that is the best weapon of the enemies of democracy, who are using other institutional tools, including religion, social media and massive amounts of wealth, to bring about their own kind of change.  

We have to save our schools, so that they can empower the next generation, or our children and grandchildren may never know the freedom we've known and experienced.