Improving Schools: Getting Down To Business
Education is the single most important indicator of future success in any society. And yet, it should be an issue that unites all members of a community — rich and poor alike — for an investment in the education of our children is both an investment for the future and a way to break cycles of poverty.
This article will aim to provide insight on what reforms can make our public school system better, including ideas on how to implement them effectively, how they might actually improve student achievement in schools overall and what they might look like. We’ll also do our best to dispel some common misconceptions about education reform.
Improving schools today is more complex and requires a greater commitment than ever before. Everyone wants to see the best results for students and these reforms, however doomed they might seem at first, are likely to have positive effects. But first, let’s take a look at where we’ve been and how we got here.
The history of education reform in the United States can be traced back to the beginning of our country. Education was one of the earliest issues in the nation when forming a union between 13 different states after their founding in 1776. The Articles of Confederation at the time required that each state create a system of education, and it was not until the Bill of Rights that an agreement was made regarding public education.
Early colonial leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin expressed a very different view on public schools when compared to modern ones. They believed there should be no government involvement in the process, with private schools to do that part. However, it was not just those with radical opinions who felt this way. As John Taylor Gatto has argued, many major figures in early America saw the role of schooling as training children for an occupation or trade and did not view schooling as necessarily beneficial for all children.
In 1642, the Massachusetts Bay Colony established a system to educate slaves in reading and writing, but this was to provide for their benefit. The fact that colonial policies regarding slavery resulted in black children attending these schools has often been overlooked.
The 1764 act of the Anglican Church for educating Indians had a very different purpose than the current effort. Rather than aim at creating a literate society among native communities as was held by many of those who pursued early American reform movements, it was meant to give Christian instruction to the indigenous members of the society.
As the country began to grow, so did its educational system. In 1839, Massachusetts set up the first official state board of education. The movement to establish public elementary schools began in earnest through Horace Mann who helped reform and standardize the curriculum and the methods of teaching to be used throughout the state, establishing a model that was soon imitated by other states.
Mann was also influential in supporting two longstanding trends: 1) that women should teach in public schools and 2) that children should be educated separately from adults. This led to a wave of immigration from Ireland in 1848-49 and the subsequent growth of Catholic schools across many midwestern states. In 1852, Nathaniel Hawthorne noted that Massachusetts had more Catholics than people in Ireland.
Schooling was not mandatory by law in any state until 1893 and compulsory attendance at school did not become a national policy until 1918 during World War I. During this time, there was also a trend toward higher and higher graduation requirements as the country sought to bolster its workforce by creating more capable students. Students were required to learn an extensive amount of material, including algebra and geometry by the end of high school.
Two world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930’s led to an expansion of government involvement in schooling. The G.I. Bill, the first federal student aid plan, was signed into law in 1944 and offered tax-free tuition for returning World War II veterans. This legislation would later be extended for use by all Americans who served in the military or went to college on a national level.
Apart from education, other federal programs were also created during this time that would later form the basis of our modern system of public schools. Government spending on children’s health care and nutrition has grown dramatically since 1935, especially under President Johnson’s War on Poverty beginning in 1964. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which was an amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965 and was the first federal legislation in education that focused on students rather than teachers, led to increases in funding for school districts with a high number of students living in poverty.
In just 50 years or so, we have gone from a nation where access to schooling is optional to one where it is mandatory and in which citizens are guaranteed aid if they can’t afford it. How well has this worked? Well, the results are mixed at best. The U.S. still lags behind other developed nations in many key areas of education including college completion rates and success on international reading and science tests by fourth grade students.
But the most important takeaway from this history lesson is that we must not fall into the trap of thinking that our current system is somehow inferior to an idealized public schooling system. In fact, in many ways it is still far superior to most others around the world. We do have a very different form of public education than most other countries around the world and we should be proud of that.
So what does an ideal system look like? It would involve better student outcomes, increased opportunities for all students, fewer dropouts and higher graduation rates but these goals are not set in stone. We do not have to be indifferent to the different forms of public schooling around the globe and we can see where we can make improvements.
For one, we should be able to educate children for free. Instead of a system in which you have to pay for your education, you should pay in taxes. If you are unable or unwilling to work, then others will pay for your education and they are thus entitled to it. This would be much more efficient than our current situation where many people cannot afford a good education and there is a huge administrative cost associated with those who do. A way must be found so that all children can have access on an equal basis without regards to their economic circumstances.
Conclusion
Now that I’ve talked through what the history of public education is and how it has changed, let’s look at the facts. Here are some of them (please note that these figures are from US Department of Education):
In 2012, 60% of 12th graders nationwide were “proficient” in math and only 34% were proficient in reading. In addition, only 40% of seniors in American high schools graduated on time or earlier. Only 65% of graduates had earned a college degree by 2012.
Only 56% of those who started a post-secondary education program completed their programs successfully.