Why Our Schools Don’t Work
Let’s be clear. The research on the failure of American schools has been quite alarming for decades. Prominent educational scholars, impassioned parents, overwhelmed teachers, and frustrated students all share a common disappointment regarding ineffective curriculum, poor consequences, and stifling culture in many locales across the country. Having attended the Orange County (NC) Strong School Board forum for candidates, I can now double-down on at least one very obvious reason why we can’t make progress — smart people aren’t always smart. When posed with the question: “Without defaulting to the easy answer of them both being equal, which ‘ism do you find to be more disturbing in terms of educational inequities in Orange County — classism or racism?” only one candidate replied racism. You have to name it to tame it.
In April 1983 our country was shocked by the government report, “A Nation At Risk,” which outlined how U.S. students were being out-competed internationally and the declining state of educational standards. “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 as a people,” stated the researchers. More recently the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) findings continue to mark the downward spiral of academic achievement. (PISA is a triennial study of ~ 600,000 15 year-old students across the…
