Is Public Education Even ‘Education’ Anymore?

Posted on by under education, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

The U.S. has so many critical issues in play today that I can only begin to list them:  the gun culture, encroaching fascism, extreme political divisiveness, healthcare, climate change, wealth inequality, and much more.  But the one that might be at the top of the list is education.  Our system of education is a mess right now … a bloody mess.  States are banning the teaching of diversity, of history, of just about everything young people need to learn in order to be prepared for life in the adult world.  Dan Rather addresses this topic far better than I could, so I’ll turn the reins over to him for a few minutes …

The Battle To Save Public Education

And the soul of America

By Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

18 August 2023

It is back to school. Students of all ages flock to campuses and classrooms. Fleeting memories of summer are quickly replaced by tests and textbooks.

Getting into the swing of a new semester has always included an adjustment period, but this is a particularly difficult time for many of our nation’s students and their parents, guardians, teachers, and others entrusted with the education of young minds. 

The pandemic wreaked havoc with the emotional, intellectual, and social development of America’s youth. Dismal test scores provide depressing data of yawning learning deficits. Talk to anyone in or around schools and you hear stories of setbacks and struggle — heaps of qualitative data suggesting a staggering scale of generational loss. 

As usual, those who were already the most marginalized have paid the heaviest price. The pandemic exacerbated existing disruptions and placed greater strain on finances and time, particularly in large urban districts and small rural ones tasked with educating children from families struggling economically. 

We like to tell ourselves that the United States is a great meritocracy, but wealth and levels of family education continue to play outsized roles in dictating a child’s likelihood of academic success long before she learns her ABCs. The simple truth is that kids come to school from widely different circumstances, and these influence their ability to thrive, independent of whatever innate intelligence or drive they may possess. The pandemic made these differences more acute. 

The United States does possess a system (or more accurately, a collection of thousands of systems) that, if nurtured and respected, could foster greater equality of opportunity. And it is exactly the institution that is now struggling the most: public education. America’s public schools were once the envy of the world as engines of opportunity and upward mobility. If the nation had the will, they could return to that status once again. 

Our public schools certainly weren’t perfect in the past, especially during legal racial segregation, when the lie of “separate but equal” (separate is never equal) helped enshrine white supremacy. The segregated schools of the Jim Crow Deep South were a shameful injustice and a stain on our national identity. They were inconsistent with our founding documents, which spoke eloquently about equality among people. Of course there was (and remains, to some extent) de facto segregation throughout America based on who lives in what neighborhoods. Well-financed suburban schools were often part of the draw of “white flight” from urban districts.

The very ethos of public education should be one of inclusion for America’s diverse population. It should be a place where children of different backgrounds come together to learn both from teachers and from each other. Our schools should be places that allow students to wrestle with what it means to be part of this great country, including understanding America’s uneven and often bloody road to greater equality. 

Sadly, in recent years, we have seen a grave regression from these noble goals. Our schools and school districts have become fiercely contested frontlines in an era of stepped-up culture wars. As reactionary political forces target what we teach our children, it is no accident that truth, empathy, and our democratic values have become casualties. 

A chief concern is how and what we teach about our history, particularly the Black experience, and race and ethnicity more generally. We have written here before about the shameful whitewashing of racial violence and injustice, including slavery, by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. But this effort is not limited to him or that state. There is a national movement to not tell the full — and unfortunately tragic — reality of race in American history and how it continues to shape the nation.

Another serious concern is the othering of LGBTQ+ students and teachers. After years of progress, we see a wave of intolerance spread across America, including in our schools. 

Few institutions in American life are as essential to the continuation of our democracy as the public schools. In a time of ascendent autocracy, attacks on our schools — how they are run, what they teach, what books they have in their libraries — are among the most pernicious, pathetic, and painful assaults on the health of our nation. 

Several months back, Texas Monthly ran a striking piece of journalism with the headline, “The Campaign to Sabotage Texas’s Public Schools.” It tells a story that extends beyond the raucous school board meetings and book banning campaigns that have gotten the most attention. There is a movement afoot, and not just in Texas, to destroy public schools more generally, to privatize education through vouchers and other means. 

In this context, the various culture fights become battles in a larger war over the very future and viability of public education: 

“Taken individually, any of these incidents may seem like a grassroots skirmish. But they are, more often than not, part of a well-organized and well-funded campaign executed by out-of-town political operatives and funded by billionaires in Texas and elsewhere. “In various parts of Texas right now, there are meetings taking place in small and large communities led by individuals who are literally providing tutorials—here’s what you say, here’s what you do,” said H. D. Chambers, the recently retired superintendent of Alief ISD, in southwest Harris County. “This divisiveness has been created that is basically telling parents they can’t trust public schools. It’s a systematic erosion of the confidence that people have in their schools.”

The ideal of quality, integrated public schools for all children in the United States epitomizes the promise of our country’s founding as a place of equality and opportunity for all. It thus makes sense that would-be autocrats and protectors of privilege would seek to undermine our public schools by whatever means necessary. We must see this as what it is: as much a threat to the nation as was the violent storming of our Capitol. 

The future of the United States depends on an educated and empathetic citizenry. It requires us to share a sense of common purpose and recognize our common humanity. It requires an environment that allows every child to thrive and see themselves included in the American story. It requires quality public education. Full stop. 

A historic battle to save this institution and the very idea of good public schools has been underway for some time. It is now intensifying. Attention must be paid.

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24 thoughts on “Is Public Education Even ‘Education’ Anymore?”

  1. Your title is a very good question. Was interested in reading Rather and Kirschner’s points, but felt a bit distanced from their point of view even if the main thing that they were trying to say is true. Yes, it is obvious that the United States has a problem with wealth creating more inequality, especially in our schools, as you can see if you teach in another developed country that does attempt to create equal conditions for every student. As a moderate with a very liberal pedigree but a certain social conservatism, I wonder if some liberals might be misinterpreting the standard “conservative” line on LGBTQ rights. There are people attacking the LGBTQ community right now, it is true, in an ugly way. Why the mainstream conservatives are not rallying to defend the LGBTQ community might be out of a sense that there is something a little off about insisting that high schoolers constantly need to be talking about sexual attraction. In high school, one goes from childhood to adulthood, so that time is fraught with questions about attraction, sexuality, identity, etc. It’s certainly important to live through this time honestly and with support. At the same time, one’s identity as a person, in my day, was more defined by other characteristics than it was by what one found attractive. Did one like math and data, or was one creative and experimental? Was one intellectual and idealistic, or materialistic and fun-loving? In the attempt to defend young adults’ right to be gay, queer, or transgender as adults, are we overemphasizing that question in our social debates? After all, that could be a private matter that, while the identity could be defended, and is defended, in the modern state, we all experience some attractions that society would rather us not feel. Why is it suddenly so urgently important to be “out” and “active” about sex while in HS? I find that to be because it is convenient for media moguls to sexualize younger children. Some of the gay friends I made while attending college take this line of thought and distort it to make it an attack on them, which it really is not. I think they are great, and love them and understand that they are gay and appreciate their right to be gay and their fear now that some scary people are trying to attack transgender people. But I think we could realize that there are other issues. We can reclaim the idea that family is still important and that for family to exist, we cannot all always pursue what we find attractive in the moment. Something matters more to our identity than that, or should, in a functioning society.

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  3. It hasn’t been education for at least 30 years, maybe longer. My son went to public schools but most of his education happened at home. If it wasn’t for me, he’d be as stupid as most of the people his age & younger.

    You need TAXES for a good public school system (& a whole bunch of other stuff that benefits the common good) & our tax system has been decimated since 1980.

    Liked by 3 people

  4. Jill, one of our problems in the US is to claim American Exceptionalism when it does not exist. With respect to public education, we are now taking something that was already faltering and made it much worse. At least five years ago, we were already down to 23rd in math and 27th in science in the world. And, there are far more literate countries than in the US.

    Here is an interesting tidbit. Before the internet back in the 1970s, several American insurers would box up claims files and fly them to Ireland for a claims adjudication. The Irish were, on average, more well read than the average US work force. Also, several North American call centers are down in Costa Rica because the population is 96% literate and a great majority are bilingual.

    Sure, we have our share of sharp folks, but we cannot pretend to be exceptional. Keith

    Liked by 3 people

    • PS – So, taking a few pages out of some governors’ playbooks, banning books is not a recipe for success. White washing history is not a recipe for success. Teaching science disinformation is not a recipe for success. Promoting a creationist museum with bogus history themes is not a recipe for success. Firing teachers who balk at this BS is not a recipe for success. It should be noted the state of Florida is having a hard time filling open teacher positions. Now, why is that? Keith

      Liked by 1 person

    • Agreed. That term, “American exceptionalism”, has always disturbed me. We do some things well and others not so much, just like every other nation on earth. As you point out, and as we can tell just by looking around us, our system of education is failing miserably these days, and likely to get even worse as Ron DeSantis and other state officials are passing laws forbidding the teaching of so many important lessons our young people desperately need to know.

      That’s interesting about the insurers sending their claims all the way across the pond to Ireland … I had no idea! Yes, we do have some sharp people, but so does China, France, Mexico, Brazil, and all the rest. We are definitely NOT exceptionally brilliant as a nation, though. For proof, we need look no further than the fact that we elected a highly unqualified, unscrupulous wanna-be dictator who is now facing 91 felony charges to the highest office in the land.

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  5. Pingback: Is Public Education Even ‘Education’ Anymore? | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  6. Thank you for sharing!!.. In history’s past, if one did not like the environment they were in, they could load up the family and move to a place where they could create their own little world…in today’s world, one cannot do that for a number of reasons… 🙂
    Therefore, conservatives and like minded thinkers are trying to create their own little world and one method it changing the laws of the land… the other method is trying to influence the minds of the young, trying to avoid the term “brainwashing”, to think as they do..:)
    The problem the conservatives, and others have, is “technology”… the student goes to class because they have to, but once the student leaves the classroom, they can turn on their “cell”, use various resources on the internet and friends near and far to gather more knowledge… and it is a no win situation to deny students that technology because of a possible risk of a rebellion of the young and also damage to the economy… 🙂

    Dealing with heat here, hope all is well in your part of the universe, family is safe and until we meet again…

    May your troubles be less
    Your blessings be more
    And nothing but happiness
    Come through your door
    May the dreams you hold dearest
    Be those which come true
    May the kindness you spread
    Keep returning to you
    (Irish Saying)

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Public education is still the foundation of a democratic nation. “PUBLIC” means without interference. Children need to be able to learn freely whatever intersts and excites them. All attempts to control what can be learned is a blow against democracy. The goal is to give students the information to allow them to make reasoned decisions. If they don’t have total information, there is no such thing as freedom!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Well, technically ‘Public’ doesn’t mean ‘without interference’, but rather means available to everyone, regardless of income, etc. I think that there must be standards, but I think they should not be limiting standards. For example, every school child should learn to read, write, and learn basic math skills. Those are measurable and there must be a minimal goal to achieve. I also think the standards should include teaching everything that is necessary for a person to succeed in the adult world. So no, you cannot just take away all standards and leave it up to teachers or individual schools, but there should not be standards that limit what is taught, that turn it from an education to a religious indoctrination.

      Liked by 2 people

  8. Sorry, Jill, but even Dan Rather suffers from Americo-centric biases. For as long as I have been seeing published results, American grade-school students are well behind Canadian students in all kinds of subjects. You beat us on some, but the majority of comparisons go to us. (Unless Canadian publications are fudging the results, but there is no reason to do that — we grew up knowing we were inferior to Americans.) You (Americans in general) kept telling us that!
    Now… back to the text…

    Liked by 2 people

    • I suppose it’s natural for anyone/everyone to be somewhat biased toward their own country, but I would certainly never say Canadians are inferior in ANY way. The thing about our education system is that we are further destroying it just in the past year or two, with intentions by some politicos to simply stop teaching academics at all, but teach only what the religious groups (Christians only, of course) want taught. THAT is a recipe for disaster!!! That makes us no better than Iran!

      Liked by 2 people

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