Expert: Doug Farmwald - 12/2/2002

Question
I am doing a report for advanced composition about public education and I was wondering if you could help me out. My report is due next monday.
Do you think that the quality of public education has decreased over the years?

Answer
Hi Ashley,

You ask a tough question and I am not sure that there is just one answer to it.  I suppose it depends on how you wish to define improvement.  More kids are in school than ever before and more are graduating.  Schools now accomodate students with any disability and make special efforts for those students who do not speak English as a native tongue.  Schools are also offering more in the way of extra-curricular activities and support services than ever before.  The difference between the opportunities available to me when I was in high school and those available to my son is amazing.  The technological changes are also extraordinary.  Much of what is commonly used in schools today didn't even exist 10 years ago.  So, by those measures, education has definitely improved.

On the other hand, high school graduates are requiring more remedial work to qualify for college than ever before and by most objective standards the average American high school student has less than adequate communication skills, limited ability to apply any mathematics to the real world, and is simply clueless with regard to history and geography.  A sadly growing number of young children are entering school from fractured and chaotic family settings and are not by any means ready to learn.  By measures like those or standardized test scores (a few years ago the SAT was actually re-normed to boost sagging scores) education has not improved.

I think it is important to remember that the educational system exists in and is a reflection of American society in general.  I think a large part of the problem is that there is no consensus in society as to what we, as citizens, want from our education system and what we are willing to do to support it.  This is a reflection of the larger changes sweeping through America over the last 30 years.  Family life and working life are radically different today than in the previous generation, the demogrphics of the country are startling (approximately half the current work force will reach retirement age in the next 10 years for example), the income distribution is increasing skewed in favor of the wealthiest (who opt out of public education in the greatest numbers) and I don't think anyone is truly versed in the technological changes that have occurred over the last decade-let alone what may become possible during the next.

All these pressures are something that society must-but hasn't quite yet-adapt to.  Until the larger society assimilates these changes, the education system will contine to reflect the confusion and dislocation that typifies American at large.

Wow, how's that for a long answer to a short question?  I didn't mean to expound at such length but your question is a very important one and not one easily answered.  I hope I provided you with something you can use in your report and please feel free to ask any follow up questions that may occur to you.

Doug Farmwald
Satyricus@aol.com