It is that time when the young ones grab their backpack, mom snaps the annual back-to-school photo and off go little Lucas and little Evelyn to begin a new school year.
As with the start of any season, hope springs eternal. Yet, the reality is that our American public education system has not made the grade year after year after year. Much of the country has become so inured to this chronic underperformance that it is taken as a given.
We tolerate mediocrity and call it above average. We lower expectations and still fall short of the mark.
What we have come to accept should be nothing short of a national scandal. If we assign it a moniker ending in “Gate,” perhaps it will receive the requisite level of attention. How about “Edugate?”
The scandal is two-fold. First is the unyielding, even widening, achievement gap between children of prosperous families and those coming from lesser circumstances. Clearly, race and ethnicity are factors, though at its core, this is a function of economic class and that growing divide.
If that was not outrage enough, the second parallel scandal centers on where we set the bar and what we deem acceptable in terms of educational adequacy and competitiveness. Otherwise put, as a country, we are deluding ourselves into thinking that our outcomes are a lot better than is objectively the case.
Suffice to say that delusion is rarely a wise or viable long-term strategy.
To be clear, there are many superb, highly dedicated teachers across America. As in any pursuit, there are star performers (bless them and pay them more), average folks doing their limited best and deadweight at the lower end of the job spectrum.
And many students are emerging with a first-rate education, ready to conquer the world.
But the numbers do not lie. Using Denver as an urban microcosm, 2023 CMAS results showed 72 percent of white students at or above grade level on literacy with only 26 percent of black students and 24 percent of Hispanics hitting that benchmark. Such gaps are nothing short of unconscionable.
Across the country, it was not that many years ago that black students lagged their white counterparts in math achievements by 26 points in fourth grade and 31 points in eighth grade. By many accounts, the pandemic only exacerbated that crevice.
To the broader point, America is losing the educational competition to much of the world. In simpler, crasser terms, we are getting our butts kicked.
Per the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 34 countries demonstrated better results in the mathematical education and capabilities of 15-year-olds. Lest you think this is only a function of Asian countries and overbearing tiger moms, America also lagged the likes of Canada, Poland, Estonia, Australia, Slovenia and Malt, to name but a few.
By the measure of fourth-grade literacy, the U.S. does relatively better, though it still comes in behind countries such as Ireland, Great Britain, Poland, and Hong Kong.
This is a column, not a dissertation, meaning that statistics must be held to a dull roar. But you get the picture.
In a sense, lots of parents are asking the wrong question. Too many are hung up on comparing this school with some other a mile away or across town. That is interesting and some spirit of competition should raise most boats.
But the real measure is not how Smith Elementary compares to Jones Elementary, but how either of them does in preparing children to meet the test of an interconnected, global world. By that standard, far too many American schools are failing.
Settling for “good enough” or “better than my other option” or even the overused yardstick of “my child likes his teacher” will prove insufficient to maintain American dominance and flourishing.
Prescriptions are not one-size-fits-all. Innovation is to be sought. More choice for parents and students beats less. Testing is necessary, though it has been overdone and has not driven the degree of improvement initially advertised. Equity must be pursued, though not at the expense of excellence.
The industrial model has outlived its usefulness. Variable pay would incentivize outstanding teachers. Grade inflation serves no one; ditto for the false boosting of self-esteem. Adult agendas must be distinctly secondary to child imperatives.
Funding is a piece of the equation. Though per-pupil funding across the U.S. exceeds that in most countries, producing far better outcomes. Among U.S. states, there is little correlation between such funding and student performance. Moreover, additional monies should fund markedly improved products, not the same old, same old of unsuccessful systems and processes.
All told, America must regard this as nothing short of a five-alarm national crisis and a front-page, banner-headline scandal. Tolerating an endless gap between Americans of different skin tone or class consigns many of our fellow citizens to less than full lives. While settling for broader mediocrity or worse only yields more of it.
Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann
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