Building an education nation
BY TOM BROKAW
Think of American education as a house of many rooms, each with a distinct function but taken as a whole, this house is shelter against the winds of change buffeting the world and threatening our future.
Any objective analysis of that shelter comes to the same conclusion: we have work to do to be sure we’re secure and able to hold our own against whatever this new global climate sends our way.
That’s the unsettling news. The good news? Work is under way, from the most remote school districts in rural America, to the inner city of our largest urban areas.
Standards and expectations are being raised and tested; new teaching techniques are being systematically measured and implemented; new kinds of schools are being constructed and politicians from the White House to the village green are being held accountable for their commitment to education.
For too long in our country, education was a one-size-fits-all model and the place of education in the public arena was more symbolic than real. Candidates regularly proclaimed, “I am running on a platfor
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