Is Our Education System Broken? Maybe Just Its Definitions
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! In honor of tomorrow, I thought I’d try to tie in my post to the holiday in some way. It might be ham-handed, but I saw a connection! More on that later.
I have been having some lively discussions lately with a valued colleague at my university regarding American schools. He argues that my assertion that schools are broken is not accurate; rather, that only some schools are broken (those that serve the poorest children/families). He is essentially, in my view, railing against the inequity that exists, but is satisfied that the kids not in circumstances of poverty are actually doing very OK (hence, he argues, the high number of Nobel laureautes who have been educated in the American public education system). My impression of his argument has been that he believes American schools, as they exist for the most privileged in our society, are excellent, and if we could only get such schools for everyone (equity), then all would be well.
Educational historians and other researchers (e.g. chapter 3 in this book) have pinpointed equity and excellence as two conflicting forces in American education. We strive for both these things in our public schools, but in some cases they seem to work against each other (e.g. some educational critics have implied that opening up