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Friday, August 3, 2012

The Educated Reporter: Is State Of U.S. Public Schools A Threat To National Security?

The Educated Reporter: Is State Of U.S. Public Schools A Threat To National Security?:


Is State Of U.S. Public Schools A Threat To National Security?

The Educated Reporter is taking a brief summer hiatus, and will return Wednesday, Aug. 8. For the next few days you'll have a chance to catch up on some past posts.  

A Council on Foreign Relations task force, led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, claims that the poor quality of America’s public education system represents a threat to national security. But the group's recommendations for fixing schools have no shortage of detractors, including some of the  experts who were asked to serve on the task force.

According to the task force, the nation’s education system is failing to turn out enough engineers or students competent in foreign languages. And as a whole, the nation’s youth doesn’t have a deep enough understanding of the wider world.

The solutions, as laid out in the final report released in March, are: more choice (in the form of vouchers and charter schools); an expanded version of the Common Core curriculum being adopted by most states that