IT'S TIME TO INVESTIGATE U. S. EDUCATION:

I include this 29 year old article because it is interesting to see just how long people have been steering public education in the wrong direction.  William Bennett could have fixed what was wrong with public education when he was the Secretary of Education.  He was a Conservative Republican, and he had the power.  But he had weak knees.

It's Time to Investigate U. S. Education

By D. L. Cuddy

The Houston Post

Tuesday, May 17, 1988

Bennett's Report Underlines Repeated Failure to Do What We Know Works

I have just seen an advance copy of "American Education:  Making It Work,"  the report by U. S. Secreatyr of Eduation William Bennett to the president and the American people on the fifth anniversary of the study, "A Nation At Risk."  While the current report notes some positive signs concerning American edcuation during the past five years, Bennett staes that students' c"command of essential skills is too slight... and fundamental reforms remain necessary."  SAT scores have not risen the past three years and ACT scores declined from 1986 to 1987.

In specific areas, 40 percent of high school graduates entering the military in1 987 could read only at the 9th grade level or below; and in an international science compairson, advanced American students ranked last among 17 countries in bioloty.  The secretary's report refers to surviey over the past several years by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the results of 17-year-olds is six basic areas are alarming.

In writing, fewer than on-fourth could perform "adequatel," says the report.  In literature, about half didn't know Byron and Keat and Wordworth werr poets; in math only 6 percent performed adequtely on questions requiring algebra or multi-step problem solving.  IN history 43 percent could not place World WAr I between 1900 and 1950; in geography, 30 percent failed to idetify the Mississippi River on a map of North America, and in civics one-third didn't know the Declaration of Independence signaled the American colonists' break from England.

The report further notes that almost 60 percent of high school junior indicated they do less than one hour of homework per day, but 43 percent said they watch at east three hours of television daily. In addition, a 1987 Gallup Poll on educaiton named disruptive student behaviior as the biggest problem (after the problem of drug use) facing our schools.  In the same year, 44 percent of elementary and secondary teachers told researchers tht the frequency of disruptive behavior in their classrooms had increased since 1982.

Concerning opposition to reform, Bennett stated "Today we tend to hear what might be called opposition by extortion, a false claim that to fix our schools weill first require a forture in new funding."  The secretariy then pointed out that between 1981 and 1986, per-captia state pending for elementary and secondary education increased nationally by more than 40 percent.

I remember beginning as a professional teacher in the 1960s, after the SATs had begun their decline, and I recall hearing that educaiton was supposed to be a "leveling" process.  The problem with this type of thinking was that it's easer to level down than to level up.  Unfortunately for all students, a growing nubmer of schools in this country began to pursue the lowest common educational denominator.

Some would perhaps justify this action by claiming the newly integrated schools of thd 1960s necessitated a "leveling down" of academic expertations because mnorities were educationally behind.  However this is a racist attitude because blacks and Hispanics aren't mental inferiors.  Forthermore, minorities were then and still are being subjected to racial-balance busing which discriminate against them by usually required that they be transported in inverse proportion to the majority.

Actualy, we have known for some time what was wrong with education and what to do about it.

In reading, studies dating back to 1911 have indicated intensive phonics is the best method of instruction--yet today, about 85 percent of our school districts