Saving Education in America: A Sure Foundation

Any article intent on prescribing the saving of American education must begin with a thorough look at the primary purposes of education. Without a shared vision of the purpose of education, no school system can be built on a sure foundation. For the success of American children and the future of our nation, we must revive a shared vision of the primary purposes of education.

I believe education in America should be built on classical western values and provide all students with a quality classical liberal arts education, which I believe most contributes to the development of moral mature thinkers who are prepared to thrive in any chosen life path and sustain a free civilization. To that end, consider this statement by Thomas Jefferson on the parameters and purposes of a primary education:

"The objects of this primary education are to give to every citizen the information he needs for the transaction of his own business; To enable him to calculate for himself, and to express and preserve his ideas, his contracts and accounts, in writing; To improve by reading, his morals and faculties; To understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed. To instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests and duties, as men and citizens, being then the objects of education in the primary schools, whether private or public, in them should be taught reading, writing and numerical arithmetic, the elements of mensuration...and the outlines of geography and history.” ~ Thomas Jefferson (August 4, 1818)

I do not believe in an apolitical education, because all education must by necessity have a political aim. As Thomas Jefferson outlined, a person must be educated “to understand his duties to his neighbors and country, and to discharge with competence the functions confided to him by either; To know his rights; to exercise with order and justice those he retains; to choose with discretion the fiduciary of those he delegates; and to notice their conduct with diligence, with candor and judgment; And, in general, to observe with intelligence and faithfulness all the social relations under which he shall be placed.” For this end "children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom" (John Adams), because “the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” (Abraham Lincoln).

I do not believe in a so-called “secular” education, which purports to be religiously and politically neutral but in reality it is anti-religion and immoral, and as such has taken on a particular political world view antithetical to the principles of moral liberty in the western world. A moral education is a necessity for the flourishing of the individual as well as the sustainment of a civil society and an ordered liberty. For the basis of this principle, consider these words from George Washington:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them.” (Washington’s Farewell Address, 1792)

Thus, any primary education must attend to the moral education of the child. For “what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.” (Edmund Burke)

The Failures of Modern Education:

Our modern education systems in the United States are built upon a failed philosophy of standardization in an attempt to build a workforce-oriented school system at the expense of the greater characteristics of sound education. These systems have led to the dumbing down of the American populous and have failed to develop moral mature thinkers prepared to thrive in any chosen life path.

Education planners have ignored accepted scientific research on human development and correlate education with the processes applied in the manufacturing sector which deluge students with test taking and assignment rubrics; bore and frustrate; leave young children in school for excessive hours without play based learning; squash the love of learning; impede quality teaching; pit schools against parents, and fail to develop creative mature human beings.

I oppose assessment methods in K-6 that lead to months of every school year used up in high-stakes testing. These testing regimes ignore the science of how children learn; are ineffective tools for assessment of academic progress in young children; exclude more meaningful ways students demonstrate proficiency and progress; transform schools into centers for test preparation; chip away at a child’s innate love of learning, and lead to excessive pressure on students and teachers.

Restoring Education Excellence Begins with Restoring Freedom In Education:

In this section I will refrain from some lengthy description of my idea of a perfect school, or school system, for the only effective long term principle that has a chance at correcting the broken school systems in America, which are prolific at this point, is to set education free and let federalism do its innovative magic.

Local decision making for education and educational choice serve both students and teachers better than the attempt to standardize and control education at the federal level. Even state boards of education should exercise the principle of local control over school systems. Local control of education gives parents the maximum influence over the type of school systems their local communities will build, giving communities a chance to build school systems that will attend to the moral and academic development of children and facilitate individualized learning and teaching styles instead of putting every child and teacher in the same box.