by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n
L<\/span>ast week I went shopping in our small rural hometown, where my family has attended the same public schools since 1896. Without exception, all six generations of us \u2014 whether farmers, housewives, day laborers, business people, writers, lawyers or educators \u2014 were given a good, competitive K-12 education.<\/p>\n But after a haircut, I noticed that the 20-something cashier could not count out change. The next day, at the electronic outlet store, another young clerk could not read \u2014 much less explain \u2014 the basic English of the buyer’s warranty. At the food market, I listened as a young couple argued over the price of a cut of tri-tip \u2014 unable to calculate the meat’s real value from its price per pound.<\/p>\n As another school year is set to get under way, it’s worth pondering where this epidemic of ignorance came from.<\/p>\n Our\u00a0presidential candidates sense the danger of this dumbing down of American society and are arguing over the dismal status of contemporary education: poor graduation rates, weak test scores and suspect literacy among the general population. Politicians warn that America’s edge in global research and productivity will disappear, and with it our high standard of living.<\/p>\n Yet the bleak statistics \u2014 whether a 70 percent high school graduation rate as measured in a study a few years ago by The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, or poor math rankings in comparison with other industrial nations \u2014 come at a time when our schools inflate grades and often honor multiple valedictorians at high school graduation ceremonies.\u00a0Aggregate state and federal education budgets are high. Too few A’s, too few top awards and too little funding apparently don’t seem to be our real problems.<\/p>\n Of course, most critics agree that the root causes for our undereducated youth are not all the schools’ fault. Our present ambition to make every American youth college material \u2014 in a way our forefathers would have thought ludicrous \u2014 ensures that we will both fail in that utopian goal and lack enough literate Americans with critical vocational skills.<\/p>\n The disintegration of the American nuclear family is also at fault. Too many students don’t have two parents reminding them of the value of both abstract and practical learning.<\/p>\n W<\/span>hat then can our elementary and secondary schools do, when many of their students’ problems begin at home or arise from our warped popular culture?<\/p>\n We should first scrap the popular therapeutic curriculum that in the scarce hours of the school day crams in sermons on race, class, gender, drugs, sex, self-esteem or environmentalism. These are well-intentioned efforts to make a kinder and gentler generation more sensitive to our nation’s supposed past and present sins. But they only squeeze out far more important subjects.<\/p>\n The old\u00a0approach to education saw things differently than we do. Education (“to lead out” or “to bring up”) was not defined as being “sensitive” to,\u00a0or “correct” on, particular issues. It was instead the rational ability to make sense of the chaotic present through the abstract wisdom of the past.<\/p>\n So literature, history, math and science gave students plenty of facts, theorems, people and dates to draw on. Then training in logic, language and philosophy provided the tools to use and express that accumulated wisdom. Teachers usually did not care where all that training led their students politically \u2014 only that their pupils’ ideas and views were supported with facts and argued rationally.<\/p>\n W<\/span>hat else can we do to restore such traditional learning before the United States loses it global primacy?<\/p>\n To encourage our best minds to become teachers, we should also change the qualifications for becoming one. Students should be able to pursue\u00a0careers in teaching either by getting a standard teaching credential or by substituting a master’s degree in an academic subject. That way we will eventually end up with more instructors with real academic knowledge rather than prepped with theories about how to teach.<\/p>\n And once hired, K-12 teachers should accept that tenure has outlived its usefulness. Near-guaranteed lifelong employment has become an archaic institution that shields educators from answerability. And tenure has not ensured ideological diversity and independence. Nearly the exact opposite \u2014 a herd mentality \u2014 presides within many school faculties. Periodic and renewable contracts \u2014 with requirements, goals and incentives \u2014 would far better ensure teacher credibility and accountability.<\/p>\n Athletics, counseling and social activism\u00a0may be desirable in schools. But they are not crucial. Our pay scales should reflect that reality. Our top classroom teachers should earn as much as \u2014 if not more than \u2014 administrators, bureaucrats, coaches and advisers.<\/p>\n Liberal education of the type my farming grandfather got was the reason why the United States grew wealthy, free and stable. But without it, the nation of his great-grandchildren will become poor, docile and insecure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a92007 Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Last week I went shopping in our small rural hometown, where my family has attended the same public schools since 1896. Without exception, all six generations of us \u2014 whether farmers, housewives, day laborers, business people, writers, lawyers or educators \u2014 were given a good, competitive K-12 education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[755],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Ve","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6939,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/eating-our-young\/","url_meta":{"origin":3548,"position":0},"title":"Eating Our Young","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0PJ Media\u00a0 It is popular now to talk of race, class, and gender oppression. But left out of this focus on supposed victim groups is the one truly targeted cohort \u2014 the young. Despite the Obama-era hype, we are not suffering new outbreaks of racism. Wendy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education"","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12742,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/young-leaders-circle-with-victor-davis-hanson\/","url_meta":{"origin":3548,"position":1},"title":"Young Leaders Circle With Victor Davis Hanson","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6858,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-obamacare-generation\/","url_meta":{"origin":3548,"position":2},"title":"The Obamacare Generation","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The ACA depends on Millennials picking up the tab -- as they already are for other entitlements -- in the midst of a bad economy. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 There are all sorts of time bombs embedded within Obamacare. Will we force doctors to treat the millions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "America's Future"","block_context":{"text":"America's Future","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/americas-future\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11968,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/victor-davis-hanson-why-are-so-many-young-people-calling-themselves-socialists\/","url_meta":{"origin":3548,"position":3},"title":"Victor Davis Hanson: Why are so many young people calling themselves socialists?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Fox News \u201cSocialist!\u201d\u00a0is no longer a McCarthyite slur. Rather, the fresh celebrity \u201cSquad\u201d of newly elected identity-politics congresswomen \u2013\u00a0Ilhan Omar,\u00a0D-Minn.; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; \u2013 \u00a0often either claim to be socialists or embrace socialist ideas. A recent Harris poll showed\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2424,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/young-westerners-deprives-or-decadent\/","url_meta":{"origin":3548,"position":4},"title":"Young Westerners–Deprives or Decadent?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services A\u00a0once civil and orderly England was recently torn apart by rioting and looting \u2014 at first by mostly minority youth, but eventually also by young Brits in general. This summer, a number of American cities witnessed so-called \"flash mobs\" \u2014 mostly African-American youths\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "America's Future"","block_context":{"text":"America's Future","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/americas-future\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4169,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/hollywoods-misunderstood-terrorists\/","url_meta":{"origin":3548,"position":5},"title":"Hollywood’s Misunderstood Terrorists","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services When terrorism goes to the movies in the post-Sept. 11 world, we might expect the plots, characters and themes to reflect some sort of believable reality. But in Hollywood, the politically correct impulse now overrides all else. Even the spectacular pyrotechnics, beautiful people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "January 2006"","block_context":{"text":"January 2006","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2006\/january-2006\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3549,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3548\/revisions\/3549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}