So, what's RIGHT about education?
It's like a breath of fresh air to hear someone discuss the strengths of American education when the prevailing winds all blow cold.In the October 1991 issue of the Phi Delta Kappan, Gerald Bracey looks at what he calls "the big lie" and comes to the conclusion that American schools have never achieved more than they are now achieving.
Bracey gleaned from statistics that are widely available to reach his bottom line. Among the topics on which he takes issue:
- The dropout problem. Despite perceptions that the average dropout is a minority, comes from a broken home and doesn't speak English, Bracey found just the opposite to be true. Sixty-six percent of dropouts are white, 68 percent come from two-parent homes and 86 percent from homes where English is the primary language.
In addition, he notes, America's schools have second-chance options that aren't available to students in many other countries. Dropping out isn't a fatal move. More Americans now hold high school diplomas than ever before (87 percent), though many of them didn't follow the standard route to obtaining that diploma. Although 100 percent high school graduation is a desirable objective, the ultimate outcome is better than many people suppose.
- Test scores. Bracey argues that the scores on standardized tests are rising, not falling - not appreciably, in most academic areas, but rising nevertheless.
On the Scholastic Aptitude Test that scores high school seniors, the comparisons are skewed because more seniors now are taking the tests. In 1941, the hallmark year against which today's scores often are compared, the students taking the test tended to "mostly white, mostly male, mostly Northeastern students, mostly headed for Ivy League and other prestigious universities." When the 1990s students who come from a home in which at least one parent has a bachelor's degree are compared against the 1941 group, the only category that shows a slight slip is verbal scores.
- Indicators of success such as international achievement tests, examinations for admission to graduate and professional schools, public rates and the production of engineers. By all these measures, the United States does not appear to be in decline, Bracey found.
In summary, he concludes that the "rising tide of mediocrity" that was identified in the 1983 National Commission on Excellence does not exist.
Bracey does not advocate any let-up in the current inclination to seek improvement in the schools. There are plenty of areas in which public education can be shored up, he says.
But he prefers that the improvement effort go on from a positive stance, not one that tells teachers they are doing a crummy job and somehow failing the country when it is in need.