My teenager came home from school the other day and told me that her class had engaged in a debate on the public school system and all its many ills. She asked me, “What would you do if you had $5000 to use somehow to support education in our community?” I told her that was a difficult question to answer off the top of my head.
The problems plaguing the public education system of the United States are diverse and complex. There is no silver bullet, no one-size-fits-all solution; each of the different states has its own challenges to face. Indeed, problems vary by county or parish within a state. Opinions on how to address the issues vary just as widely. Do we need more funding? More schools? Better parental participation? Better teachers? The answer to each of these questions is a resounding yes, but it begs another: will improving upon any one of these solve all of the problems? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no.
I live in North Carolina, and my kid attends public school. According to the NC Education & Law Project report of November 2010, North Carolina ranks 46th in the nation in terms of funding adequacy and equity, which equates to a grade of D+. This is the lowest grade any of the contiguous states received. But is it all about the money? In 2010, according to the US Census Bureau, North Carolina spent in the neighborhood of $9000 per student. Admittedly, this isn’t much. But Florida, which spends the same amount, was rated as the nation’s third-best in terms of education in 2010 by the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Report Card on American Education. The same report rated North Carolina as 41st in the nation. In addition, according to the College Board, in 2011, North Carolina ranked 39th in the nation in SAT scores. Iowa, which spends approximately the same amount per student per year, ranked 3rd in SAT scores. Obviously, these states are doing things differently, but it isn’t about the money.
North Carolina could certainly use more classrooms. We live in a small town, and even here we have had to add on trailers to accommodate the number of students. But everyone has this problem, so it doesn’t account for the disparity in the quality of education from Vermont, which was rated the best state for Educational Performance in 2010, to South Carolina, which was rated the worst. The same principle applies to the questions regarding the quality of our teachers. This could definitely stand improvement, and on a wide scale, but it simply isn’t within the realm of possibility that all of the good teachers live in Vermont, and all of the bad ones live in South Carolina. Better teachers would be of huge benefit, but teachers cannot be expected to fill in all the gaps, and we certainly cannot place upon them all of the blame for our current predicament.
If I had to pick the factor most critical to a child’s education, I’d have to choose parental participation. The United States is currently ranked 18th in education among the 36 industrialized nations. This means that, as a nation, our overall ranking is average at best. In Math, Finland and South Korea take the top two spots, while the United States comes in a distant 25. In Science, we are ranked 17th, and in Reading we are ranked 14th. We used to be among the world’s leaders in terms of education. What happened? I believe that at some point in the not-too-distant past, we allowed the fact that we are the world’s only superpower to go to our heads. We chose to forget that it was advancements in industry and technology that got us there, and we as parents stopped stressing education as being of critical importance. Things got too easy, and we got too cocky. And let our kids get too lazy.
My kid is smart, but she isn’t the next Einstein. Some of her teachers are terrific, and some are truly awful. The administrators at her school, and indeed the local school board itself, leave much to be desired. But she’s got a 4.2 GPA. Know why? Because my spouse and I have hounded her about the importance of school and a quality education. School is her job, her priority, her raison d’etre. We’ve helped her with her homework until we were all numb with exhaustion, spent small fortunes we really couldn’t spare on science and history projects, and, most importantly, nagged her mercilessly to perform to the best of her ability. Not to get straight A’s, mind you. But to perform to the best of her ability. She has worked hard at it. So have we. This is what it takes, but many parents today either aren’t willing or aren’t able to do so, and in most cases, if they don’t, their children won’t. It is a rare nine-year old who motivates him- or herself to crack the books.
So, after considerable thought, I told her that if I had $5000 to spend in our community on education, I would find one child. One disadvantaged or at-risk child who had that desire, that spark, but needed help to make it happen. Maybe one who was being raised by a young single mother with a low-paying job, with no time or energy or skill to help with homework. Or one whose parents are drug-addicts more concerned with their next hit than the kid’s report card. Or one who has to take any job they can find at the age of thirteen to help support their family. I would find such a child, and I would find someone to mentor them; a teacher or a relative or a clergyman who would stress the value of an education and help that child sustain the drive to get it. I would set up a fund for that child. The fund would pay for school supplies, and school clothes, and school lunches. For SAT tests and maybe even AP tests. And, eventually, a cap and gown.