Where Public Education Has Gone Wrong: And What To Do About It

My thesis is simple enough. Public education has gone wrong because of the very effort to improve it from the time we found ourselves in a space race with Russia. As a high-school educator in California I was caught up in this with the so-called New Math, which proved to be a disaster. When I moved up the ladder as a community college professor I observed and occasionally took part in new efforts to improve teaching through a career that lasted more than half a century. This ended when still another "reform" appeared with an avowed plan to end racism by subverting the concept of academic excellence. The question now is whether successful public education even remains a possibility.

I think it is, but in an increasingly polarized society it calls for a better understanding of why children do not and cannot think like adults. Above all it will mean a long overdue recognition of teaching as a sacred calling.