Parents are failing the education test

Geoff Colvin:

In a world of rapidly rising standards and economic rewards for knowledge, are some American parents actually hostile to education? In my travels I'm seeing evidence that the answer is yes. It's just bits and pieces so far but worth our attention, because in a globalizing economy, with the question of the U.S.'s competitiveness feeling more urgent all the time, such a shift would be puzzling - and very bad news.

I was talking some time ago with a group of school superintendents from Maryland. The dominant mood was frustration - a sense that they weren't making the progress with our kids that they wanted to. A few of the superintendents surprised me by saying they had received complaints from parents who were angry because their kids were being made to learn algebra. Basic objection: "What do they need algebra for? It's hard!" Just a few days ago I was talking to a middle-school vice principal, this time in Nebraska. She reported the same thing: parents angry over kids having to learn algebra.

Maybe that strikes you the way it did me - as simply unbelievable. Perhaps it's the education industry trying to blame others for its own failures. But I don't think so. These school administrators didn't seem eager to report their experiences and didn't do so until we'd been talking about U.S. education for some time. More important, their reports fit with other signs I've noticed suggesting that some folks really don't like schools and education - and are surprisingly willing to let the world know how they feel.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 13, 2007 12:00 AM
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