- MORE MONEY DOES NOT EQUAL BETTER EDUCATION
- FREEDOM
- THE DEAD-END OF EDUCATIONAL EVOLUTION
- EROSION OF STANDARDS
- ABSTRACTIONS
- THE FIRST ENTITLEMENT
- THREE COMPONENTS OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATION
- NEED FOR PRAGMATISM/RATIONALISM
Ultimately, the most formidable opposition to genuine education reform is cultural. American culture resists education reform because accepting an array of needed change strikes too close to the comfort zone of most Americans.
Americans in general are happy with the education dispensed by the public schools of the nation because, like politics, education is ultimately local and citizens’ bumper-sticker pride in the schools of their community blinds them to the flaws that need changing.
Too many Americans are, like Voltaire’s Candide, living in “the best of all possible worlds,” whereas the nation would be a lot better off emulating Walt Kelly’s Pogo who went into battle to discover “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”
American resistance to education reform poses a threat to our national prosperity. The rapidly changing world economy features two emerging new superpowers, China and India, and a host of other new smaller competitors, all with vigorous education systems. In the 21st century, American resistance to genuine education reform is a self-indulgence that threatens the nation.
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