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Notes -
But I think a lot of the reasons that modern American education fails is basically cultural. We don’t have a meritocratic culture. The closest thing we have to a meritocratic culture in America is actually select sports. The system rewards athletes who not only have talent, but those who work hard to develop that talent to high level. That system is the tryouts that athletes go through if they want to play. Nothing beyond the ability to play the game will get you on the team, and nothing but performance will get you on the field or court. Not good enough? You’re off the team.
Compare that to American education. In American education, you don’t have to do much work to “earn” a place. You don’t even get rewarded if you’re better than average. Advanced classes are often under threat because they are selective and not enough “disadvantaged students” get in. The law doesn’t mandate them, and if there’s a budget issue, advanced classes are often first to go. There’s no advantage given to tge child who is good at school, and they quite often end up bored and develop poor work ethics because they’re actually much smarter than the class is designed for, and thus they aren’t challenged, and can get good grades without having to work for them.
Minimal focus on academic achievement and discipline are a predictable result of a system designed primarily to warehouse kids in peer groups regardless of whether or not those kids are academically in the same league, have the same work ethics, or have parents who care about either issue. The parents who are trying to keep their kid chugging along despite the fact that he’s not achieving nor even trying to achieve don’t help creating the environment that rewards work and achievement. And since we elect school boards, those noisy parents mad that their children are going to fail (despite the fact that they don’t study and don’t understand the material) and demanding the standards be lowered.
The other problem is that colleges are not incentivized to be selective. All student loans are guaranteed, no matter what happens to the students after they graduate. This means admitting a kid who cannot read or do math at grade level (which is honestly a low bar) is not a problem. And since millions of relatively low achieving students can now go to college, the need to make sure that the kids graduating from high school are prepared for college or trades is really not there. They’ll graduate, continue their education and not be a problem for the school system they graduate from.
When no part of the system is punished when kids graduate incapable of doing anything productive, they don’t care if those kids achieve anything or learn the habits that make achievement possible. The school doesn’t lose anything if vast swathes of their graduates are economically useless. There are no “games” that the “team” must win to stay relevant. If they graduate an entire class of illiterates, the schools don’t close. They don’t lose anything. They still get to have the same structure. A baseball team that continues to place last will quickly fail.
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