The schools have a window of opportunity to regain public support.
Time is running out on public education. Americans have always been committed to the public schools. They consider them a basic democratic institution where students from the many diverse groups in the U.S. can learn to work together. But according to Public Agenda's new study, "Assignment Incomplete," the support for public education is wearing thin. A majority of Americans believe that the public schools cannot be counted on to provide the things they consider most important in an education -- discipline, the basics, and standards. Assuming the report is correct - and it is very convincing -- the schools have a window of opportunity to regain public support. If that is ignored, we will see the collapse of the system.
Most Americans favor the idea of public education. And generally, when you ask them if they are satisfied with the schools their children attend, they answer, yes. But, as Public Agenda researchers found, this is a kind of veneer. The minute the researchers started probing on issues that the public cares about, the support for public schools evaporated. A big majority said that private schools do a better job. For example, 61 percent said that private schools are more likely to provide order and discipline in the classroom; only 18 percent thought their local public schools did a better job at this. Fifty-three percent said that private schools have higher academic standards; only 24 percent said standards were higher in local public schools. And when Public Agenda researchers asked the ultimate question -- "Where would you send your kid, if money was not an issue?" -- 5 7 percent of parents said, "to a private school."
This is devastating. Yet though Americans are angry and frustrated about public education. Public Agenda found that they do not want to scrap it. They are willing to give public education another chance. And what they want is straight-forward enough: primarily, safe and orderly schools where all students can at least be sure of learning the basics.
I've written in earlier columns about Public Agenda's exploration of the discipline issue in "First Things First." This report, which was issued last year, found strong public support for expelling students who bring drugs or weapons to school. A large majority also said that "taking persistent troublemakers out of class would be a very effective means of boosting academic performance in the schools." "Assignment Incomplete" shows that the public continues to insist that order is a prerequisite to learning.
The report also shows that the public is horrified by the frequent failure of schools to teach students what it considers to be the basics -- reading, writing, and spelling the English language and simple math (to which most people would now add basic computer skills). Professional educators often put down an emphasis on basics as being narrow and limited. The public agrees that schools should not stop with the basics -- they are the basis for further learning -- but over 90 percent consider teaching them to be the utmost importance. And nearly half think that a high school diploma does not guarantee a command of the basics. In focus groups carried out in connection with the survey, people spoke over and over again about high school graduates who could not write a letter without gross misspellings, read a newspaper article or make change at a check-out counter.
Would the public support the tougher standards they seem to be calling for? To find out, Public Agenda researchers asked questions that made people look closely at some of the implications of tougher standards. They found that people do not think that tougher standards will come without a cost: Nearly half of the public believe that more students will drop out if standards are tightened up. At the same time, 71 percent believe that youngsters will work harder and 72 percent think they will learn more. Were members of the public advocating an academic Reign of Terror? Not at all. Indeed there were some worries about tougher standards' leading to undue pressure on students. However, 70 percent said they would support a principal who "stresses academic achievement and expects teachers to give homework and tests often."
Whether or not the public will remain committed to public education or abandon it in favor of private education is up for grabs. The dissatisfaction that people feel is very basic. Superintendents, school board members, teachers, and other people who care about public education have to realize this. And they have to understand that they will not be able to change the public perception of the schools merely by talking about the problems or denying their existence. The schools will have to change. Otherwise public education will continue on its present course to destruction.