By now you've all seen the results of a recent survey on the history/government knowledge level of Oklahoma young people. If you haven't, here's a good already-recommended diary on the study.
Before you start thinking of this state as "where the wind goes sweeping in one ear and out the other," I wanted to say a few things.
First of all, I'm not embarrassed of this survey. At least not of the fact that it was published. I'm glad it happened. The only thing worse than the existence of this level of ignorance would be not knowing that it exists at all.
We needed to hear this. Hopefully now that we know it, we can get serious about education reform. Of course I believe that health care reform is crucial, but there can be nothing more important than education.
It's been said that "there is no wealth like knowledge, and no poverty like ignorance." If this is true, then my dear native state has just bounced one hell of a check.
One of our most significant problems in Oklahoma is the Republican attitude toward government. Spending more money on education is called "wasteful spending," so education budgets are slashed to prevent "throwing money at the problem."
Further, teachers and their unions have become a political boogeyman that is often offered up as a scapegoat for our education woes. Teachers are portrayed as shiftless do-nothings who never face any responsibilities because of the protection they get from their unions.
However, don't think the results of this survey couldn't be duplicated in other states of the union. It's true we have our problems here in Oklahoma, but if you think that some other states aren't struggling equally hard or even harder, you're deluding yourself.
That is why I hope further studies of this same type will be carried out, both here and elsewhere. We need to recognize the depth and breadth of this issue. Before you can cure, you must first understand.
Of course, this isn't to say that I'm not also leery of some people's ideas of what constitutes "education reform." There is no shortage of awful, failed ideas out there. Education as a political issue in this country seems plagued by already-tried-and-failed ideas that nevertheless keep getting suggested again and again by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Republicans by and large favor school vouchers and other backdoors to school privatization. Democrats (and the occasional Republican) favor some variant of what is called merit-based pay. Both methods usually wind up increasing the disparity of our education system. More resources are given to school districts and classrooms that don't need them, and the ones that do get neglected yet again -- or cut back further.
I am not a policy wonk and I don't have the answers. I'm just a guy who wound up married to a teacher who has taught me a lot about what doesn't work in education.
What does work is, yes, school systems that get the funding they need. It is often really that simple. There are so many times when my wife has been hindered by a simple lack of resources. I could tell so many stories about this, and maybe I will later on, but not right now.
Whatever path we take, we need to be listening to ordinary teachers who work in classrooms. They should be paid and well-funded and allowed to excel rather than scapegoated as part of the problem. Their suggestions should be heeded, because they are where the rubber meets the road. Besides, we've never tried listening to them yet. So why not try it?
And as our president has said, the burden doesn't fall completely on our education system, but also on we the parents. We must take responsibility. We must back up what our kids' teachers do at school, supplementing that with continuing education at home. We must communicate both ways with teachers, so we can help instead of hinder the lessons. We should never wait until grade cards are handed out to take an active role.
Oklahoma is not alone in having this problem. And even if we were, a single ignorant state is the entire Union's problem. A democracy is only as strong as its least-informed voter. It is in all of our interests to foster an environment where a smarter electorate can grow and flourish and lift all of us up.
I look forward to a good debate on this issue. We liberals must have good ideas, so our president and Congress can help create a system that works for our children instead of failing them.