Failure Is a Myth

Failure Is a Myth

One topic which universally interests Americans is public schools. Mention anything about teachers or school kids, and the conversation is off and running. Much of it is fueled by the media, which usually tell us the rightwing propaganda that things are not going well. Certainly there are problems, but it is worth noting that in Los Angeles, for example, polled opinion about public schools varied according to whether the respondents did or did not have children in the schools. Not surprisingly, those who knew the schools first hand liked them better than those who knew them only by hearsay. We think a few statistics might help everyone see the schools as they are, not as they are said to be.

To begin, it must be kept in mind that the United States is the only country to require school attendance for every child until age 18 or graduation. We alone among nations attempt to put every child through an academic curriculum for 12 years. Every child, no matter what his or her academic capability, is entitled to and must receive the full educational program. A grand goal indeed. The rest of the world keeps their best students on an academic track as they test everyone else into trade school type curriculum.

How many kids are there in our schools? The astonishing total in 2008: 49.8 million, which is a 26% increase since 1985, and the number is projected to increase 9% by 2017. Of these, 3,328,000 are projected to graduate from high school in 2008-09, among the highest number in the industrialized world. That much public education comes at a price: the projected figure for the school year 2008-09 is $631 billion, which amounts to 7.4% of the Gross Domestic Product. Note, however, that despite the increase in enrollment, spending went up only one-half percent in ten years.

The story doesn’t end with high school graduation. From 1998-2008, 29% of the U.S. population had graduated from college with a Bachelor’s Degree. Few nations in the world can equal that number of college graduates.

It’s not all good new, of course. Some kids do dropout - more in some areas than in others, but even so, the total dropout rate fell in the years 1987-2007 from 12.6% to 8.7%. Dropout rates closely reflect the economic status of the students, the poorer the student, the higher the dropout rate.

Overall, these figures indicate that public education is doing a good job for a huge number of kids. Who’s doing the teaching for all these students? A lot of teachers - 3.2 million of them. And how well are they faring? In 2006-07 the average teacher salary was $50,816, not a bad figure. However, that number represents an increase since 1996-97 of only 3%, and inflation has grown more than 3% in 10 years. Also, behind that salary lie ten to fifteen years of experience and some 80 college units beyond the BA degree. Teachers still do not earn fully professional salaries.

Obviously, statistics indicate that American public education is not, as the common myth asserts, falling into failure. The myth of failure of public education is “proven” by unsatisfactory test scores or inner-city drop out rates, and it is necessary to remember that inner-city children, who live under dreadful conditions, not surprisingly score lower than more privileged children and pull down a school district average. It is not public education which has failed; it is poverty which has succeeded.

Our public education system, with its ideal of educating all our children, is under threat in a society which does not prioritize funding for education in the many communities where schools are the only place in which children can hope and strive for a productive adulthood. In too many pockets of poverty throughout the nation teachers struggle to meet the needs of their overcrowded classrooms, to open the door to a better future for their students. Their very presence, their continuing efforts, are part of the success of public education.

(Statistics from Digest of Educational Statistics - National Center for Educational Statistics.)