The American educational system is not standing

The American educational system - to the extent that it is actually a system - is not a failure. For stunned readers with a phrase not often seen in the press these days, I repeat: The education system the United States is not a failure. I know that's not a popular position these days, but it is good. There are indeed problems that must be addressed, but there are significant cognitive dissonance in the way the public perceives K-12 education. -

So why do I say our schools as a whole succeed? Well, why not start with what is meant by "mistake?" The term is a relic that defines the education policy and growth with proposals all-or-nothing. It can be easily assigned in a 1983 nation at risk, which made "failing schools" part of the American vernacular. But it was really burned in the headlines and our collective consciousness with the iteration of the 2001 Act primary and secondary education, better known as no Child Left Behind - a law that uses all stick and no carrot as an incentive to improve, generally with the "default" schools and districts that were struggling in the first place.

Worse, NCLB pointed to 2014 the deadline for 100 percent proficiency. If schools, districts and states can not meet this deadline, and they failed. Whether people are working hard to develop new policies and legislation, and to devise ways to incorporate technology into new and improved programs, or greater academic rigor than ever is required of our teachers. It is all-or-nothing.

We constantly hear that our schools nationwide, fail, but in this year PDK / Gallup poll on public attitudes toward public schools, only 7 percent of respondents agree. More telling, however, is that only 4 percent of that group believe their own local schools fail and a combined 48 percent think their local rate ranks schools of 'A' or 'B' Thus, system is broken, but their schools are OK. Hmm.

There are, however, measures that are often used to illustrate how American schools are terrible. PISA scores are very popular in this regard. For example, students in Finland, South Korea, Singapore and cities in China are better on these tests than their American counterparts. After all, what better way to show how our schools are and how inept our students, to compare them with high education systems in real low in ethnically homogeneous country (and city) with a fraction of the populations of states STATES? Which is, again, not to say that we should not expect to see improvements in student performance. We must, and I think we do. So who is to blame for our perceived failure?

Teachers and teacher unions are popular punching bags for our supposed mediocrity. Why not? It's easy to blame the officials - who spend almost as much time with students during the school year than their parents and whose salaries are paid with taxpayer money - lack of student progress.

Again, it is true that every teacher is great, or even good. But most are good at what they do and work hard to improve all the time. I never really understood how this work was until I shelled while trying to convince school juniors that American history is important and they must be ready to write original documents if they planned to go to college.

Those who are quick to blame the teachers and their alleged inflated salaries using the familiar refrain that more money does not make for better results. Perhaps, but if they think there are so few high-quality teachers, which makes them think their pay cut and make public scapegoats will make the profession more attractive to the next generation?

More interestingly, for the third consecutive year the PDK survey reports that 71 percent of Americans believe that public school teachers are worthy of their trust. Hmm. Must be all the teachers' other children who stink.

It is rarely mentioned that teachers and unions are only one piece of the education puzzle. We rarely hear a whole and safe and healthy school environments are critical to student success; that safe and healthy students are important to this formula; her parenting is a must; that technology alone will not solve all problems.