Hidden within the current national education buzz are non-spoken questions about public education’s role, the reality of the results that can be achieved and the cost. These subtle underlying questions seem to be scratching the surface of a much larger national issue that involves preconceived notions of class, race and gender. Subjects that make people cringe when they are viewed from the popular prism of political correctness. These fundamental questions on the social make-up of the world’s last remaining super power are in and of themselves topics for scholars, academicians and policy wonks. But they are also at the core of the question of why public education is failing in the country.
So why is public education failing so many in the United States? The answer is in one way obvious and in other ways so very subtle as not to be considered or discussed openly.
Public education is failing those that are expected to fail and supporting those that are intended to succeed. Of course this is a very general statement with many shades of gray hidden in such a gross characterization. But a case in point may serve to help to illustrate the overall premise.
Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts is the home to a few affluent old towns like Andover which is the home of the world renowned private high school Philips Academy and a very respected public high school (Andover High). Merrimack Valley is also the home of Lawrence, Massachusetts, which for decades has been the lower income landing spot for newly arriving immigrants looking to thrive in the land of opportunity. Lawrence is an old world mill town with brick smokestack towers serving as a reminder of its long past industrial days. These two towns are close neighbors, sharing a border that separates the community in ways that are culturally clear to those that live in the area. But all one has to do to better understand these contrasting towns is to look at the State’s standardized metrics for high school performance. The numbers do not lie. Instead they demonstrate a phenomenon that on the surface appears to be pervasive throughout the United States system of education.
