COMMENTARY: When we fail education, we fail democracy

There comes a time in every profession when it becomes imperative to address the big ideas and to leave aside, at least for a moment, the trivial pursuits that engage us. One big idea that we educators have ignored for too long is the relationship between education and our democracy. Sadly, we have succumbed to the pathology of focusing almost exclusively on reading and math to achieve proficiency cut scores on state tests rather than growing civically competent students. Only 22% of eighth graders tested on the 2022 NAEP assessment were proficient or advanced in civics.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choices are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of our democracy, therefore, is education.”

My colleagues, I suggest to you that we as educators have failed dramatically in our responsibility to help build a strong democratic society. We cannot be solely responsible for this debacle, as our democratic demise has accelerated through the decay of our institutions, money in politics, social media and voter suppression. Nonetheless, we played a significant role in this demise.

Our first failure is the inability to ensure that all our students, especially those from the most marginalized communities, are literate in reading, mathematics and science. Without strong literacy skills, no amount of civics education will make a difference. Over half the children in California cannot read at grade level. Only one-quarter of Black students are at grade level in math. We rank 19th in countries taking the 2018 PISA science test.

We are just too good now at blaming the children, the parents, society, the tests or the pandemic. We redirected our focus from academics to a plethora of distractions like the use of all manner of educational technologies. We moved away from our primary mission of fostering student academic achievement.

We know that the teacher is the key when it comes to student academic achievement, but it would be unfair to lay all the blame for the failure of K-12 education on teachers. We have failed our teachers in their preparation and support throughout their careers. Probably the biggest failure is our inability to recruit the finest teaching candidates and to train them well in content, professional practices and assessment skills. A second failure is the lack of career ladders where teachers advance from novice to master with plenty of guidance, support, monitoring and accountability.

We also have big problems in figuring out what is the right stuff to teach. Over 20 years ago, esteemed researchers on the National Reading Panel handed educators the recipe for effectively teaching reading. What did educators do? They turned away from the science of reading toward the alchemy of the Balanced Reading Approach that even its founder Lucy Calkins recently admitted failed.

Even with the ascendancy of evidence-based approaches to teaching reading, we see a regression toward accommodating the failed Balanced Reading Approach. We are not too keen on paradigm shifts. We like to go along to get along. Keep the adults happy rather than take a hard line on effective ways to teach reading. Who is watching out for the children and families?

Even if by some extraordinary effort, school districts were able to plan, implement and monitor student achievement goals aligned with reading, there is still the problem of teaching reading in ways that intertwine with students’ everyday lives and the democratic needs of the community.

The great Brazilian educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire, understood the relationship between the fundamentals of learning to read and how reading can be used to effectively transform society when he said, “Reading does not consist merely of decoding the written word or language; rather, it is preceded by and intertwined with knowledge of the world.” Freire does not diminish the importance of learning to read but emphasizes the need to make sure that reading with the purpose of improving community is what drives our democracy.

Similar systemic issues exist in the teaching of mathematics and science. Unwillingness to take vaccinations to protect individuals and the community against the ravages of Covid is emblematic of a citizenry that is fundamentally uneducated about the power of vaccinations and the role that vaccinations play in the protection not only of individuals but communities as well. This lack of fundamental scientific knowledge is a real drag on our democracy. Time should have been spent on explicit science instruction rather than project-based learning.

There is no doubt that we educators played a significant role in the demise of our democracy. While there are many outstanding educators, there are not enough highly qualified professionals to turn teaching and administration into a real profession yet. We overemphasize the need for student compliance with ersatz rules like seating assignments at lunch rather than engaging students in their own decision-making and critical thinking — fundamental democratic skills.

The solution is available but still invisible. Many adults in the system are not committed to approaching teaching and learning systematically and scientifically. An educational system that is in crisis should consider adopting a few high-quality research-based teaching and aligned administrative practices like explicit instruction or formative assessment with descriptive feedback. When all teachers within the system can effectively assess, evaluate, intervene and monitor student understanding, especially for struggling students, academic achievement will soar.

Our democracy and its K-12 education system are in the emergency room with a life-threatening disease. Sadly, we educators are more interested in the feng shui of the ER rather than taking the necessary key steps to save the patient.

For me? I will enter the twilight of my career tutoring students in reading, math and science. Best to deploy my formidable teaching skills in saving one starfish at a time.

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Bill Conrad has been an educator for over 45 years and he has worked extensively within school districts throughout the country in a wide variety of capacities including as an Honors Middle School Science Teacher and administrator. His memoir about his educational experiences is The Fog of Education.

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