editorially /peaking
Public Education in America Discussions of various elements associated with the condition of public education in this country are commonplace today. Clearly much attention has been directed toward the problems perceived a t all educational levels. Nevertheless, even with all its nrohlems-often "discovered" under intense illumina~ionand high magnification----wecan, and should. rake pride in American public education. Much has been a&ompiished in a relativel; short period of our nation's historv. w h y do we generally not take pride in our schools today? Could i t he that the universality of education in this country and its recognized underlying quality have generated unrealistic expectations of unending progress? Are our expectations unreasonably high? Logic suggests that as our educational system improved, social changes should have followed that would in turn produce a hieh level of satisfaction with the educational system. There is a temptation, however, to "iudee our schools against standards derived from past accomplishments. hee enormous past achievements in public education cannot be e x ~ e c t e dto continue a t the same level or with the same frequei~cv.A manufacturing company may be able todouble its annual produrtivitq for a time, hut as it becomes larger and more complex its gr&vth in productivity eventually begins to slow. Growth of the American educational system is no different. We have reached the point where current "increments of improvement" are not as large as thev were initiallv. And. indeed. we can e x ~ e cthat t thev may well become progressively smaller in future years. Is the negative attitude toward our educational system today derived, at least in part, from our failure to realize that we have reached a ooint on the growth curve where visible return for the same effort is less than i t was even a decade or two ago? In addition, the educational system may he suffering from the same unrealistic expectations as is the system of health care. I t used to be that doctors couldn't cure anything; now we expect them t o cure everything and complain when they don't. Less than a century ago, even the most rudimentary schooling was not available to the majority of American children. Public high schools did not become universal until well into the twentieth century. Our extensive and impressive secondary system of education was developed over only a few decades-but it is now taken for granted. We live in an age of pessimism, profoundly influenced by rising expectations. Our inability to attain perfection in education, a t any level, has prompted a negative attitude and a feeling of
uncertainty about what we really have attained. Chronic dissatisfaction with public education must be tempered by a recognition of the tremendous progress made in the relatively recent past and assuaged by a realistic evaluation of its current status. Now is the time for fine-tuning the system. For building in the flexibility necessary to take advantage of advances in many different areas and to respond to the changing needs of a dynamic society. Colleges and universities have a high stake in the success of the public school system. Precollege education and the development of postsecondary education are inextricably linked. The need for close collaboration is patently obvious, yet i t has essentially been ignored in recent years. Excellence in higher education cannot he expected without assuring excellence in the schools. Improvement in precollege education can he demanded and encouraged while recognizing and respecting what has already been achieved in this arena. Demanding improvement does not necessarily imply negative criticism of the current status-oulv that chance is needed. A chaneine society will inevitably require changes in its educational system. Development and strenetbenine of reci~rocalrelationshi~s between the primary, sicondar;, and &rtiary educationd systems that emphasize their interde~endenceis one such needed change. Such collaboration could bring into sharper focus important level-independent issues, for example, improvement in the quality ofteaching, testing, and evduation and a consensus on core curricula for the different educational levels. There have been programs in the past based on recognition of the imnortance of strenethenine relationshios hetween precollege and college ed;cation;workshops to improve the skills of science teachers, an advanced placement program and its associated efforts, and precollege student science trainine Drograms. Some of these Droerams are now reappearing under different manifestati&slattempts are being made to revive others in their original format. If ~ r o grams such as these are to succeed, &ong support from teachers and administrators a t all levels of education is essential. That support, which ran take many different forms, should he forthruming without delay if we are to make the most of this ausnicious moment in time. The climate is right. -~- - - ~ ~ The time is right. Individually and collectively, we have a responsibility to do all we can t o improve science education-NOW. JJL
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Volume 62
Number 8
August 1985
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