Second First

The Education Trust's latest report on high school graduation rates begins by saying, "The United States is the only industrialized country in the world in which today's young people are less likely than their parents to have completed high school." That line became the lede in media reports in USA Today, CNN, the AP, Education Week ($), etc. Because of the AP's story, it got repeated in hundreds of local newspapers all across the country. That's unfortunate, because it's simply not true.

Last week Kevin showed the actual data to be less than convincing. What's also important is the sentiment behind the claim, the sense that our education system is in crisis and getting worse for each generation. If you want to change education in America, and if you want to rally a consensus behind your cause, it's a useful claim. No one likes to regress, and Americans like being #1.

The problem is there's only one "first generation to be less educated than their parents." So, if last generation was the first to be less educated than their parents, this one can't be as well. I was reminded today of a passage in the 1983 "A Nation at Risk" report that could easily be written today. It states:

Some worry that schools may emphasize such rudiments as reading and computation at the expense of other essential skills such as comprehension, analysis, solving problems, and drawing conclusions. Still others are concerned that an over-emphasis on technical and occupational skills will leave little time for studying the arts and humanities that so enrich daily life, help maintain civility, and develop a sense of community. Knowledge of the humanities, they maintain, must be harnessed to science and technology if the latter are to remain creative and humane, just as the humanities need to be informed by science and technology if they are to remain relevant to the human condition. Another analyst, Paul Copperman, has drawn a sobering conclusion. Until now, he has noted: Each generation of Americans has outstripped its parents in education, in literacy, and in economic attainment. For the first time in the history of our country, the educational skills of one generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even approach, those of their parents [emphasis added].

This isn't to say our education system doesn't have problems, but it does suggest we need a little historical perspective. We're fighting the same rhetorical battles that were fought 25 years ago, and we need to be honest about it.