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Our Educational Reform and the Moral Education of Our Children
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14560 |
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MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
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3 / 1988 |
5,354 Words |
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Kevin Ryan
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Five years ago, in the spring of 1983, A Nation At Risk, a report on the state of American education, was released. More than six million copies of this federally sponsored report have been distributed and its language has become part of the educational landscape. Children in trouble are now routinely referred to as "at risk." The characterization of American education as a "rising tide of mediocrity" seems to have struck a responsive chord in the public. Whether it simply happened to be the first of an inevitable series of analyses or whether it awakened the tumult of concern regarding the state of the American classroom, in the last five years, few months have gone by without a report on education by some blue-ribbon commission, foundation. Or professional association. Over thirty national reports on education have been released since A Nation At Risk was published, as well as over three hundred reports from state commissions and task forces. In recent months, the pace of reports seems to have slackened, suggesting either that the issue is in a phase of gestation or simply that the nation has turned to other problems.
The impact of all this attention to public education is difficult to gauge. Many states have new legislation on their books, requiring more academic courses and competency testing for graduation. Two years ago the Carnegie Foundation's Report, A Nation Prepared, called for a restructuring of teaching, stunning many people by suggesting $72,000 salaries for the top teachers. This year two school districts in New York State--New York City and Rochester--have dramatically increased both the entry and regular salaries of teachers, making it possible for some classroom teachers to earn $70,000.
A less tangible result has been the perception that elementary and secondary schools have tightened up and become more demanding. A Nation at Risk reported with alarm that the average American high school student had only four and a half hours of homework a week. That has changed. Whether because of greater scholastic demands or for other reasons, achievement scores and tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test are showing modest mean increases. On the other hand, the report's citing of poor discipline in our schools has not been similiarly addressed. There is little indication that our schools are more orderly than community environments or that the moral thinking and behavior of students have improved.
The thrust of what may be called the eighties reform effort has been intellectual. The reports demand more content, more student effort, more intellectually rigorous standards, and more liberally educated teachers. As a group, the reports derived from a sense that we, as a nation, are losing our competitive spirit and that we will soon be unable to compete either industrially or militarily, environments where a technologically sophisticated and disciplined work force are a necessity. We are threatened both by the Japanese economic vitality and by the Soviet's increasingly formidable conventional and high-tech weapons systems.
It should be noted that although several of the reports acknowledge the need for the schools to help in the formation of good character, little of substance has been said about the school's role in development of students ethics. A Nation at Risk makes reference to "intellectual, moral, and spiritual strengths" and states that "excellence in education cannot be achieved without intellectual and moral integrity coupled with hard work and commitment." One of the commission members,
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