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Schools and our Children



April 1998

Dear Friends,

Now, a page about our children and their schools.



In 1990, President George Bush and all 50 governors announced their goal for U.S. students to be "first in the world in mathematics and science and achievement by the years 2000." It sounded good at the time. But almost a years later, American's high school seniors still compare poorly with young men and women in most other industrialized nations of the world.

That was the conclusion of the most comprehensive and rigorous international comparison ever conducted of academic achievement, released in February. This investigation, entitled The Third International Mathematics and Science Study, involved 41 nations and more than one-half million students. The final report should be of concern to every parent and grandparent in the nation.

What it revealed is that fourth-grade students in this coundtry scored above average internationally, but by the middle school years, scores were below average. And by the time they were seniors in high school, they ranked near the bottom when compared to other nations. The conclusion is unmistakeable: The longer students stay in American schools, the farther they fall behind their age-mates in most industrialized nations in the world.

Here are the mean (average) achievement test scores in various categories of sciencee and math for the nations that participated at the secondary level.



Mathematics Literacy

Country and its Mean Achievement
=====================================
Netherlands - 560
Sweeden - 552
Denmark - 547
Switzerland - 540
Iceland - 534
Norway - 528
France - 523
New Zealand - 522
Australia - 522
Canada - 519
Austria - 518
Slovenia - 512
Germany - 495
Hungary - 483
Italy - 476
Russian Federation - 471
Lithuania - 469
Czech Republic - 466
United States - 461
Cyprus - 446
South Africa - 356


Science Literacy


Sweden - 559
Netherlands - 558
Iceland - 549
Norway - 544
Canada - 532
New Zealand - 529
Australia - 527
Switzerland - 523
Austria - 520
Slovenia - 517
Denmark - 509
Germany - 497
Czech Republic - 487
France - 487
Russian Federation - 481
United States - 480
Italy - 475
Hungary - 471
Lithuania - 461
Cyprus - 448
South Africa - 349


As dismal as these rankings were, they easily could have been worse. Asian countries which typically excel in math and science did not participate in the study. "Otherwise," wrote columnist John Leo, "America might have been fighting for the 39th or 40th place in a 41 nation field."

What is even more shocking is how our most gifted students compared with high achievers in secondary schools from other participating countries. For many years, Americans have consoled themselves with the belief that their most talented youngsters were on a par with the best educated students on earth. Not so, according to these findings. When compared with gifted students elsewhere, our smartest kids tested even worse.

Here are the results for students enrolled in the most advanced math and science courses.



Advanced Mathmatics

Country and their Mean Achievement
====================================
France - 557
Russian Federation - 542
Switzerland - 533
Australia - 525
Denmark - 522
Cyprus - 518
Lithuania - 516
Greece - 513
Sweeden - 512
Canada - 509
Slovenia - 475
Italy - 474
Czech Republic - 469
Germany - 465
United States - 442
 Australia - 436



Advanced Physics

Norway - 581
Sweeden - 573
Russian Federation - 545
Denmark - 534
Slovenia - 523
Germany - 522
Australia - 518
Cyprus - 494
Latvia - 488
Switzerland - 488
Greece - 486
Canada - 485
France - 466
Czech Republic - 451
Austria - 435
United States -423

Incredibly, the United States scored 15th out of 16 nations in advanced mathmatics and dead last, 16th out of 16, in Physics. When testedon matters of self-esteem, however, American kids scored near the top. So if you ask the students how they did in math and science, they'll reply, "Terrible." But then ask them how they feel about their performance, and they'll say, "Great!" Obviously, something is drastically wrong on the educational front.

How do we explain such distressing findings? To hear the National Education Association and the U.S. Department of Education tell it, the problem has been a lack of money. That's what they said 30 years ago when test scores first began to slide. Americans, who are passionally committed to their children, responded by allocating huge additional resourses for schools both nationally and locally. In real dollars corrected for inflation, the expenditure per pupil has increases 200 percent since 1960. Our schools have been, and remain, the best funded on earth.

Take a look at the expenditures per pupil and the number of days spent in the classroom among the industialized nations of the world.



Funding

United States - $3,843
Canada - 3,508
Italy - 2,683
West Germany - 2,470
France - 2,446
United Kingdom - 2,438
Japan 1,978


School Days Per Year

Japan - 240
Korea - 222
Taiwan - 222
Israel - 215
Scotland - 188
United States - 178


It is illogical to blame inadequate funding for education when American schools are the best supported in the world -- and yet operate the fewest number of days per year. In fact, I think a case can be made that money, beyond a certain minimum, appears to have little to do with quality in education. Indeed, Washington, DC., schools which receive more than any other public school system in America ($8,290 per pupil) have the nation's highest dropout rate and rank near the bottom in every measure of efficiency and competence. This is an affronf to the parents who live in the District of Columbia. For $*,290 pe student per year, they could send their children to some of the better private schools in the area, including Gonzaga, St. James, Carroll High School or Sidwell Friends. Indeed, there are 88 private schools within the Washington beltway that cost less than $4,000 per student, including 60 that cost less than $3,200. Instead of choosing among the best, however, Washington, D.C. parents are forced to patronize the mismanaged and dangerous "government schools" that are shame fully wasteful and bloated with bureaucracy. This is what comes of educational monopolies. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter told us that our schools not only needed more money, but that they desperately needed help from the federal govern ment. That was a popular notion of the day -- that "Washington can fix it." Thus, the Democrat-controlled Congress dutifully created the U.S. Department of Education and funded it in 1979 with about $14.5 billion. Alas, the camel's nose was under the tent. Today, the department consumes more than $30 billion annually, and last year (1997), the Republican- controlled Congress, characteristically quaking in fear of a veto by the president, increased the department's budget by three billion.

Today, the beat goes on. Mr. Clinton outlined many new, expensive education programs during his recent State of the Union address that will greatly expand the federal bureaucracy. No mention was made of the fact that our schools are in far worse shape now than before all those "educrats" in Washington set up shop. The time has come to abolish the Department of Education, but are there any politicians who have the courage even to propose such an idea? Apparently not.

Meanwhile, the alarm bells continue to clang. A Department of Education study revealed four years ago that more than half of America's college graduates couldn't read a bus schedule! Nor were they able to figure out how much change they should receive after putting down $3 to pay for a 60 cent bowl of soup and a $1.95 sandwich. This was a disgraceful come-down for a nation that has led the world in productivity and creativity.

How can we get a handle on what has gone wrong? What are the forces that have undermined our schools and shortchanged a generation of children? First, let me say that it is unfair to blame the dedicated teachersand administrators who are working hard to serve the children of this country. I used to be one of them, and I know that they want the best for kids, too. Many went into teaching as an expression of their Christian commitment, and they share our frustration about what is happening. Education, just like medicine, is being transformed by social pressures that individual professionals are unable to resist. My purpose, therefore, is not to bash the teaching profession, but ot look past the local scene to focus on the broader picture.

In that regard, let me cite two concerns about our schools that many analysts consider critical. They are as follows:




Columnist John Leo wrote:

"Schools are flooded with progressive experiments and social agendas that either go down in flames or crowd out actual learning -- cooperative learning, the politics of identity, outcome-based, history as group therapy. An emphasis on legalitarianism in the classroom often has strange effects, making some teachers suspicious of achievement and any knowledge that 'contributes to inequality.' Some teachers now refer to themselves as 'facilitators' because they believe 'teaching' is an expression of dominance."

Charles Sykes, author of Duming Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write or Add, charges that schools are obsessed with students' self-esteem, which in turn makes teachers afraid to demand high performance. It leads them to ignore spelling errors or grammatical mistakes for fear of damaging students. Academic content is watered down to avoid creating stress in the classroom.

Sykes concludes, "Despite all the gold stars and smiley faces, if [pupils] simply don't have the skills to compete and survive, [they] will eventually figure out and know it's all a fraud."

Traditional subject matter has also been invaded by the radical environ mental movement. Those of you who haven't visited a classroom for a decade or more might be shocked to observe how the "save the earth" people have taken over. That theme permeates every dimension of the curricula, including higher ,ath. One popular textbook is entitled Focus on Algebra, about which John Leo said, "It talks about the rais forrest, Maya Angelou's poetry and student's feelings about zoo's, but doesn't get around to solving its first linear equation until page 218."

In a special report by The Washington Times entitled "The Dumbing Down of America," a story is cited about a mother in Pennsylvania who called a member of her school board to complain about a math paper brought home by her child. The paper presented a math problem involving three birds in a nest. Two flew away. The question? "How do you think the [remaining] bird felt>?" The times reporter asked, "What do birds, feelings or nests have to do with teaching math?" Good Question! Yet, the reporter concluded, this touchy-feely emphasis is widespread in public schools today.

Thomas Sowell, a syndicated columnist, wrote:

"When I was a professor of economics at UCLA, I was amazed that so many students had no concept of logic and no sense of how to use the English language, much less any serious knowledge of basic information that was once taken for granted. . . . More than once, as I went over a student's ungrammaticalwriting and confused reasoning, I found myself asking, 'What were you doing for the past 12 years?' Only later, when I began to do research on the American public school system, did I realize why high school graduates were so badly educated. Much of the agenda of the schools across the country is a social or idealogical one, not an educational agenda. . . . No one is more determined to avoid academic subjects than professional educators. So-called 'outcome-based education' is yet another hollow phrase for going off on another tangent, substituting mush for mental developement. None of this is accidental. There are books, articles and speeches by leading education gurus explaining how the public schools are supposed to be used for all sorts of social and ideological crusades: Hug the trees, blab your family secrets to strangers - and don't worry about math and science." Sowell's criticism has now been validated by a nonpartisan, education-orie nted public opinion group in New York entitled Public Agenda. This organiz ation polled 900 professors in the nation's schools of education. Accor ding to Elain Woo, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, "[They] found an 'often staggering' disconnect between what education professors value and what most parents, teachers and even students say they need. . . . The professors . . . . valued process over content, saying it was more important for students to 'learn how to learn' than how the right answer . . . . Barely four in 10 [of the professors polled] said maintaining discipline and order was essential. Fewer than two in 10 stressed such basics as spellingand grammer. And only 12 percent said it was essential to expect students to be neat, on time and polite. . . . More than eight in 10 professors said that in teaching subjects such as math or history, it is said it was more important that kids end up knowing the right answer."

Of equal concern to academic issues is the homosexual and lesbian agenda that is being promoted in many schools. The objective goes far beyong teaching respect for every member of the human family, which we support. It involves the validation of an immoral lifestyle and an effort to manipulate the minds of vulnerable children. Consider these examples:

Given these many trends, it shouldn't be surprising that students are revealing a diminished technical and academic competence when asked to compete internationally.




2. A powerful educational monopoly has gained control of today's schools and is shaping then to fit its liberal, self-serving agenda

One can hardly overstate the influence of the mammoth educational monopoly hovering over today's schools, consisting of the U.S. Department of Education and the teacher unions, primarily the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). And now, we're told, the NEA and the AFT are considering a merger which would create an even more powerful and dangerous force within public education. Monopolies rarely serve the needs of the consumer, but this one is particularly self-absorbed, wasteful and arrogant.

Consider the matter of teacher qualification. Union policies often protect incompetent teachers through a system of seniority that guarantees mediocrity. Almost a third of all math and one-fifth of all science teachers did not major or minor in the subjects they teach. They are unqualified to be instructors in physics, calculus, chemistry or biology, but they are protected by unions and can't be dislodged.

Of greatest concern is the transfer of power from the parents and local school officials to professional educators and bureaucrats at the state level, and especially, to the federal government. There is an inverse relationship between authority vested far from home and efectiveness of our schools. No better example exists than the much vaulted Gaols 2000 program that was hatched in Washingtom, D.C., several years ago.

Ron Sunseri, a former Oregon legislator, said it best. After Oregon spent four years implementing many of the proposed reforms of Goals 2000, sich as performance-based assessment and psychological training, Oregon's results are dismal. A Forest Grove, Ore., school posted a 36% decline in verbal skills and a 17-point decline in math." Thomas DeWeese of the American Policy Foundation said, "The indoctrination methoids . . . start kindergarten, where students are filled with horror stories of ozone holes, dying species, homelessness and war."

Concerning the long-awaited 1966 National English standards, John Leo said, "[They] turned out to set no standards at all. Instead we got a trendy tolerance for bad grammer and spelling and a lot of incompre hensible gibberish about 'word identification strategies' and writing process process elements.' Language skills of U.S. students are said to be even lower by world standards than their math and science skills. Should we find this surprising?"

"Educrats" also have a history of interjecting politically correct ideology into everything within reach, especially where children are concerned. Consider, for example, the National Standards for United States History, released in 1994, which reeked of liberal bias. Here are some of their outrageous deletions and distortions"

These and many other omissions are indicative of a poorly concealed effort to de-emphasize the historic concepts American children have been taught for two centuries. Likewise, the "goodness" of America, of which DeTocque ville spoke, is given short shrift. The unprecedented freedoms granted to our citizens are all but ignored.

By contrast, everything sordid and disgracefull about this country is underscored for our children. A left-of-center perspective on history is given prominence. For example:

  • These standards reflect a blatant liberal agenda that insults conservatives and alarms parents. More to the point, what came down from the national level is typical of what happens when the culturally elite get their hands on educational curricula. The history standards represents only one of many examples of this bias I could cite.

    These are the reasons we should oppose the expansion of the education monopoly. These folks have a different agenda for children, and it is not, in my opinion, one that should be encouraged. Bill Clinton is the chief proponent for their movement. Now he's calling for a national testing program which will quicklybecome the vehicle to shift even more power away from the parents, past the state agencies, and on to the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. It will forse teachers to "teach to the tests" and thereby change curricula, textbooks and the entire educational establishment. In short, national testing will complete the task of replacing parents and teachers with a federalized school system.

    Let's come back to the issue with which we began: What is the solution to our failing test scores and poor academic performance by ourstudents? I believe it is to reassert parental control of education, expressed through the election of local school boards who are empowered to do what is best for children. And it is in school choice legislation, designed to put competition back into public education. What continues to be unfair is that home-schooling parents or those paying tuition for Christian educaton are still taxed to support inefective and wasteful public schools' programs. School choice will not only end this injustice, but it will allow inner- city parents to access the better school only middle- and upper-class children can attend now. As someone noted, "We already have de facto educational choice in this country: it's just limited to those who can afford it."

    When administrators have to satisfy local parents in order to retain students, and when the worst schools begin to go out of business, then a new energy and zeal will pervade the nation's campuses. We've tried everything else. Why not put the decision making power back in the hands of those who care the most - Moms and Dads living in Crossroads, USA. One thing is certain: They could do no worse than has been done in the past two decades.

    One poll shows that 82% of Americans favor school choice. Another found that 86% of African Americans in the child-rearing years (ages 26-35) favor tuition vouchers. With that kind of support, what do we have to do to get the attention of our representatives in Washington, D.C., who tend to be deaf to issues that don't have a politically correct spin? Democrats have fought school choice tooth and nail, and Republicans have lost their nerve on this and other social and moral issues. Until they find the courage to act, America will continue to be embarrased whenever our kids to demonstrate what they know - or don't know - internationally.

    I'll end with this: The entire debate over our schools focuses on the issue of moral absolutes. That will shock some of my readers, but it is what I believe. God Himself is the Author of a universal law by which all things are governed. He has established an immutable standard of right and wrong that trancends time and space. Math, science and other academic inquiries flow from the acknowledgement that all truth is God's Truth, and nothing has meaning apart from His. In generations past, of course, schools were designed to teach those principles, and discipline was intended to enforce them. Public schools and private higher education all had religious missions and conformed to scriptural dictates. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the College of William and Mary were Christian colleges, devoted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But those days are gone. Now we have suceeded in gutting out institutions and divesting them of their moral underpinnings. We have passed laws forbidding official support for matters of faith, prohibiting the posting of the Ten Commandments on school walls and muzzling those who would utter a word of praise or petition to the Almighty. In this remarkably successful campaign to demoralize our educational institutions, we have created for ourselves meaninless, ineffective and godless monuments to man's arrogance. It is our vulnerable children, and those in generations to come, that are sacrificed on the alter of secularism. I pray that someday we will again lay hold to the wisdom of those who have gone before us.

    Let's be in prayer specifically for our schools and for the Christian teachers and administrators who labor in them. They need out encouragement now, more than ever.



    James Dobson, Ph.D.

    President of Focus on the Family




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