There are times when a hard dose of reality is necessary and I believe this is such a time. You will soon be going to the voting booth to cast a vote for our state officials. One will be for the person who will spend the next four years heading the Office of Public Instruction. For many, many years this has been a Democrat. I suggest you change that and this election vote for a Republican. Now why would anyone possibly advance such a wild idea you might ask? Let me try and answer that very question.
When your child or grandchild boards that schoolbus each morning, I suspect that you have an expectation that young student is going to return home with just a little more knowledge than when they left. You of course also know that not all students will learn at the same rate so any comparisons with other students you know to take with a grain of salt. You also know that education is a lifelong process so you aren’t about to rush to conclusions and understand that patience is truly a virtue. You also know that your children’s teachers are, almost without exception, devoted to giving each child the best education they possibly can. Now, with all that said, why would anybody express criticism of the education our young people are receiving?
Results. Let me repeat that, Results. Just to draw an analogy, let us suppose your child is in a footrace with about 60 other kids. You are right by the fence and you see them all run by and can see they are all doing their very best to win. Your child comes in near the middle of the pack and like any good parent or grandparent, you compliment them and encourage them and may even express the idea that they will do better the next time. Now for the hard part of this analogy. They don’t do better! For over thirty years our students have been running somewhere near the middle of the pack.
Now I suspect you are going to challenge the above assertion and you should. After all, the most precious thing we have are our children and anything that bears upon their future we must know about. The information about the “middle of the pack” can be seen by going to Wikipedia on your computer and then looking up “Program for International Student Assessment.” What you will find is the following: Three areas are examined with the US finishing 36th out of 65 countries in mathematics; 28th out of 65 in science; 24th out of 65 in reading. How did Montana compare to the above results? We did not take the test like three states did and thus there are no results to examine. It is interesting to note that the three states that did take the PISA exam were Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Florida. How did they perform? The first two states were well above the US average and Florida was below the average.
Now for the long range view of our K-12 education. The analysis and plan to correct the deficiencies in education in the US can be found in a report presented to the American people in April 1983, titled “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform.” Again, go to your computer and bring up this paper. Possibly the most devastating comment in the report goes like this… “ If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre education performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.” The individuals that expressed that view were a cross section of our society and as free of a political agenda as can be achieved. It was first presented to a very skeptical President Reagan who recognized it as perhaps the most important document in the modern history of education reform. He became an active supporter and there was initial success in the nations education system. Unfortunately, the PISA results demonstrate the positive effects did not last. If you take the time to read the report, you may agree with me that with a little updating, the plan could be put into operation next week and put our education system back on the right track.
Now, back to the election. Montana and virtually all the other states have voted over and over again to place education in the hands of the Democrat Party and the unions which represent the teachers. They have done what they consider to be what is best for the students and for their union members. To say that their role in education is a politcal issue is a massive understatement. For many decades they have had their chance and we can see the results. Our students are consistently finishing “in the middle of the pack.” You may deny that or find a reason to excuse it or work any number of explanations but the hard, cold, brutal facts remain to stare us in the face. Now the pressing question is what to do about it. Many of us dislike this entire issue to have a strong political component- but it does! Our current Governor Bullock has vetoed bills that would have allowed school choice. Is that what you want? There is a decision that you will make in this next election. Do you wish to continue on the same road we have travelled for decades or do you think that it is time for a change? I think you are wise enough to know that there are no sure answers in complex matters of this nature but are you willing to take a chance? We’ll all find out on November 8.
William Hester MD
Florence