Real Education Takes Hard Thinking

As a political gimmick, Goals 2000 was genius. As a shield to deflect criticism about the nation’s deplorable school problems, it was a masterstroke.

But anyone who thought the education aims of Goals 2000 would actually be achieved by the century’s end must believe Tinkerbell brings Easter eggs.

The goals were set by the nation’s governors and President Bush in 1989. Congress wrote them into law in 1994. Now we are halfway to the end of the century. We have not come nearly halfway toward reaching most, if any, of the targets in Goals 2000.

By many measures, American schools and American students are worse off than they were when the goals were announced with a blare of political trumpets.

That depressing assessment was announced last week by the National Education Goals Panel, a federal agency set up to monitor progress in the schools. Its new report does show a few modest gains: Math and science scores are up a little, more college students are majoring in science, more parents are reading to preschoolers, schools seem slightly safer.

But 12th-grade reading scores are worse. More students report drug selling in high schools. More teachers lack relevant training. There is little or no progress in high school graduation rates, in elementary school reading achievement and in narrowing the gap between blacks and whites in college enrollment and graduation.

Why has there been so little progress?

Goals 2000 was a political ploy. Hastily announced with little discussion at a governors’ conference in 1989, it let President Bush and the governors claim to be doing something wonderful and immediate about the school problems that are handicapping the nation and embarrassing us abroad. But it pushed accountability a comfortable 10 years into the future.

The original goals seemed obvious for a nation that claims world leadership: All children are to start kindergarten ready to learn. (The goal should have said “ready to succeed in school.” All children start learning the hour they are born. The challenge is how best to help them learn in the crucial early years of life when brain growth is so rapid.)

Students are to be competent in major subjects and able to handle challenging work. The dropout rate is to decline. At least 90 percent of students are to graduate from high school. U.S. students are to be first in the world in math and science (they are still close to last). All schools are to be free of drugs, alcohol and violence. All adults are to be literate and able to compete in a global economy.

Bill Clinton signed on to the goals as a governor. As president, he helped push Goals 2000 legislation through Congress, which formalized the idea into law and added two new goals (encouraging parental involvement in education and more professional training for teachers). Congress also authorized $647 million in support of the goals, much of it in block grants to states.

There have been some sporadic successes here and there, usually when an inspiring principal has turned a school in a new direction. But they are too few to counter the dismal lack of progress elsewhere or to show up in national measurements.

Goals 2000 was a political gimmick, not an education plan. And it has run into a political buzz saw this year, as GOP cost-cutters take aim at its modest federal appropriation, not only to save money but also to satisfy critics who claim the federal government is usurping state powers over the schools.

Money isn’t the major reason, however, for the lamentable lack of progress. Instead, the push toward excellence has been largely sidetracked in recent years by educational fads and political sensitivities that distract from learning.

The emphasis on self-esteem has been so overblown that curriculums and textbooks have been dumbed down, lest any child not be able to cope. Standards have been weakened, lest any child fail. History has been rewritten and twisted to minimize the role of white males, lest any student feel his racial heritage or her sex has been slighted.

Grouping students by ability to learn and level of achievement for educational efficiency is being abandoned in favor of grouping solely by age. Never mind how much that diminishes learning opportunities for bright youngsters who are prevented from functioning at the level of their ability and for children with special needs that can be met in a regular classroom only in theory.

If we were really serious about improving education for American children, we should take a hard, objective look at what works and what just sounds good politically or is today’s faddish educational cant. We should insist that education research be rigorous and scientifically validated.

We should pay far more attention to the brain itself and how it learns. The most critical years for brain growth and learning are before age 6, for example. But millions of children are mentally malnourished during these critical years and can never catch up later.

We know that the brain learns a second language easiest and best during the early years of life. But we usually postpone teaching American children a foreign language until high school and put immigrant youngsters into the kinds of transition classes that slow down learning English.

If we really want to reach the goals of Goals 2000, we could still make substantial progress toward doing so. But anyone who says we can do so just by spending more money or reaffirming good intentions is either naive or running for office.