Smart Bombs: Education-bashing nothing new

The following sounds familiar. Maybe you’ve even muttered something similar.

“Fifty years ago a high school diploma meant something. … We have simply misled our students and misled the nation by handing out high school diplomas to those who we well know had none of the intellectual qualifications that a high school diploma is supposed to represent – and does represent in other countries. It is this dilution of standards which has put us in our present serious plight.”

Ah yes, if schools just got back to basics, America could return to whipping its global competitors and reasserting its economic dominance. I’ve sat through numerous editorial board meetings where business leaders and others have repeated this theme.

But here’s the rub: That quote appeared in 1958 in U.S. News and World Report, when America was in the midst of a long economic boom that would create prodigious wealth and a vast middle class. Nonetheless, business leaders were not bullish on education, and probably never have been.

The New Republic published a fascinating essay last week showing that the complaints we hear today are nothing new. The piece was written by Aaron Swartz, a young genius who pioneered technological breakthroughs and used his skills to advance the cause of Internet freedom. He was facing federal charges for his “hacktivism” when he committed suicide three years ago at age 26.

Swartz left behind many unpublished works, including the education essay. It’s a provocative piece written by a young man who didn’t accept the premise that schools used to be better.

We know that since the 1970s, reading and math scores for the National Assessment of Educational Progress have climbed steadily, albeit slowly. NAEP scores declined slightly last year. Nonetheless, the long-term trend for achievement has been positive.

We know that “A Nation At Risk,” a comprehensive critique of the U.S. educational system, was published in 1983 and triggered an era of accountability and reform that hasn’t quelled the carping.

The one constant is adults believing their education was superior to that of their children. But the truth is that when we were kids, politicians, business leaders and other grown-ups were running down our schools, too.

Education worries have been around for as long as we’ve been a country, and Swartz found the following examples:

“In 1845, only 45 percent of Boston’s brightest students knew that water expands when it freezes.”

“In 1898, a Harvard report found only 4 percent of applicants ‘could write an essay, spell, or properly punctuate a sentence.’ ”

“In 1913 … more than half of new recruits to the Army during World War I ‘were not able to write a simple letter or read a newspaper with ease.’ ”

“In 1927, the National Association of Manufacturers complained that 40 percent of high school graduates could not perform simple arithmetic or accurately express themselves in English.”

“A 1943 test by the New York Times found that only 29 percent of college freshmen knew that St. Louis was on the Mississippi.”

“A 1951 test in L.A. found that more than half of eighth-graders couldn’t calculate 8 percent sales tax on an $8 purchase.”

We’ve all heard that kids today can’t be bothered with books because they’re distracted by electronic devices. But, Swartz writes: “A 1962 Gallup poll found ‘just 21 percent looked at books even casually.’ In 1974, Reader’s Digest asked, ‘Are we becoming a nation of illiterates?’ ”

Swartz concludes that this chronic complaining is part of the establishment’s strategic plan to produce workers who through “teaching to the test” and other rote exercises are conditioned to be compliant, rather than independent thinkers.

I don’t endorse the conspiracy theory, but it’s illuminating to see how long this foreboding has been the company line.

Associate Editor Gary Crooks can be reached at garyc@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5026. Follow him on Twitter @GaryCrooks.