The Miseducation of America

It is that time of year again when we are bombarded with "Back to School" print advertisements and broadcast commercials. Cute kids dance across the screen donning the latest in fashion in preparation for the first day of school. The overall message: "Buy, buy, buy," so that you are in style and in step for the new school year. Buy new clothes. Buy sparkly school supplies. Buy foods and snacks that are just perfect for breakfast and lunch on the go. Buy book bags with special compartments for iPods, cell phones, Game Boys, laptops and other gadgets. I wonder, "Where is the special compartment for books?" The thrust of these ads is that if you purchase all of these "necessities," then your child will be properly prepared for success at school. The reality of these ads is that they reflect the problem with education today. We are completely focused on the wrong thing.

Instead of mentally and intellectually preparing our kids for success at schools, many of us spend money that we do not have to dress them up and send them off to schools with inadequate funding, resources and facilities. I often wonder what would happen if parents cut their "back-to-school" budgets in half and donated the other half to their neighborhood schools? What kind of difference would be made?

Now, I am not a complete ogre. I do remember the excitement of going "back-to-school" shopping when I was a kid. But part of that excitement was because I knew that I was not getting anything else except for Christmas or Easter and possibly my birthday, depending upon my grades and my behavior around that time. I also knew that I could not ask for anything else during other times of the year, so it was truly a special occasion; however, many kids today get stuff all year long. Everyday is a good day, even when they have had a bad day, so I'm not really feeling the whole "back-to-school" vibe right now -- particularly in light of what is happening to our educational system.

I'm not going to blame the teachers because as a college professor, I am biased, and I believe that most standards are established at the top. Quite frankly, our current secretary of education is unqualified. Since we respect education so little in this country that our president would appoint someone without the ideal educational or professional background to serve in a high-ranking position (surprise, surprise), then it is difficult to hold our local teachers to a different standard. Besides, most teachers that I know, in public and private schools, are extremely hard-working and dedicated individuals. Unfortunately, many of them are asked to perform in less-than-desirable conditions and to meet requirements and goals that they do not have the proper tools or resources to realistically accomplish.

Further, I think that teachers are often scapegoated for poor student performance, when in fact, many students across race, class and gender lines, do not want to perform. Like the ads, many want to be well-dressed and well-coiffed, but not challenged. Some want to negotiate everything and others cannot be bothered with the minutia of school, like homework, class assignments, and extra-curricular activities. Their disinterest in school reflects our society's disinterest in education. We go back and forth over vouchers and diversity issues, which are important, but the real problem is that many of us do not truly value education.

For example, I went to South Africa this summer to teach in rural schools. When my colleagues and I arrived, we were greeted like rock stars. Students were hungry for knowledge and books and wanted to learn as much as they could. They wore uniforms if they could afford them. Some kids had no shoes, and some came wearing towels with pins in them as skirts. Nothing would stop these kids from coming to school, and they were not made fun of by other students. The students held their teachers in the highest esteem, and teachers treated students in a respectful manner. Parents came to the school everyday to assist the teachers and staff with preparing lunches, helping students move between classes and even with keeping the school clean. They sat in on assemblies and joined in with choral performances. I was truly amazed that even though they were poor materially, they were rich in spirit. Why is it that in our country we have so much materially, but are poor in spirit? Why is the self-esteem of a child here tied to what he or she is wearing as opposed to what he or she is learning?

Seeing these "back-to-school" ads highlights the misplaced values of our society and the miseducation of our children. We are teaching them to measure themselves by what they wear and what they look like as opposed to what they learn and how they perform at school. We are teaching them that it is more important to invest in clothing and non-necessities than it is to invest in our schools. Laws are being repealed that helped integrate schools during segregation, voucher programs are leaving more children behind than ever before and school conditions in many places are shameful. What are we doing as a society to address these issues? Buying more clothes.

As we head back to school, I hope that we will begin to think more concretely about how we can work together to impart better values to our children and to make education a real priority in this country. South Africa has many problems -- as evidenced by the public servants strike this summer. One thing that they do have right is a community approach to education and the significant role that it plays in the lives of their children. Like them, we need to focus less on materialism as a value and more on promoting education as a value that is the responsibility of everyone in our society.