We can reverse it and say that nowadays public education serves the purpose of producing illiterate citizens who don’t know a lot about the world and who cannot and do not think clearly and logically.  This serves the ruling elite well who do everything to deepen the trend of stupefying the population, and that is why our fight for the higher standards appears to be fruitless.

The required reading on this subject remains “So Little for the Mind”, by the late, great Canadian historian Hilda Neatby. (1953):

“Neatby’s analysis was that the press and the general public received the book with enthusiasm, but that “educational leaders” led a chorus of attacks.  In an article published in Maclean’s in 1954, Neatby responded to her critics in the education profession:  “Educators have surpassed themselves in the epithets applied to my scholarship, my style and my personality.  They owed it to me, and to the public whose attention they have endeavoured to engage, to examine and to answer my arguments also, and to do so with accuracy and with fairness.  This they have not done.”

http://scaa.usask.ca/gallery/uofs_events/articles/1953.php

The elite - the top 1-2% that run everything - have a very clear understanding of the purpose and process of education.  They would agree with Malkin, that the purpose of education is to “know a lot about the world”.

But that means something different to them.  The wealthy “know a lot about the world” in the sense of understanding how society actually works.

The wealthy teach their kids to be wealthy - to take chances, to “play the game”, to view money as a tool, to embrace challenges, to aspire realistically and fearlessly.  The wealthy continually self-educate and fill their homes with books, but they don’t confuse earning degrees and credentials with acquiring knowledge. 

We like to think that our highly-credentialed teachers are part of the ‘elite’, but of course they aren’t.  They are plodding civil servants, with no accountability and no career path.  They are well-paid, but only in comparison with nurses and bus drivers.  They certainly don’t “know a lot about the world”, except in the sense of knowing the capital of Denmark and the year the Magna Carta was signed. 

Elite private schools create a networked cohort of future leaders with shared values and shared manners.  Athletics and music are a big part of the elite school curriculum - developing individual excellence in context of team sports. 

Public schools train kids to aspire to a secure job that pays the rent, and to dream of winning the lottery.  Of course some parents can and do train worldly mindsets outside of school.

The wealthy are great supporters of public education but wouldn’t dream of sending their own kids to a public school.  Because that’s not how the world works.

Mobility between income groups is dropping, and wealth is increasingly ‘sticky’ across generations.  It would be nice if public schools were pushing back at that trend, but more likely they are reinforcing it.

Malkin is correct on the purpose of education.  But the purpose of *public* schools is only to provide day-care.  Almost no one needs to be able to add fractions. Canada runs just fine with a only half of adults with functional-literacy. levels.

It’s Pathological — The Denial Of Fallibility By Educators

There are yet to be published, articles and books on this topic — Educator Pathology: The Denial Of Fallibility By Educators.

There used to be an excellent program to try to bring schools into standard proven practice — The Effective Schools Movement.  Read about Ron Edmonds and Effective Schools in Wikipedia.  This article lists 6 criteria, but I was involved at this time and a more expanded checklist emerged with a key #8 (Avoidance of Pitfalls) that Edmonds himself declared was essential.  See:  http://www.parentsteachingparents.net/2015/12/what-happened-to-effective-schools-checklist/

The checklist was effectively killed over time, and that’s a long story.  Its revival is overdue.

Now, to amplify the note on educator defensiveness in 1953 when they refused to heed Hilda Neatby’s call to ditch progressive trends as described in her book — “So Little for the Mind”.  What educators refused to do was discuss her points but instead challenged her “scholarship”, her “style”, her “personality”.

Roll forward 50 years when Jeanne Chall advocated for phonics in teaching reading.  This is what Marilyn Jager Adams wrote: 

*** “ . . . reviewing the research on phonics, Chall told me that if I wrote the truth, I would lose old friends and make new enemies. She warned me that I would never again be fully accepted by my academic colleagues . . . Sadly, however, as the evidence in favor of systematic, explicit phonics instruction for beginners increased, so too did the vehemence and nastiness of the backlash.  The goal became one of discrediting not just the research, but the integrity and character of those who had conducted it.  Chall was treated most shabbily . . . “

There is UNFINISHED BUSINESS folks!  Children are harmed, society is harmed.  AND, and the education establishment, especially teachers who ignore good research, are duped by false, ideological worldviews. Constructivism is currently at play. What needs to happen is not imposed reform so much as an IMPLOSION. The system needs to be seen, and to see, how its self-serving priorities are harming the education cause.

For characteristics of teachers in denial see http://www.parentsteachingparents.net/2015/10/discontented-teachers-easy-targets-for-fads/

Yup, it’s the dogged avoidance of accountability that’s at the bottom of most of our education problems.  Other professions have standard operating procedures, some have checklists, notably aviation and medical fields.  But, educators somehow feel they can do no wrong; they are infallible; there are no casualties from their practice.  Please read the delightful, captivating book by Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.  894 Reviews.  Really easy read.

BIG TIP:  I got this tip to read this book from lurking in young teacher’s blogs.  They are excited about this idea.  But, they largely remain progressives and constructivists; their checklists will be useless to those who want basic skills and knowledge in schools.  Better get in on the ground floor of this movement, when and if it comes to your community.  Or better yet, start the ball rolling on checklists for effective schools.