Education Degradation Part I

“Ad astra per aspera”, so went the motto of my late grandfather's Kenosha High School's class of '24. Translated it reads: “to the stars through difficulties”. I had to look it up, but the students of that day wouldn't need to. Back then local students received a classical education with study of Greek or Latin considered necessary for full understanding and appreciation of Western Civilization and its works. Every boy wore a tie and every girl a dress for their picture. They apparently didn't realize how politically incorrect they were.

The yearbook staff eloquently dedicated the issue to Colonel Michael Frank, Kenosha's first mayor, noting that Kenosha H.S. was the first free school west of New England. They also stated, “We, the students of the year 1924, are not unmindful of our heritage.” and hoped the yearbook would “recall the spirit of the men and women who made our early history...” So has this noble spirit endured?

Perhaps some foreshadowing can be gleaned from glancing at my father's senior yearbook 45 years later in 1969. The senior class introduction mentioned no class motto, but did say they sold buttons reading: “I Gave 69”. I sensed a shift.

Fast-forward another thirty-seven years to the present where I recently spent three days substitute teaching at my high-school alma mater. Though hardly a dream job, being a substitute in every school, grade, and subject has given me a vantage point that few commentators on current educational matters can claim. This particular three-day stint was illustrative of just how much things have changed.

On day one a student was pointed out to me by a staff member as being mentioned in the paper for throwing a female police officer into oncoming traffic during his arrest at the bus stop four days earlier. Yet he was in class. The next day, upon writing a referral for a student who walked out of my room, a teacher mentioned that the same student pulled the fire alarm only three days prior. Back already. Another teacher told me of a fight earlier that week in which a girl, in the course of assaulting another girl, picked up a hefty overhead projector and threw it at her. She showed up in my class days later bragging about it. Then on my third day a large male student was removed from my class after going toe-to-toe with and threatening to hit a girl. I saw him later that day in the halls.

Remember this was only three days, though my collective stories could fill a book. Now I know this can't be just me. There's been a profound change in what is tolerated, but no equally profound explanation why. Where once fighting was the worst imagined behavior in school now it's a multiple homicide. Nihilism continues to grow among teens as we are reminded by now five local teen suicides this year.

The usual suspects will say we don't do enough. Really? The 1924 Spy didn't list a single school counselor. In '69 there were just three dedicated guidance counselors and several teacher/counselors. Today there are numerous counselors, school psychologists, social workers, Title I liaisons, classroom aides, student helpers, full time security personnel, and a police officer on duty there. Add to that the plethora of behavior modifying medications, advanced technologies, multiplying teachers, skyrocketing school spending and one would think you're describing an educational utopia.

So what in the world happened? Parenting, bureaucracy and popular culture particularly, along with teacher's unions, students and lawyers, all bear some responsibility. But absent a clear villain let's look to the bigger picture of ideas.

Since space is short and these problems urgent, I deal in generalizations fully aware of the inevitable exceptions. The obvious answer is that we are a radically more liberal society today. There's no getting around it. Successive generations of “progressives” have insisted past standards of conduct and achievement are outmoded and “constraining”. They have sneered at tradition while offering no alternatives but intellectual fashion posing as social science and hiding behind the all powerful “It's for the kids” argument. The result? American teens score lower in standardized tests than over half of developed nations tested and occasionally some third-world countries.

Yes, most kids are good as are teachers, but that alone has proven insufficient for progress beyond - or even maintenance of - past standards, both in scholarship and civility. The problem is not that we haven't done enough it's that we've abandoned much of that which worked for that which makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. We can't turn back soon enough. Until that status quo in education is successfully challenged the news won't change. My next column will focus on how we bring that about.