The Death of Education in America
As students report back to their various schools, I've noticed this article is getting renewed attention. When I started college in 1981, the motto was "learn how to learn." Today's motto, however, seems to be "learn how to earn." There's a twisted logic to this, given the expense of private schools (and many public ones, for that matter).
I was lucky to have teachers and professors who were passionate about learning, and who were not straitjacketed by the demands of standardized testing. Many of them were inspired, I think, by the counterculture movements of the 1960s. They spoke their minds, and I was the better for it.
Nowadays, when I look at available jobs in academe, I see a surging demand for various administrators, deans, student affairs, coaches, diversity promoters, and the like, but few positions for full-time teachers and professors. How did education become dominated by management? How did it become just another business, another product, another disposable commodity?
Last night, my mind boggled as a sportscaster talked about his "corporate family" on TV. Corporate family -- an American oxymoron for this moment. Education, I used to tell my students, should provide you with a BS meter in life. Last night, my BS meter was pegged. Thanks for reading.