In Two Parts

 “Get wisdom, gain insight…” (Prov 4:5, RSV)

The scandal concerning “purchasing” admission to prestigious colleges currently making news (see https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/13/us/what-we-know-college-admissions-cheating-scandal/index.html) constitutes a symptom of the threat that American pragmatism (if it works, it is good), morphed into “careerism,” poses to American education. “Lawnmower parents,” who have replaced “helicopter parents,” agonize over getting their children into the best pre-schools, discourage their children from any pursuit that does not lead directly toward a desired career path, and pressure their children (and their children’s teachers) about grades. As early as twenty years ago, when I directed the Honors Program at an undergraduate, liberal arts college, I regularly confronted parents who questioned why their children should pursue the more difficult honors degree and risk a lower GPA – which would, they feared, lessen their childrens’ chances for admission to law, medical or other professional school. State legislators clamor for more vocational training in high school. It seems that the popular mind has reduced the goals and purposes of education, at all levels, to one: getting a good job. Even the Spellings Commission emphasized post-secondary education as “vital to an individual’s economic security” (A Test of Leadership:  Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education [2006], p. x).

Since the design of any system should follow the dictates of its objective(s), the current situation begs for a reassessment of the goals of education at all levels. I propose that public education, kindergarten through college, should attend to at least three, equally important goals in addition to preparation for a career. In addition to these four public objectives, I will suggest a fifth for believers.

First, education should prepare students to navigate the challenges of everyday life in modern society. People need to be able to read and follow instructions, to calculate tips and interest rates, to evaluate economic options, to formulate strategies for solving problems, and to communicate clearly with others in a variety of settings. Elementary education typically focuses on these basic abilities precisely because of their primary their importance for negotiating daily life and secondarily because they also figure in the acquisition of vocational and professional expertise later in life. The most recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (2015) ranks 15 year olds in the US 38^th (out of 71) in the world in mathematics and twenty-fourth in science (see http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/). Clearly, we have work to do on the most basic level.

Second, education should not limit itself to preparing students for daily life and for vocations and professions – to make a living – but should equip students with the tools and skills needed to live life well. Even at the elementary level, and certainly beyond it, students should encounter the arts and the humanities which have the capacity to enrich life. I once knew of a physician who had majored in classical guitar at the undergraduate level. He reported that the beauty of making music helped to contextualize his daily work; it added to his sense of being centered in the world, of having a center to his personhood. My dentist majored in religious studies. Simply put, while most people work forty hours per week, they must spend the remaining one hundred and twenty-four hours in the week doing something. Inevitably, every human being must confront the questions of meaning and goodness. Vocational or professional training cannot provide the resources for these questions that one finds in Dickenson, Bach and Rembrandt, in Batuman, Miles Davis, and Chagall.

(to be continued next week)