EDUCATION BEYOND POLITICS
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they find out that they don't have to work
to
get into college. Since
they don't have to work to graduate from high school, they stop
working. They turn on those teachers who've pushed them very hard.
No one else cares about learning.
If they don't want to go to Harvard or Yale or Princeton, they say,
"I can get into ninety-five percent of the colleges in this country." Set–
ting college and university standards determines curriculum standards in
both high schools and elementary schools. It is a central issue and a very
hot political one. I've taken this up with members of the administration.
Indeed, I've had meetings with the secretary of education, and it's like
trying to tamper with Social Security. Parents would fear that their chil–
dren wouldn't make it. Now, we've got guaranteed college entry for
evety youngster in the United States regardless of any educational stan–
dard, and if you start fooling around with that, you'll be dealing with
the fears of a very large number of people. How this is going to be
turned around I
do~'t
know.
Abigail Thernstrorn:
It isn't simple, it seems to me. There are two
points here. In part the fear is generated by the disparate racial and ethnic
impact of setting any rigorous standards. Indeed, that impact is real. But
there is another element: if you don't go on
to
college, if you go right
into the work force, you don't need to have done well in high school.
Employers generally don't ask for high school transcripts.
AI Shanker:
That's the other part of it. In most other countries, there's
some other form of credential. It might just be your grades, or it might
be some other certificate. Students are always asking, "Does it count?" If
they know that it doesn't count either for college or for getting a job,
this also means, essentially, that what you spend time on doesn't make
any difference because it doesn't count for anything. That, of course,
lends some support to those who say, "Well, if this subject matter is go–
ing to be more interesting or is going to develop greater self-esteem in a
given group, and if it doesn't make any difference, then why not do
things that are being pushed for by certain groups, or which will develop
greater self-esteem?" Everything is up for grabs.
Ronald Radosh:
All this reminds me of an old joke in a
New Yorker
cartoon, in which a king is addressing a multitude of his country. He's
standing in the balcony and says, "My first promise to you is that we're
going to have an educated country, that is why I award each of you a
college diploma." I don't know if any of you saw the incredible story
on the
ABC Evening News
a few nights ago, a discussion of the high
school textbooks in history. It amazed me for two reasons. In essence,
