That Illusive "Golden Age" of American Education

Given the amount of news on the subject, by now everyone knows today’s education system is in crisis. It can’t seem to produce any of the well educated students it use to be able to produce. At least so we’re told over and over again. So..., it stands to reason that, sometime in the past, there was a “Golden Age” of American education. But when was it.

I started teaching in 1970. It wasn’t long there after that I began hearing about the need for “accountability in education”. I’ve been listening to that litany ever since. So, we can infer that the 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s are out.

That means it must have been the 60’s, right? The 60’s, you say? You’re kidding, right; the era of hippies and drugs? OK, maybe not. In 1961, the Council for Basic Education claimed that 1/3 of 9th graders could read at only a 2nd or 3rd grade level. In 1967, Jeanne Chall’s book, “Learning to Read: The Great Debate”, attacked the abandonment of phonics. OK, so it’s not the 60’s.

That means it must have been the 50’s. I remember the 50’s; second through tenth grade. Wonderful decade. Good education? Not if you use me as the example, but that’s not the fault of the system. But, I digress. In 1958, Hannah Arendt warned that standards lagged and Life Magazine compared a Russian student and an American student to point out the shabby American results. OK, so it’s not the 50’s.

One would think a world war would disrupt the 40’s rather seriously, but let’s look anyway. Atlantic Monthly reported a suburban Massachusetts public school board member’s comment that, if your kid can’t read or do math, maybe you’d better mortgage your home and send him/her to private school. In 1947, Benjamin Fine’s book, “Our Children Are Cheated”, said education faces a serious crisis. Apparently, the issue of “social promotions” was also being identified as a source of the problem. OK, so it’s not the 40’s. Beginning to see a pattern here?

•In1909, Ellwood Cubberly, Stanford education dean, said in his book, “Changing Conceptions of Education”, that America was coming up short in the battle of international economies.

•In 1902, the New York Sun reported that students did little work.

•In 1896, Harvard’s Board of Overseers complained about the poor quality of undergraduates.

•In 1837, 300 Massachusetts teachers were forced out of their rooms by riotous and violent students.

The message here is Will Roger’s analogy. This constant reference to the great schools of the past is fictional nostalgia. Don’t believe me? Read Chapter 1 of Richard Rothstein’s book, “The Way We Were: The Myths and Realities of America’s Student Achievement.”

Ken Mortland - Jan. 11, 2011