Good Luck with That: Education and Maintaining Our Republic

(From the Archives, June 2019)

by Chris McGinnis, PhD, BCBA-D

As the 2020 election season gears up, I thought it would be fun to look at the latest available proficiency rates for public high school seniors. What I found wasn't fun but frightening:

United States History: 11%

United States Civics: 23%

Geography: 19%

Economics: 41%

Reading: 36%

Science: 21%

Fewer than half of graduating seniors are proficient in any of these critical subjects, the most critical of which may be Reading (given that reading is the gateway to continuing one's education over the lifespan). Yet, all of these seniors now have the opportunity to vote, and some will one day enter elected office and will likely not hail from the 11% who scored at least “proficient” in US history.

These data should alarm educated and principled Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike, for as Thomas Jefferson warned, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

Jefferson further noted, “An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight. It is therefore imperative that the nation see to it that a suitable education be provided for all its citizens.”

Notwithstanding the high likelihood that the bar for demonstrating proficiency is set low, do these data reflect a “sufficient” or “suitable” education?

If we can agree the answer is a resounding "NO", it's unfortunately our elected officials who must make the necessary reformations. I wonder why real changes aren't being made. I also wonder how these officials would score on these same assessments.

I've been arguing for decades now that parents must take the reins as to their own children's education. Private schools do only slightly better than the public schools as a category on these measures, so choosing private school is no solution to this problem of a marginally prepared citizenry. There are exceptions, of course, but such exceptions, I also argue, should be the rule.

So, parents, read up, and share what you learn with your children, no matter their ages. Go ahead and talk politics and history. Demonstrate for them how to disagree using facts and reason rather than emotion and ad hominem attack. Discuss what the founders of our country got right, and what they got wrong. Discuss the role of religion in our founding and in today's world whether or not you believe or practice. Which Amendments have done more harm than good for our country, and why? Are progressive/conservative policy propositions all good or bad? Why or why not? Why do economists disagree on the fundamentals?

And, was Jefferson right?

Dr. Chris McGinnis is a family psychologist in private practice based in Jupiter, Florida. His website is www.mcginnisbehavioral.com.