Francisco Miraval
A few days ago, an acquaintance left a message for me in the account I have in a well-known social networking site. The message included the question that we are using as the title for this column: What should we change to improve our education system?
My “friend” is mistaken in thinking that I have the experience or the knowledge to provide an answer remotely relevant, because education is a complex, always changing issue, surrounded by controversy and politics.
In other words, in spite of my almost 30 years of experience in educator, I do not possess the credentials to offer a good answer. However, my “friend” politely insisted in getting an answer, so I decided to gather some thoughts about this issue.
In brief, I believe that there is one change we can and should implement to improve all levels of education: we should stop thinking about education as a system to form new employees and consumers and begin seeing it as a system to educate a whole person, not only a future worker in the workforce.
The paradox is that at the same time that education in the United States and in other “advanced economies” (Japan, Europe) focuses on producing more and better employees, productivity (“output per person employed or hour worked”) is declining, according to a report published earlier this month by The Conference Board.
The same source says that productivity will decline even more this year, mainly in the “advanced regions” of the world.
Education usually focuses on two other areas: science and technology. The United States is still the global leader in those two areas; however, the margin of leadership is so slim that several Asian economies will soon surpass the United States, according to the National Science Board (NSB), part of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
In fact, China already surpassed Japan regarding investments in science and technology and it is now in second place in the world behind only the United States.
At the same time that all those changes are taking place, the U.S. federal budget for 2012 eliminates or drastically reduces the funds for history, civics, foreign languages, and economics, according to Education Week (January 11, 2012.) The budget cuts affect also the eligibility to receive federal grants to pay for college.
It is difficult to understand how it is possible to proclaim so openly that one of the requirements for graduation, both from high school and from college, is to be ready to enter the workforce, when at the same time budget cuts will prevent students from learning about history, languages, or economics. Those subjects will help any student to be better prepared to be part of the global economy.
Going back to the initial question, I would say - recognizing it is just a Utopia- that we need to see each student not as a future employee or consumer, but as a person. When that happens (if ever), we will prepare students not for a job, but for life.