I write this a few days before an important election in America. It has implications for education and for every area of American policy. Should government continue to become more centralised, more controlled by complex bureaucratic rules in the hundreds of thousands?
This has been the trend in America for almost 100 years. It began in earnest in 1932, with the election of President Franklin Roosevelt and the first political majority in favour of it. At that time government consumed about 12 percent of the country’s GDP. Today it consumes over 50 percent. In 1930, most spending was controlled by cities and towns. Today most government spending — over 60 percent — is controlled at the federal level. Given the size of the American economy, this change is massive. Also since the balance between the public and private is crucial to a free society, it is a fundamental change.
This has implications for education. In America, over half of all employees in public education are non-teachers. The system is driven by huge bureaucracies outside the classroom. In my opinion, this removes power from the people who ought to have it: teachers and parents. They are the people who know children best and should help them learn.
Centralisation of school education has not produced good results. Reading standards in America are low compared to other developed countries. Students know less about history, physical sciences, and mathematics than in comparable countries of Europe and Asia. The national goal is that every child should read by the end of class III (i.e, age 8-9). In good schools, students begin to read easily by age 5-6.
This is why, as centralised government has grown in America, confidence in it has fallen. Levels of trust in government in America are low. Today only 22 percent of the American people believe the federal government does the right thing most of the time. But this persistent disapproval in public opinion means there are opportunities for change.
And major changes have begun to be made in education at states level in recent years, and they are accelerating. I have written in this column before about charter schools, which are exempt from many of the regulations that govern public schools in America. They give local people — parents, teachers, and community leaders — the opportunity to manage schools autonomously. This is popular and right. Hillsdale College, where I work, has helped to found and manage more than 100 charter schools, and they are thriving.
One of the candidates in our presidential election, Mr. Trump, supports the extension of these reforms and the other opposes them. That is one of the key issues of the imminent election.
By the time you read this, we will know who has won. It is an exciting time. I am pulling for the reformers.
Also read: Lifetime Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2023-24: Dr. Larry Arnn