BY: BEANIE GEOGHEGAN
Millions of families are taking advantage of the expansion of school choice across the country, but most students will still attend public schools for at least some portion of their K-12 years. Those 50 million students will graduate and become business owners, teachers, medical professionals, lawyers, and civil servants. It is imperative that the education they receive is of the highest quality and that it prepares them to thrive as individuals and community members. Unfortunately, the current state of public education does not meet those standards, which needs to change.
According to the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 22% of 8th-grade students performed at the proficient level in civics, while a mere 13% performed at the proficient level in history. The fact that only 31% of these same 8th graders scored proficient on the reading portion of the assessment could be attributed to these results since learning about history and civics requires a certain level of literacy proficiency. Whether functional illiteracy is partially to blame or not, these results do not bode well for the students’ futures or the future of our country.
Whenever the data from NAEP is shared, some quibble over the meaning of “proficiency.” According to their website, they define it as representing “solid academic performance.” When students score at this level, it signifies they “demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter.” It seems reasonable to expect a government institution that spends over 800 billion dollars to educate students to ensure that those students demonstrate competency in the fundamentals of why our country was founded, how our government is supposed to function, and what their role in it is supposed to be.
Thomas Jefferson once wisely stated, “I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” What we are witnessing today is the opposite. Rather than bolstering the quality of education, the government bolsters its power over people. Rather than seek to cultivate independent, well-informed, self-governing individuals, the government-run schools are creating poorly educated social justice warriors who are easily malleable and content to let the government provide for their needs.
Our country, as we know it is not sustainable under these conditions. We must remedy the problem by returning to high academic rigor, rich content-focused standards and curriculum, high expectations for all students, and a culture of respect and personal accountability. Some of that must come from strong school leaders who are determined to ignore the noise from the opposition and provide the best learning environment for their students. Some will come from organizations like Freedom In Education, which pursue quality standards and create them where none exist.
Since its launch in September of 2023, Freedom In Education (FIE) has had the opportunity to promote the American Birthright Standards to state and school leaders to restore K-12 Social Studies education. When they could not find a solution for K-12 science education, FIE partnered with the National Association of Scholars to draft the Franklin Science Standards. These models focus on content and restore rigor to two academic subject areas needing improvement. (Only 35% of 8th graders scored proficient in science in 2019.) The standards will only change what is happening in the classrooms if accompanied by a quality curriculum and meaningful professional development for teachers. FIE is actively working to create both.
While FIE strongly believes that every parent should be able to choose the best learning environment for their children, the reality that public schools will educate most children in the United States can not and should not be ignored. Public schools must offer the highest quality of education that reflects American excellence. Thankfully, the network of organizations working to ensure that happens is expanding daily.
