During our tragic conflict in Vietnam that seemed to have no end, Senator George Aiken (R-VT) suggested we should unilaterally declare victory and pull out. Eventually, we did pull out but by that time no one had the chutzpah to declare victory.
But at last Aiken's modest proposal has found expression in a different kind of campaign -- the quest to improve the nation's schools. In 1983, a Presidential commission issued "A Nation At Risk," a severe indictment of the nation's public schools which it claimed were sinking into a quagmire of mediocrity. That report led to a generation of vast expenditures of public and private money, and a series of ambitious federal laws intended to improve education, culminating in No Child Left Behind adopted in 2001. Despite it all, the decline in test scores has continued.
Now at long last, the Obama Administration has joined an eager bi-partisan majority in Congress to embrace the Aiken solution. They have enacted a new law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, which is a frank admission of defeat. There will still be testing, but it will not be taken so seriously. Uncle Sam will butt out and the states and local school boards will resume responsibility for education. And, of course, every student will succeed.
This would appear to reflect the popular movement in juvenile sports to have each participant in athletic activities receive equal recognition regardless of who actually wins the games. Thus, we get rid of all that pressure and stress in the classrooms as well as the athletic fields. Don't worry, be happy.
Lots of people are happy to see this and so to some extent their relief is justified. The obsessive emphasis on testing was driving teachers and students crazy to little purpose. On the other hand, the national focus on quality education has suffered a severe setback. "Before No Child Left Behind," wrote columnist Michael Gerson, "only 29 states had real accountability systems; 11 states did not disaggregate by race at all; only 22 states reported graduation rates by high school."
In this era of severe budget constraints, it is inevitable that this retreat will lead to less spending on education. The persistent gap in achievement between whites and minorities will surely grow more pronounced. The wealthier school systems will continue to do well, but those in less developed areas will suffer.
The good news is that there is a quiet revolution in education going on under the radar across the nation as both charter and public schools experiment with new teaching techniques and businesses work with schools to equip young people with practical workplace skills. It may well be that a smaller federal role in education will be offset by increased reform activity at the state and local level and in conjunction with the private sector.
--
Jerry Jasinowski, an economist and author, served as President of the National Association of Manufacturers for 14 years and later The Manufacturing Institute. You can quote from this with attribution. Let me know if you would like to speak with Jerry. January 2016