In the most recent weekly tracking poll by the Economist and YouGov, 6 percent of Americans named education as the issue that is most important to them. Forty percent said the economy was the most important.
That's not surprising considering the nation is facing 9.1 percent unemployment.
In the Sept. 7 Republican presidential candidates' debate at the Reagan Library, the word "education" was mentioned in two moderator questions and three candidate answers. In President Barack Obama's speech two days later to Congress unveiling his new jobs package, he uttered the word "education" one time. Questions and discussion about the economy and jobs dominated these primetime events.
That's not surprising considering the nation's economy grew only 1 percent last quarter.
According to the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, education-related stories amounted to 2 percent of all news stories last year.
That's not surprising considering we have a $1.3 trillion projected deficit for the fiscal year and Americans are fearful we owe too much money to creditor nations like China.
What is surprising is that we, as a nation, aren't fully making the connection between education, local, state and federal budget matters, and the economy.
At 30 Rockefeller Center next week, we'll be trying to make that connection more apparent. On Sept. 25, NBC will kick off its annual Education Nation summit. Education Nation, in its second year, is NBC's attempt to provoke and sustain a solutions-focused conversation about the state of education in America.
Our lineup this year is phenomenal. Our schedule includes panel discussions on inequality among school districts, on what the U.S. can learn from our global allies, and on immigration's impact on education. Participants include actress Jennifer Garner, who will participate in a panel on early childhood education (Garner has a vested interest: she's expecting her third child); thought leaders like Pedro Noguera and Diane Ravitch of New York University and Dennis van Roekel of the National Education Association; several of our nation's governors and city leaders; and teachers, administrators, and parents.
A theme throughout each discussion will be the impact that education has on the future of our economy.
In the U.S., only 72 percent of our public high school students graduate on time. Only 58 percent of Latinos finished high school with a diploma while 57 percent of African-Americans and 54 percent of Native Americans graduated.
The U.S. can't remain the strongest nation in the world with numbers like these. As Melinda Gates once said the failure of our high schools is "bad business, and it's bad policy."
In my years as NBC News' chief education correspondent I have seen devoted teachers, administrators and local advocates change individual schools and districts. What I've been frustrated with is the lack of sustained focus among media circles and the political establishment on this issue. Ms. Gates' quote above ends, "[W]e act as if it can't be helped. It can be helped. We designed these high schools; we can redesign them."
She is right. We can change things -- not just our high schools, but our preschools; not just the resources we give to teachers, but the way we train them; not just our curriculum, but the way we view the purpose of education (for more on this see my Huffington Post column from Sept. 15).
I'm proud that NBC is doing its part to facilitate that change.
Poll questions that pit issue against issue may show education far down the scale in terms of importance. But that scale is all in the wording. According to that same weekly Economist poll, fully 59 percent of Americans say education is a "very" important issue to them.
They're concerned because they are parents like me and they want to see their children successful and financially independent in the future. Or, they are business owners and worry about finding skilled workers to fill jobs and help their companies grow. Or, they're just everyday citizens who want to make certain the next generation is prepared to take care of the nation they're going to inherit.
In the media, we need to make the issue of education as urgently important to us as it is to parents and job creators. In convening this summit each year, and pledging more in depth coverage of education throughout the year, that is what NBC is attempting to do.
We hope our colleagues in the media and our leaders in statehouses across the country and Washington, D.C. will join us.
Rehema Ellis is NBC's chief education correspondent. She will be moderating a panel on what the U.S. can learn from other countries during the network's upcoming Education Nation summit. For more information on Education Nation, visit EducationNation.com.
Follow Rehema Ellis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@rehemanbcnews
Tim Giago: The Indian Mission Kids Only Knew Him As 'Rochester'
John Merrow: Some Thoughts On Education Nation
Bill Gates: The U.S. Economy and Public Education
Melinda Gates: A Conversation With Teachers at Education Nation's Teacher Town Hall
"I don't have the time or patience to make sure that my child is learning everything that they need to know, that is the responsibility of the schools."
"What? My child got arrested for shoplifting? What are they teaching them in schools these days?!"
"We just found out our high school-aged daughter is pregnant. I have to say that the public school system has done a terrible job of raising our child for us."
No response I guess. No ability to actually be a journalist. At what point in your career did it become okay to give up and become part of the corporate media machine? Was it the money? C'mon let us know what it takes to stop investigating stories and just let other people tell you what questions they will answer and what answers you will print.
Why not tell my story? I actually have a pretty compelling story (truth) about education reform in this country. I was a school teacher. I still prepare future teachers. I have spent 20 years researching and writing about education. I have my own children. I am more qualified to talk about education reform than your corporate sponsors. And I won't even charge you (NBC).
Tim
See "Waiting for Superman" to begin to understand how deeply entrenched the forces of mediocrity are in public education. The greatest injustice is in our inner cities where only the lucky winners of charter school lotteries have a chance to escape a life of poor education, a dearth of opportunity, life-time poverty.
Out in the suburbs where most parents understand the importance of education, many very competent teachers who want to teach in a fertile environment, can and do. So it's not an indictment of the enitre system; but the protection of incompetence in too many districts is a disgrace.
I could put forward my opinions on what's wrong with America, and it's educational system today, but I don't think I could improve on what George Carlin said in his "The American Dream" skit back in 2005.
Warning: Mr. Carlin uses some VERY strong language. If you are at all offended by profanity, please do not watch this routine.
Personally I find the language he uses, much less obscene then the conditions that he describes.
I wish I could find fault with what he says, but it seems pretty accurate to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q