The Transformation of American Education

Despite the fact that good, dedicated parents, teachers and administrators across America are helping children and running schools the best that they can, American’s report card still falls short compared to other developed countries. So what is the problem? There has been a systematic change in America's schools.

Where: 1173 S 250 W #105 St. George, UT

When: Friday, August 12^th at 7:30pm

By: Cathy Dobrusky, Founder of American Heritage Academy

You're invited to a presentation and discussion by Cathy Dobrusky on the transformation American education has undergone, and what we can do to set it aright.

In the U.S. in 2003 15 year olds ranked 24^th of 38 [developed countries] in mathematics, 19th of 38 in science, 12th of 38 in reading, and 26th of 38 in problem solving. In the 2006 assessment, the U.S. ranked 35th out of 57 in mathematics and 29th out of 57 in science. U.S. scores were behind those of most other developed nations.

- OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment

Our educational system is lacking in academics, morals and ethics. The answer does not lie in spending more money.

Increased levels of spending on public education have not made the schools better. In 1999 William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education cited these statistics:

• Between 1960 and 1995, U.S. public school spending per student, adjusted for inflation, increased by 212%.

• In 1994, less than half of all U.S. public school employees were teachers.

• Out of 21 industrialized countries, U.S. 12th graders ranked 19th in math, 16th in science, and last in advanced physics.

The United States is tied for first place with Switzerland when it comes to annual spending per student on its public schools, with each of those two countries spending more than $11,000 (in U.S. currency).

-2005 report from the OECD

More than $500 billion is spent each year on primary and secondary education. - US Census. 2011

In 2001, students between the ages of 12 and 18 were the victims of 2 million crimes in US schools. 62% of the crimes were thefts.

-National Center for Education Statistics

In 2001, 47% of American high school students drank alcohol at least once; 5% drank on school territory. 24% of high school students smoked marijuana, 5% right at school. 29% of students who smoke marijuana obtain the drug at school.

- Washington Profile October 1, 2009

About Cathy Dobrusky: Her passion for education began when she started homeschooling her four children in 1993. In 1997 Cathy Dobrusky had the privilege of founding and directing American Heritage Academy (AHA) in Las Vegas, NV. AHA is a K-8th faith based private school that was born out of multiple request from parents looking for an alternative to public education. Over a ten year period of time AHA grew into a private school which served PreK-8th grade students with an enrollment of 275 students. The Academy served some special-needs students, but the largest enrollment is accelerated students. During this time she also wrote the ‘Live and Learn' section for Desert Saints Magazine from 2002 -2004, spoke at the National Education Convention and served as a resource for home schoolers and educators in the community. AHA gave her the opportunity to work with 27 full and part-time teachers. Cathy Dobrusky is the co-founder and director of Foundations. She is a people person and thoroughly enjoyed working with the students, parents and staff, and looks forward to doing the same at Foundations.

Public Education: A Losing Proposition?

The awful plight of the American educational system came to the public's attention in 1983, in a report from the National Commission on Excellence in Education titled, "A Nation at Risk." The most widely quoted paragraph from the report warns that: "The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people."

The report continues, "If unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves."

This is despite the fact that good, dedicated parents, teachers and administrators across America are helping children and running schools the best way they can. So what is the problem? To best understand the conundrum let's take a look at history.

In the classical period of ancient Athens, education was concerned with wisdom, virtue and truth. But times changed. Some people asked, "What is ultimate truth?" and "Who defines virtue?" They concluded that wisdom for one person may not by wisdom for another.

This schism gave birth to a new philosophy called skeptical humanism. The group that headed this up called themselves Sophists. The Sophists sought wisdom of a more practical type. The science of rhetoric, for example, turned away from questions of how to speak truth, towards how to persuade people - whether or not the argument was true.

Abandoning the quest for ultimate truths, education came under the control of Sophists. A world view of relativism was born.

Preferences replaced laws, personal gratification replaced virtue. The best example of this found in the credo of the mathematician Protagoras; "homo mensura" --man is the measure of all things. In other words, man is his own God.

History has repeated itself. The current American education system is deeply rooted in relativism. This kind of relativism goes hand in hand with today's current politically correct versions of tolerance and open mindedness.

Allan Bloom in his bestseller, The Closing of the American Mind explains, "Relativism is necessary to openness... which all primary education for more than fifty years has dedicated itself to inculcating." Bloom continues, "The best they can do is point out all the opinions and cultures there are and have been. 'What right,' they ask, 'do I or anyone else have to say one is better than the others?'" (p26).

This alleged openness is not openness at all; it effectively closes the mind. Openness actually produces a shallow conformist since it leads students to believe that "out there in the rest of the world is a drab diversity that teaches only that values are relative, whereas here we can create all the life-styles we want. Our openness means we do not need others. Thus what is advertised as a "great opening" for students' minds is really a "great closing" (Bloom, p.34).

By contrast, true openness is a virtue that allows and encourages us to reason and seek a higher good. False openness lease its followers to deny the power of reason and accept virtually anything.

America's modern curriculum has succeeded in cutting traditional moral and religious values from what our students learn while cleverly making teachings appear neutral: but make no mistake, the search for 'ultimate truth' is long gone from the American educational system. When religion is removed from history, what is left is a distortion of the historical record. Concerned adults should realize that an education that ignores moral and religious values cannot qualify as a quality education.

A good man or woman is a well-rounded individual, sound of mind, strong in body and healthy in spirit. On the other hand, an individual who has all the practical knowledge to achieve what he wants, but lacks the moral character to know and choose the right ends, is a menace to society. Recent corporate scandals are evidence of this fact.

A 1998 follow-up study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education underscores the point here perfectly: the report focused on test scores in science, math and reading, and patterns in dropping out of school and college attendance. Completely missing from the study is whether or not any of these students has any sense of personal conviction about his or her place in the world.

Educational reformers have spent two decades trying to make changes in use of class time and teacher salaries, without even pausing to consider whether the whole philosophical underpinnings of the American public school system have been separated from the Truth that schools were originally created to teach.

To deliver America from its educational crisis, the transcendent truths and moral order must be restored to education.