Utopia or Reality in Education?

by Wyoming Liberty Staff

Great American men of letters like Russell Kirk and M.E. Bradford have written much about the contrast between those who favor human realities and those who wish to impose utopias on human society. While we are tempted to consign these considerations to the dusty shelves of aging libraries, we do so at our peril. Government utopias are phony constructs that cost taxpayers and citizens dearly; they leave in their wake decades of destruction, as history has shown us.

Sadly, the battle between human realities and human utopians has found fertile grounds in public education. Sadder still, those who push for fairyland utopias win far too many of the battles.

The Common Core Standards typify utopian thinking. This is the latest, greatest push by those who look to education as a proving ground for progressive claptrap. In 2010 these subpar standards were sold as an educational silver bullet. Supporters made many promises; they claimed that the Standards would produce 21^st Century learners and that all students would be "college and career ready."

That was 5 years ago. So, how are they doing?

Not very well, according to the National ACT (American College Testing) report, "The Condition of College and Career Readiness 2015." The ACT has been administered as one of two college readiness, college entrance exams in the country since the late 50s. Generations of students have taken it. Wyoming requires all 11^th graders to take the test, regardless of whether they are college bound or not.

The exam contains four main subject areas – English, Reading, Math and Science. In 2008, 68% of all students met the benchmark in English. Today, 60% meet it. In 2008, 55% of all Wyoming students met the benchmark in Reading. Today, 40% meet it. In 2008, 41% of students met the benchmark in Math. Today, 36% meet it. And in 2008, 27% of all students met the benchmark in Science. Today, 34% meet it – the only increase in the four subject areas.

Many state governors who pushed their states into accepting the Common Core Standards or prevented their state from throwing them out, have come and gone. But the legacy of this phony utopia remains, to the detriment of every student in our government schools. These numbers from ACT are the reality of Common Core.

Is it any wonder homeschooling and every other form of alternative schooling is on the rise?

When policymakers finally find the courage to look beyond the minute by minute arguments of the utopia crowd and see the forest for the trees they will discover that they must fully support parental primacy — that is, if they wish to help these children succeed. They will realize that they must stop working on government-controlled utopian fixes and start freeing parents to educate their children in exactly the manner those parents believe is best.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is get out of the way, but that's exactly what government needs to do to improve the education of children.

Utopia, as its Greek origin implies, exists no place. Utopian government schools are no exception.