INTRODUCTION
1.
Education
is like love in the USA. It is all about
the eye of the beholder. To some it is
the glass ceiling. To others it is the
hammer that smashes it. To some others
it is the ability to make money from nothing.
To yet more it is the ability to fix a dripping tap or land a right hook
squarely on the chin. Education divide’s
opinion in the US. It creates controversy
but enables careers. It develops the
inner self but represents class. It
provides jobs but keeps some unemployed.
It can enhance social standing but keep others down. All of these things are true in the eye of
the beholder. The most held view about
education appears to be it is a good thing and worth the experience – all very
confusing. How can something so
omnipresent and necessary in the world’s most successful country be so
questioned – be so doubted? This is what
I hear.
2.
To
me, before I was asked to write about these questions, the answer was
simple. As a fledgling engineer at 16
years old, it was a way to convert my boyhood desires into what I want to do in
life. It was the way to learn how
telephone systems worked. Once I knew
this, I could be telecommunications engineer and that is what I wanted to
do. No controversy, simple glide path,
no doubts, very attainable.
3.
As
my career progressed, I needed profession qualifications. These taught me how to run projects, how to
manage people, businesses, budgets and change.
It taught me how businesses were organized, about best practice, models
and global economics. Education to me
was a simple escalation path linked to my career as I ascended through it. My education amounted to “need to know” stuff,
acquired over a 30-year period, to advance my career as the career ladder was
climbed. More or less, the opportunities
to be educated were available to everyone.
The standard is more or less common across the country. Prices were common across the country limited
by law. You just had to take the journey or not – no pressure to do either. I chose to have a career, some did not and
were happy going down a different path in other careers/jobs. Both my partner and I left school at 16. I made Director and owned my own business she
is VP of a multinational. Most of my
friends and neighbors back home have small businesses or experience lifelong
training from their employers. Grants
and tax breaks are made available for this.
4.
The
first inkling that something different was the norm in the USA occurred when
attending my English classes. Until this
point education to me was something you did or didn’t do but there was a choice
and the quality of it was standardized for the vast majority. It is reasonably cheap with Batchelor’s
degrees still free (it was free everywhere 15 years ago) in some parts of the
country and where it isn’t the cost is capped and you only repay when you can
afford it with the government reasonably happy if the money is never paid
back. To me as a Civil Servant my further
and higher education was totally free. Whatever
I wanted, including my MSc course, was totally free. Generally speaking, the role of the employer
in subsidizing the workforces education by far the norm. The employer pays some, most or all of its
employees further and higher education costs.
This is my personal education culture. It is my experience and it is very uncomplicated
one. It is the position I write this
assignment from, and it cannot be changed.
5.
So,
this essay is an analysis of the culture of education in the USA written from
the perspective of an outsider. It is
based on the question this paper poses to me and the sources I have been asked
to cite.
6.
Why
does education divide opinion in the USA in the terms it does? Why is it debated here? Why is it linked to status? Are there
parallels with the UK culture and my experience? Is there anything I may have not seen or
simply overlooked in my education journey (son of a shipbuilder) that say I
have been lucky?
WHAT DOES “EDUCATED” MEAN?
7.
More
to the point, what does the verb to educate mean? The top two definitions from the Oxford
English Dictionary are very interesting and set the theme for the rest of this
piece. They are two sides of the same coin,
but they confirm the different interpretations of the word. It is the start of understanding how one interpretation
can be viewed as against the other rather than being the same thing perhaps
provided by different educators, in different places. To me, these definitions are the crux of the
education debate in the USA.
Definition 1: “To bring up (a child) so as to form his or her
manners, behaviour, social and moral practices, etc.; to rear in a
particular way.” (OED
Online, 2022)
Definition 2: “To teach (a child) a programme of various
academic and non-academic subjects, typically at a school; to provide with a
formal education. Also: to provide (an adult) with instruction, esp. in a chosen
subject or subjects at a college, university, or other institution of higher
education.” (OED Online, 2022)
WHAT ARE THE POSITIONS IN THE USA?
8.
This
author has been exposed to six definable positions regarding education in the
USA. Firstly, the optimistic arguments:
a.
Education is an end in itself. It satisfies curiosity, expands the mind and
gives a greater understanding of the environment in which we live. This gives peace of mind and contentment.
b.
Education is a gateway to membership to an
elite club – the intellectuals, social climbers etc. Education drives social mobility and can make
all intellectuals and that is a good thing.
c. Education
is not just the literary arts. People
should also be valued in society for their vocational skills, sporting prowess
and other skills acquired by an autodidact manner.
9.
Then, the negative arguments:
a.
Education has been deliberately weaponised
and helps to maintain social divides.
There is a systemic failure in the delivery of education to all and this
inhibits equality and fosters poverty and social unrest.
b. Education
is not standardized and linked directly to local resources. The underprivileged are denied quality
education from institutions with alleged poor reputations therefore trapped by
their Zip code. The wealthy on the other
hand areas make more of their own.
Social mobility is denied.
c.
Education is directly linked to job
prospects. No education – no
wealth. If you want to earn money or get
opportunities to earn money – education is a must. It is binary choice made by the individual.
10.
While distinct there are overlaps and dependencies. Again, however, it appears no one denies it
is necessary; the doubts surround how it is delivered and what are its benefits
and worth in practice. This appears to
be a live debate. It is discussed at
college (hence this paper) and the topic of many passionate articles and
speeches. On the negative side of the
spectrum Kohn writes in his scathing New York Times article: “Why Can’t We All
Get A’s”. “The standards-and-accountability movement is not about
leaving no child behind. To the contrary, it is an elaborate sorting device,
intended to separate wheat from chaff. The fact that students of color,
students from low-income families and students whose first language isn’t
English are disproportionately defined as chaff makes the whole enterprise even
more insidious.” (Kohn, 2019).
The “..whole enterprise” is the US education system. His view is that education should be as much
about inclusiveness as it is about the imparting of knowledge – inferring it
doesn’t presently.
11. David
Foster Wallace seems to support this view.
In his thoughtful Kenyon Commencement address he concludes: “…the real value of a real education,
which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple
awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight
all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and
over: This is Water”. He was addressing
students here at a commencement event.
The fact he is asking them to get more from their studies than what is
on offer infers he believes the system does not serve students well. The emphasis is the present system is not
quite right for overall health of the student or US society.
12. How are the positive aspects of education
described in the US? Coates, in her
inspirational piece “Between the world and me” described her feelings of
blossoming due to education. She
summarised her journey thus: “The
gnawing discomfort, the chaos, the intellectual vertigo was not an alarm. It was a beacon” (Coats, 2020). Her experience of being educated was one of
enlightenment. Not only by knowledge but
by acceptance. She fought against the
odds of an impoverished background to study at one of the greatest learning
institutions on the planet and be a success there. A bitter sweet story but it changed her life
for the better, but it was a struggle.
Her story is as inspirational as it is condemning. She did not have a high school education; it
was denied to her by inequality and other cultural reasons. Her story is exceptional as is her
talent. Coats would probably have
succeeded in anything she chose to do.
Whether plumbing, drug dealing, whatever. Her drive and intellect were enough for
“success”. I doubt whether there are
many “Coats” to the 100,000 other persons whose background was the same. Whose culture was the same.
13.
Is
education all about the literal arts?
The answer is an obvious no. The
world needs artisans as well as thinkers.
Vocational training is education.
An apprenticeship in a trade can also be as valuable a commodity for
society and the fortunate recipient as a degree in English from Oxford. Let’s look at Charles Mullins OBE, owner of Pimlico
Plumbers of London. Her we have a more
common tale of where a non-literary arts education is every bit as success
enabling as the Oxford degree. To a
lesser extent admittedly, this story proves that social mobility does not
require acceptance into an intellectual elite.
Indeed, here we have a non-intellectual that has been decorated by HRH
Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the country. He left school at 15 with no qualifications
and is now an influential figure in the UK.
Charlie Mullins says “too much importance” has
been put on exam results, and the row will "destroy a lot of people"
because students were relying on these results for further education. (News,
Sky. 2020). His current worth is
estimated at $80m. Mullins was educated
to fix pipes. There are millions of
plumbers around the world all have the skills to earn money if they choose
to. Can the same be said of a
writer? Who is more useful to society? Who is the better educated? Who will be more accepted into intellectual
circles? Does it matter?
CONCLUSIONS
14.
I am an outsider looking in on the current
debate on education that seems to be occurring in the USA. This paper is a reply to a question not asked
of my Professor but mandated on him by his employer, Mercer County Community
College. That fact is justification
enough that the US education system has been identified as flawed and divisive
and an answer is sought to a problem that should not be present in the worlds
remaining Super Power. The talent wasted
bu=y the patchy application of a high quality education system must be
staggering. In many ways it is a
statement about the culture of education and the educated in the USA. It is not my culture or experience however
and I am thankful for that. I have only
been here for 4 months. I am also white,
56 years old and speak with a “cut” English accent. Given the question posed and the learning in
my English class to date it is unlikely I will experience the discrimination
associated with the inferred sub-text behind the question this paper asks me to
consider.
15.
What is obvious however is this; and my
final conclusions are very simple.
a. Education
needs to be delivered to everyone.
b. It
needs to be standardized.
c. It
needs to be delivered to the same standard across the country.
d. The
obvious fact is that we need trained plumbers and trained writers – they are
both educated.
e. Artisans
are more common than writers and mathematicians - and so is their monetary
contributions to the countries tax system and employment figures.
f.
Education is education whether it is
vocational, parenting, sporting prowess or the literal arts. It should be valued as such.
16.
My final words on this mortifying and
time-wasting (considering how obvious the solution to the inferred problem is) debate
I give to Nelson Mandela in the vain hope his words and their obvious truth
turn debate into action and help heal American society from the ground up by
quality education for all.
“Few things make the life of a parent more
rewarding and sweet as successful children. There can be no keener revelation
of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children. Let us reach
out to the children.” (Mandela, Nelson.
1981)
“Our children are our
greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric
of our society and weaken our nation.” – (Mandela, Nelson. 1997)
S P RATTLEY
References:
1.
"educate,
v." OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2022. Web. 1
April 2022.
- Kohn, Alfie. Why Can’t
Everyone Get A’s. 15th June 2019. New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/opinion/sunday/schools-testing-ranking.htm
3. Wallace,
David Foster. This is Water – Full Version – David Foster Wallace Commencement
Speech. 19th May 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI&t=338s
4. Coats, Ta-Nehsi. Between the World
and Me, Inquiry to Academic Writing: A text and
Reader, 5th Edition: page 23-27: 2020. Ebook
5.
News, Sky. “‘It's Complete
Shambles."@Pimlicoplumbers Charlie Mullins Https://T.co/ejnnbh5gs4
Pic.twitter.com/rnfxz4jgbo.” Twitter, Twitter, 20 Aug. 2020, https://twitter.com/skynews/status/1296357251599474688.
6.
Mandela, Nelson. Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund Nelson Mandela quotes about children
- Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund 2021
7.
Mandela, Nelson.
National Men's March Speech, Pretoria. ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA
AT THE NATIONAL MEN’S MARCH Pretoria, 22 November 1997 | South African History
Online (sahistory.org.za)1997
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