Education in the New Society

Are there problems with our education system? Yes, of course. It is a mass system. Our public education system has, however, been an engine that has helped intelligent and talented youth from our lower economic classes rise to success. We need that now more than ever, because our society has become one of the lowest in social and economic mobility of any modern industrial society. Will we leave a decent society for our children? I will be 82 soon, and my thoughts go out to my kids, grandkids, and even one great-grandchild. Will they live in a plutocratic oligarchy? A dictatorship? Will they live in a country where every individual is valued? Will they have the educational background and intellectual tools to speak out for a better future? Will they live in a country where free education sets individuals on the path to compete with the wealthy and powerful class? One can only be truly free, if one has the tools to compete and express oneself.

In order to do this, we need to reorder our society. We have set up a system that recognizes the humanity of all contributors to the economy with living wages, opportunities for advancement, and respect. We need to reign in the unbridled accumulation of wealth and power by a class of wealth manipulators, and powerful corporations. Change must come, but not at the hands of charismatic demagogues who glorify race, nation, and division. The degree to which we make education in science, technology, critical thinking, and the humanities available to all of our young people will determine the direction we take.

I have a number of acquaintances who say

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that children should be directed to go to trade schools rather than universities. That is well and good, for the wealthy class. You do not hear the wealthy class desiring to send their children to trade schools. They know that is not where the leadership of this country will come from. That is not to denigrate the trades, they are as valuable in contributing to the welfare of society as the university educated, but their graduates will not form the leadership of the nation. As public education is tossed to the side, elite private education will ensure the leadership stays with the wealthy class, and even the most brilliant, creative, and ambitious young people of the common class will serve them.

What of education and expertise? Some of our current politicians and media disparage the very idea. It is a populist position that has found popularity with a sizable portion of the US electorate. They attack public education, university education, and research, as if these are not the elements that drive our current state of civilization. Like it or not, we live in a new age of electronics, artificial intelligence, and world trade. With the world population at over 8 billion people, no other system will be able to sustain that population with food and health. To go back to earlier technologies would be a human disaster of epic proportions.

Any mass system needs money, organization and dedicated professionals. When ideologues make a political target of public education, they threaten all three basic elements. When we combine those threats with a growing suspicion of scientific endeavor and our nation’s leadership in the world is in question. Scientific research is needed to keep ever adapting microbes at bay, whether those that attack humans, crops, and domestic animals. Weaponry that keeps the country secure is constantly innovating in ways to defeat enemies. Manufacturing is in constant need of new innovation to keep up with the competition of other advanced countries. Environmental problems demand that we find innovative solutions to maintain a planet with 8 billion people. Many of us remember a world in 1960 when there were 3 billion people and wondered how we could sustain such a large number. Now, with global warming melting our glaciers, drying up our rivers, and heating up our southern areas, huge population movements are afoot. It is only through education and expertise that our children will have a chance to deal with the problems.

Rick Lohr, formerly of Marathon City, is a retired history teacher and former owner and manager of Pine Valley Golf Course. He has been retired for over 20 years but has given about 650 talks to schools, service groups and senior centers related to the 45 counties he has traveled to.