Learning

American students are doing poorly in schools; test scores are low relative to other developed nations.  Although we spend more per capita on education than other countries, we're not getting the results.

At the same time access to knowledge has never been easier: the internet is loaded with facts and information - Wikipedia is the main example, but far from the only one.  It would seem that education should be thriving with all this free learning at hand.

The problem, I learned fifty years ago as a new teacher, is a disagreement about the goals of education.  "The knowledge," I said, "is free.  You pay for the credential."

I find it disturbing that employers put so much stake in credentials and so little stake in knowledge.  Years ago, many individuals practiced professions with no formal training at all.  They were self-taught.  Today a self-taught professional is a museum piece.

Yet the primary characteristic of a credential is that the holder has submitted to the rules, regulations, and requirements and, yes, paid the bills, to obtain the credential.

In seeking the social causes of poverty in America we need look no further than lack of education - both in terms of credentials and knowledge.

Through hundreds of years of institutionalized schooling, most of us have lost our regard for learning.  We have given our decision making into the hands of experts, and the average citizen cannot readily be heard, no matter how much he or she knows.

As ordinary citizens we could do little better than encouraging everyone to study and seek the truth.  Besides helping us adapt to a complex modern society, we might encourage a more cooperative approach to our politics.