Inclusion Leads to Excellence

I must confess that when I hear the nostalgic arguments of those who advocate going back to the past to recover the unparalleled greatness of the U.S. education system, it sends chills down my spine.

If the triumphalism of the end of World War II marks the beginning of the so-called “American Century,” an epoch during which the United State’s economic, social and cultural development was impressive and undeniable, by the 1980s the National Commission on Excellence in Education had published its alarming report “A Nation at Risk,” which told the story of the decline of the education system.

Nor do I agree with the idea that the past can give us the tools to confront the future, though I am convinced that it is vital to address the past critically, and to highlight errors and omissions. There is no doubt that the gap in academic achievement that exists between U.S. high school students and those of other developed countries such as Finland, Holland, Singapore and Japan is growing wider.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in reading, for example, the United States ranks 15th out of 29 countries, with results below the global average. In science, although American students are 21st out of 30 their results are still below the average. In mathematics, they are 25th out of 30, but are also below the average. And in problem solving they are 24th out of 30, but still below the average score.

Even worse, minority students, who will make up half the population by 2050, comprise the bulk of the students with the lowest achievement scores. And this is because the country’s education system is profoundly inequitable. If not, how else to explain that it is American students who obtain both the best and the worst scores?

Given this state of affairs, it is difficult to justify the shortsightedness of politicians in Texas, where in order to reduce the budget deficit the Republican legislature and Republican Governor Rick Perry want to cut financial aid to university, elementary, kindergarten and pre-school students, and cut the pay of doctors who treat low income children under a state-funded health program.

Texas ranks 43rd out of the 50 states in per capita spending on education, and has the largest number of children without health insurance. Hispanics now form the majority of the five million students who attend public schools, and are also the group with the highest drop-out rate and the least access to healthcare.

Even so, the majority of white Texans believe that the state government is too generous with minorities in education as well as healthcare, and do not understand that if the state does not make an effort to educate minorities, the economic future of the nation, the state and the Social Security system will be at risk.

Unfortunately, there are still many in this country who believe that minorities do not form an integral part of the social, economic and political fabric of the nation. These individuals still do not understand that excellence will be achieved not through division, or turning to an idealized past, but through facing the present with pragmatism, and working to facilitate inclusion in order to build a better future for everybody.