While glancing over Digg this morning, I happened upon a post that linked to a blog entry entitled, "Got a problem? Ask the public schools to solve it!" The blog post refers to an article that appeared in the September 2007 edition of Harper's Magazine entitled, "Schoolhouse Crock: Fifty Years of Blaming America's Educational System for Our Stupidity", written by Peter Schrag. The blog post asserts that one of the four major points of the article is that the "[p]ublic education system is trying to do something unprecedented" by "educat[ing] every child — regardless of race, creed, socio-economic level, family background or mental and physical challenges." I found it absurd that a nationwide magazine would publish a story stating that America's free public education was "unprecedented" in a world where other countries offer free college education. As such, I immediately went out and bought a copy of Harper's to see if this was the case.
After reading the actual article, I must say that the blog entry misses the point of the article entirely. Mr. Schrag's piece goes far beyond the four simple 'important points' the post identifies. Furthermore, the first 'important point' presented by the post, the one that motivated me to purchase the magazine to begin with, is completely inaccurate. Mr. Schrag never expresses an idea that what the American educational system is doing is anything extraordinary. Nearly every industrialized country in the world offers its citizens free education, with many offering them a free college education as well. To state that the US public school system is doing something unique and "unprecedented" by educating all of its citizens, is, at best, ignorant, and at worse, is a gross misinterpretation of the article and represents a dangerous America-centric world view that ignores the achievements of other countries. After reading Mr. Schrag's article, I can say this 'important point' is never made in the article.
