As I opened Internet Explorer last week, an article title on
my CNN homepage caught my attention: “Report Calls Education A National
Security Issue.” As a teacher working in a low performing school, I have spent
a fair amount of time considering the negative implications of a failing
education system. However, the idea of problems in education creating a
“national security threat” caused me to think about things from a new
perspective.
The headline came from a report released by an independent
task force from the Council on Foreign Relations on March 20th. The
task force cited the U.S. educational crisis to pose the following five threats
to national security:
1.
Economic growth and competitiveness
2.
U.S. physical safety
3.
Intellectual property
4.
U.S. global awareness
5.
U.S. unity and cohesion
The report went on to include specific examples of how
the U.S. education system is creating bigger problems than some people may realize.
Examples included unprepared students who cannot compete in the global
workforce, failure of students to qualify for the armed forces, lack of
technologically qualified individuals, and an increasing gap between the
education and undereducated citizens of the U.S.
At first I thought the “national security” claim was a bit
steep, but after thinking about the negative effects of a poor education system,
I find myself agreeing with the task force. The threat that I find to be most apparent
is that of U.S. unity and cohesion.
Unfortunately, the recommendations suggested by the task
force seem to once again fall short of a realistic solution to such a serious
problem. At this point, I think we can agree that the state of education in the
United States is a very real issue that cannot be ignored. However, the
solution to this problem remains unclear.
2 comments:
This is an interesting take on the pressing problem of America's failing public education system. I constantly think about how my students substandard education impacts their futures. I had not really though about it from the point of view of national security. In his State of the Union Address, President Obama asserted that excellent public education systems will help America "win the future." However, the state of our public schools is causing our students to lose out on many great opportunities that will enable them to lead our country to that win. For the sake of our individual students and our country as a whole, we must fix the state of our broken education system. Students should know how their education ties into the good of our nation and the state of national security. This type of news can be used in the classroom to help rally our students around their academic success. We must teach our students to think on a global level. These types of news articles are a great place to start!
Jillian Chou
Stepping away from the discussion on education reform for a moment, I just wanted to comment on how telling this headline is in terms of our national priorities.
In his farewell address, Eisenhower warned the country about the power of the US military-industrial complex. Today, when one goes to Washington, it becomes clear that every issue group goes to lengths to try and attach their cause to a national security concern. Apparently, the only way to get politicians' attention on an issue is if it threatens the future security and existence of the Union.
We all know that education is an area that needs reform, and in places like Baltimore City, the needs of the students we serve are great. I find it to be a great shame that education, despite its importance to the future viability of our economy, competitiveness, and innovativeness (not to mention its role in making the "American Dream" a desire for people across the world), will inevitably be pushed aside (and has) for other necessities like prisons and the military. It's great that the military now views education as a concern, but that also means that we as a country somehow value it more than educating our population.
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