Next time you spot a “My child is on the honor roll at Hawthorne Elementary” bumper sticker adorning a sports-utility vehicle, know that it is more convincing evidence of why schools have failed to improve than a truckload of studies on educational resources and teaching methods.

For many parents, a good school is one where their own child does well. And with academic standards dumbed down, parents are satisfactorily reassured that we are all raising above-average children. Until more parents recognize that their local schools do not represent an oasis of educational excellence in a wasteland of educational mediocrity, we will have the schools that complacent parents deserve.

The dumbing down of America's schools
The beginning of the school year has prompted the predictable round of stories about the dismal performance of American students, and education continues to top the list of issues that most concern voters. But despite the galvanizing reports of an education system in crisis, parents

"Until more parents recognize that their local schools do not represent an oasis of educational excellence in a wasteland of educational mediocrity, we will have the schools that complacent parents deserve."

continue to report that they are satisfied with their own children’s schools.

My engagement in the education-reform debates has included the justifiable criticism of self-serving bureaucrats and teachers’ unions that put job security above students’ welfare. But the complacency of parents permits the intransigence of the educational establishment.

Since 1983 when the “crisis” in education was highlighted by the report A Nation At Risk, the reform battle lines have been drawn between those who want more resources to spend within the current system and those who want to force schools to compete for funding through the use of vouchers or tax credits. Reformers of both persuasions only agree on the need for more parental involvement in schools.

At the risk of ripping this common ground out from under the opposing camps, it seems to me that parents are responsible for some of the most damaging trends in current educational policy.

For the past dozen years, reform efforts in the states have focussed on the development of academic standards and accountability. But the apparent consensus that children should meet high expectations and be held accountable for their performance evaporates when parents object.

A proposed statewide graduation exam, for example, was widely supported in Wisconsin until nervous parents saw some sample questions as too tough. The test was abandoned. New accountability regimes in Chicago and Texas are meeting with similar resistance from parents.

Misguided concern for fragile egos
Jerry Jesness, a demoralized teacher, furthermore, confessed to being guilty of grade inflation in a recent article in Reason magazine. He recounted the pressure from administrators and parents to give inflated grades because passing scores “prove” that the teacher, student and school are successful. His firsthand experience reveals the paradox: "Americans hate public education because standards are low but love their local schools because their children perform so well there."

According to surveys of educators, this veteran Texas teacher’s experience is not unique. Last spring, a study by Public Agenda found that 81% of teachers saw parents’ refusal to hold children accountable for their behavior or academic performance as a serious problem. Sixty-six percent of teachers thought parents allowed sports and social popularity to be their children’s top priorities.

Graduation time is marked with news accounts of the extinction of valedictorians. Celebrating the achievements of a single student is seen as damaging to the self-esteem of her classmates.

The principal of New York’s South Colonie High School explains that last spring’s valedictorian is the last of her breed because “our emphasis is on all the students.” Predictably, only the handful of parents whose children are candidates for the traditional honor are upset. (Full disclosure: This parent would be upset but would not be among the expectant handful.)

The fear of competition that bruises carefully tended little egos also has caused the elimination of spelling bees, ability grouping and posted test results. The unwillingness on the part of parents to see their offspring judged also affects sports competitions. Increasingly, all players are awarded trophies at the end of soccer season, lest there be obvious winners and losers.

Bumper stickers with meaning
The key role parents’ expectations play in boosting academic performance is obvious in international comparisons of parents’ attitudes. The parents of the Asian students who routinely best American schoolchildren in academic achievement are oceans apart from American parents in their assessment of how schools are performing.

American parents routinely rate their local schools as good or excellent, while the majority of Asian parents are dissatisfied with the schools that have landed their children at the top of academic ratings.

To some extent, American parental attitudes are understandable. Should schools be pressured to enforce real standards of educational excellence, some of our children will not make the grade, and no parents want their children to fail. But if schools start to impose real standards, those bragging bumper stickers will at last mean something.

Kate O'Beirne is the Washington editor of the National Review. She is a contributing editor of IntellectualCapital.com. Her e-mail address is kateobeirne@intellectualcapital.com.

Voices | USP Home