American Affairs Journal
Reuven Brenner
Winter 2017
Virtually everyone believes education is a key to prosperity. But the fact that Vice President Mike Pence had to cast a tie-breaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as secretary of education raises the question: why does education provoke such sharp divisions in the United States?
When I was growing up under Communism, I easily understood the difference between my parents’ and friends’ opinions, on one side, and the Communist Party’s on the other. The party wanted desperately to indoctrinate, whereas my parents did their best—at home, behind closed double windows—to counterbalance the official brainwashing. Such intense polarization may be understandable under Communism, but how can it be that Republicans and Democrats are so sharply divided on education?
To shed light on the problems with our educational system and their possible solutions, I will start with some simple facts that show roughly where we are in terms of what passes for education now. Then I will discuss where I believe we should be going, and how to get there. The answer is simple: the time young people spend in today’s educational institutions must be drastically reduced, and complemented by new institutions that would give them more experience, teach discipline and perseverance, help them build networks, and better prepare them for their lives and careers.
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https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2017/11/accelerate-education/
