E&W Blog

Students are falling behind. The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) confirmed it again today: American students had the lowest test scores in two decades. Why then, are so many students being forced to spend their valuable time in the classroom focused on things like “slavocracy” and radical sexual ideology instead of the basics in reading, math, and civics?


 
That was the question at the heart of today’s Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee hearing, led by Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL).
 
He highlighted the problem with a simple first question: is it true that critical race theory is in American schools? Mr. Ian Rowe had a simple answer: yes. Mr. Michael Weiser took it one step further, discussing the problems in civics education nationwide.
 
“Certainly there’s a gap, and it cannot be filled with alternative theories about how we came to be. We have something in common. We have to share that, and in so doing, we build citizens – whole citizens, self-reliant citizens,” said Mr. Weiser.


 
That gap is stark, as Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) pointed out. Citing an Annenberg Public Policy Center study, Rep. Thompson shared that an astonishing 17 percent of all Americans could not name even one branch of the federal government. It didn’t matter what race they were.
 
To Mr. Rowe, that is the fundamental problem: education is failing students of every race and background. In his exchange with Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), he put a finer point on it.
 
“[The debate is] so fixated on race. According to the Nation’s Report Card, the National Assessment [of] Educational Progress, there has never been a year in which a majority of white students are reading at grade level,” he said. “So, if we were to close this racial achievement gap we so often talk about between black and white students, all we will have achieved is achieving universal [mediocrity].”
 
Universal mediocrity.
 
That cannot be acceptable to the greatest nation the world has ever known. Accepting universal mediocrity would mean a complete and total failure for the next generation of students, and the future of our nation.


 
Thankfully, there are teachers who will not accept that and who desperately want to provide their students with a well-rounded education that allows them to grow into well-rounded citizens. Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) asked why, then, so many teachers are not prepared to have difficult conversations in their classrooms. As Mr. Weiser put it, “In schools of education they receive pedagogy but very little content. And they are hungry for content. They want it, they know they lack it, and they know they need it and they want it.”
 
Dr. Jed Atkins echoed that sentiment. “One thing that’s very important is providing our future teachers with the capacity to have conversations across differences and to teach those in their classrooms,” he said. That’s how to help alleviate what Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) described as “a crisis of confidence” in classrooms.
 
He and Dr. Atkins discussed steps that can be taken to support future teachers, particularly in the age of social media that “incentivizes people to think in terms of in-groups and out-groups.” What’s needed is civil discourse as teachers themselves are being educated, and that “requires face-to-face interaction and trust that’s acquired in formal and informal settings,” Dr. Atkins said.
 
Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) also has high hopes for those who will go on to educate our children. He stressed the importance of putting “innovators” in classrooms who “understand that the power of our country [lies in] making sure that our kids can think.” That’s how the next generation will achieve the American dream. “We have one promise that began from the beginning of our nation: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” he said. “And that begins with education.”