Academic emphasis may not be enough for Americans

If there was ever a summer of discontent, this year has brought it forth. Much like the summer of 1968, when violence, war, and upheaval was everyday news in the U.S. and abroad, the summer of 2016 has been equally chaotic and sorrowful. Election years are always a little strange, even more so for those of us who live in Washington, but this presidential campaign has been the strangest in memory. Instead of reinforcing the fundamental values and freedoms that have been central to our democracy, this campaign has instead made us doubt ourselves and question what we stand for. Do we even know and understand what it means to be an American in 2016?

While the question may be rhetorical, the answers are important. To that end, this year’s PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools offers some compelling new data points regarding how Americans feel about public education and local schools. The annual poll, now in its 48th year, queried a representative, 50-state sample of 1,221 adults. The questions covered a range of predictable education topics (standards, charters, homework, technology), but it also asked new questions about the goals of public education and how best to prepare students for life after high school.

For example, when asked what the main goal of public education should be, a little less than half of the respondents (45%) said it should be to prepare students academically. In an era of depressing international comparisons, this surprised me. I expected academic preparation to be far and away the leading answer. Rather, 25% of respondents said the goal of public education should be to prepare students for work; another quarter said the goal should be preparation for good citizenship.