Browsing: Public perception of schools

 The quality of U.S. schools has long captured the public’s attention and spurred debate, as this 1955 Kappan article illustrates. But for those conversations to be truly fruitful, those engaged in them must accept a few key notions, argues Earle U. Rugg. First, discussions about school quality should be couched in fact. And second, those engaged in debate must accept that change is inevitable.

When this article was written — nearly 70 years ago — a vocal portion of the public longed for a return to “the good old days” of education. But “too many Americans are very slow in recognizing social changes and more especially accepting them,” Rugg notes, paraphrasing a 1922 academic paper. He continues: “This cultural lag helps explain in part . . . stereotypes about public schools.”

Rugg also cautions against giving the loudest voices the most attention. “The negative critics would have you believe not only that their charges are based on fact but that they voice what most people believe,” Rugg writes. Yet public opinion polls from the time showed that a large proportion of Americans believed schools were better, or as good as, they had been 30 to 40 years earlier. “Now we literally teach all the children of all the people, in contrast to estimates 50 years ago that we taught only the upper 20 per cent,” Rugg reflects. “In spite of such obstacles, the public school is still the only common denominator of America’s greatest capital — children.”