There has been a spate of articles recently linking the unrest in the United States to failures of the education system. I'm leading with this article from the Chronicle, but you can find similar views expressed by (for example) Forbes (here and here), Inside Higher Ed, and the Chronicle Herald. Obviously it's not that simple. It's not a matter of Americans not knowing what year the U.S. Constitution was written, or even of their learning ethics or critical thinking (though those would certainly). It's not, in other words, the content. It's not the 'effectiveness' of teaching. I think the greatest failing is the very clear statement higher education makes, not just in the U.S. but around the world, about who matters. When the education system is inequitable, when the primary determinates of admission to the system and the benefits it provides are things like race and wealth and family connections, people (no matter what their political beliefs) lose their trust in democracy, and turn to the rule of the street.
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