Nation at Risk

¶ … competing ideologies of "A Nation at Risk" and "Goals 2000" No statement of educational goals and aspirations is objective. All learning methods and goal statements reflect a particular ideology of the educators that construct the methodology. They also reflect the decade's concerns and national obsessions as well as the needs of students. This is not to discount the value of mission statements and guidelines for the nation.

It is merely to act as a caveat to the reader, when he or she is reading such prescriptions as "A Nation at Risk" and "Goals 2000." These documents, authored in 1983 and 1998 respectively, are not directives from higher educational powers. Rather, they are both ideological statements that create selective agendas as to what is valuable for children to learn. But to reiterate -- selectivity is not necessarily a critique of the documents -- of course, no child can learn everything.

"A Nation at Risk" was an open letter to the American people in 1983, written by the National Committee on Educational Reform in America. According to the "Introduction" to the committee's mission, the "Commission's charter directed it to pay particular attention to teenage youth, and we have done so largely by focusing on high schools." As reflected in its title and the section bearing the name "A Nation at Risk," the commission stressed, "Our Nation is at risk.

Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world." Implicit in this statement is that keeping America competitive through commerce and technological advancement in science and business is the most important thing for educators when they select a curriculum to instill in their students. Learning for learning's sake is less important than the value of what will make the student a competitive candidate in the marketplace and make the United States competitive with other nations abroad.

There is a veneer of concerned and caring educational ideology in the statement at the heading of the website section, on "A Nation at Risk," when the commission states in its introduction that "regardless of race or class or economic status," all students "are entitled to a fair chance and to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost." But more important than the mere development of a student's mind and spirit, "this promise means that all children by virtue of their own efforts, competently guided, can hope to attain the mature and informed judgment needed to secure gainful employment, and to manage their own lives, thereby serving not only their own interests but also the progress of society itself." What makes one employable is what is valuable to learn, not what makes learning enriching and enjoyable to the learner, and societal advancement rather than self-discovery or self-empowerment is key.

One of the direst predictions of the commission was the detrimental effect that a poor education might have on national security. "The Department of the Navy, for example, reported to the Commission that one-quarter of its recent recruits cannot read at the ninth grade level, the minimum needed simply to understand written safety instructions. Without remedial work they cannot even begin, much less complete, the sophisticated training essential in much of the modern military." Thus, the commission recommended changes integrating technology and computer literacy into the curriculum.

To support its curriculum changes, the commission quoted educational researcher Paul Hurd that "we" Americans "are raising a new generation of Americans" that are "scientifically and technologically illiterate." The commission ends by stressing that "citizens know and believe that the meaning of America to the rest of the world must be something better than it seems to many today.

Americans like to think of this Nation as the preeminent country for generating the great ideas and material benefits for all mankind," and succeeding in technology, military, and scientific advancement is key to reaching this goal for 'mankind' (as opposed, presumably to humankind). "A Nation at Risk's" stress upon patriotism and the need for a technologically literate and competitive workforce to compete with Asia and to defeat the scientific advances of the U.S.S.R.

In 1983 seems quaint today, when often the difficulty for educators is tearing hyper-connected students away from their Internet connections and turning their attention to school. Teachers today are often concerned that their own computer skills lag behind their student's technical skills, rather than the other way 'round as suggested in the 1983 report. However, "A Nation at Risk" dismissed concerns that focusing on technology would result in a turning away from basic skills.

In stark contrast Goals 2000, the 1998 congressional initiative, stressed that the mission of America's schools must be "to improve learning and teaching by providing a national framework for education reform" by "the development and adoption of a voluntary national system of skill standards and certifications." In other words, American must turn back to an emphasis on basic skills, rather than stress technical and.