Who Should Call the Shots in American Public Education?

At left is a brief discussion on the subject of public schooling, and, in particular, the question of who should make the decisions re: curricula.  The author suggests that the “client” to be served by public education is not the parents of the children, but rather society itself.

A couple of examples in support of this idea:

1) Science

Society is best served by educating kids in the basic sciences.  For example, the theory of evolution is the accepted scientific theory as to how all this plant and animal life got here.  Creationism isn’t a valid scientific alternative, and thus shouldn’t be taught as if it were.

The woman who taught my kids science in the local public school tells her class at the end of the year, “Now you know what scientists tell us about these subjects.  Are there other ideas?  Yes, for instance, that an all-powerful God created the universe and populated the Earth with various life forms.  If you like, you can attend a church and pursue this concept, but it’s not what they pay me to teach.”

A reader suggests that failing to teach science is a form of our child abuse.  I think he’s nailed something quite important there.

2) History

The best ideas in teaching of U.S. history reside in making sure our kids understand that slavery was an extremely important, albeit cruel, institution in the development of the southern part of our nation–even if that doesn’t support the notion of American exceptionalism and our nation’s moral superiority.