These are the abilities which, we believe, our young will need to succeed in the workplace and to prosper in the world. These abilities are relatively easy to test and will allow the school, without the need for apology, to teach to the test and claim success on the singular grounds of rising test scores. Retreating to the so-called basics also avoids the kind of conflicts that arise when paideia is being taught in a country without a cultural identity. It s marvelously inclusive, and it keeps the peace. Well, most troubling is the fact that it simply doesn t work.
Human beings learn best in environments where purpose and meaning are possible.
They will work on assembly lines to feed their families. There is after all some purpose in that. But they will not do so happily or with a sense of fulfillment. Similarly, school is drudgery for an overwhelming number of American children, who not surprisingly spend most of their time outside of school in search of culture. Second, the school s abandonment of its traditional role leaves young people entirely at the mercy of a free market with a deadly, reductionist view of culture.