In this third installment of my posts on the education system and Ron Paul’s attitude towards the Department of Education, I’ll answer a question about the system. I would answer more. But, surely, you don’t want to read more than 800-ish words in one sitting?
Who writes the textbooks? What do they cover and what do they leave out?
In the United States, textbooks are produced by a small textbook publishing industry. In considering the impact of textbooks on the education system, we can’t look at the producers first, though. The primary concern is the consumers.
Textbook publishing is a market based system, with the same government interference that would exist in the book publishing industry as a whole. (This might make Ron Paul happy). Their consumers are 50 different entities (instead of the millions of children or the thousands of school districts in the nation): the education system in each state. Realistically, the main targets are the two largest consumers: California and Texas. Their purchases determine in the large part the purchases of the other entities.
The nature of the education system, a socialized system, constrains the size of the textbook publishing industry’s market, a capitalist system. The small size thus might lead to a market that allows flawed textbooks. People (both capitalists and socialists) might argue that an attempt at interfacing two distinct economic systems would fail and thus one system must be changed to correct the problem.
How the two systems interface and not the fact that they do is the cause of any significant problems in textbooks. More specifically, the problem lays in how the consumers (the education systems) consume the goods (textbooks). Moreover, the problem could be described to stem from the age old “evil”: Politics.
Mediating the interface between the social and privatized system, acting as consumer on behalf of their entities, are the state level school boards that decide which textbooks are “ok” for schools to use. These consumers, like all humans, are not ideal: we don’t always make rational economic decisions, even when we are clearly looking out for our own self-interest. Furthermore, behaviour trends can vary widely between individuals. A statistically large population, unlike the current textbook market, can mitigate these differences by producing statistically significant trends and social phenomena the reinforces conforming behavior. Even then, the same potential irrationality and ‘humaness’ can plague a group’s decision. In the case of the school boards, where (both elected and appointed) representatives make decisions for a group, a minority holding an irrational self-interest and an office of power may make consumer decisions for the majority. This would be mostly unimportant regarding consumer goods (with the exception of their safety). Education, however, is a necessary for society (Some will argue against this point, lets assume it for the sake argument for now). Trusting the consumer to be an ideal rational consumer, especially in the case of education, is not always a good idea.
Yet, we do that. We trust both ourselves, the system, and a few representatives to be rational consumers. We do this in an environment that is inherently political. We, the system, and the representatives make politically biased decisions in this environment. And, the textbook’s have to cater to that. The textbook publisher’s have been given a mandate to publish politically correct textbooks, as in they agree with a specific sociopolitical ideology. Quality is sacrificed for ideology.
Ron Paul is wrong in the sense that the government, especially the federal government, has failed to provide quality education to students. He is correct in that politics has failed us. However, the same politics in the governments that have failed to provide good education exist within society itself: social conservative, diversity, “progressive”, “traditional” movements are espoused by parents, teachers, administrators, and politicians alike. While I wouldn’t trust the states so much to provide a quality education, a don’t think I trust society through the the USA’s economy either.
What should we trust? Policies, methods, practices, traditions, paradigms, and (possibly) institutions that enforce, guide, and reward educational decisions that are rational and either maintain or increase the quality of the system. The academic community has its own system. Academics are rewarded for advancing the community, commonly through increasing the knowledge of the community. Case in point: the Nobel prize. Furthermore, they are ostracized for academic dishonesty. Remember the scandal with the South Korean scientist who had falsely reported his major advances in stem cell research? Similarly, the education system needs such strong traditions and institutions to provide a quality service and overcome the ideological battles that plague the system.
This is where the federal government can come into the picture. Congress can legislate that such traditions, policies, practices, methods, and institutions are necessary. A future department of education can work to see that the education system is meeting those guidelines. They have one incentive too: they are competing against some 200 odd countries to be the best. After all, the USA wants to live up to its self proclaimed title of “superpower”.
