My latest article for The Chalkboard Review is a reflection on Kay S. Hymowitz's essay in the Winter 2021 issue of National Affairs on "The Cultural Contradictions of American Education."
Largely middle-class parents drive this contradiction when they fixate both on children’s individuality and on training students with the values, skills, and dispositions needed for employability and effective socialization.
Hymowitz identifies these two goals as being in tension. A child’s right to “be themselves” conflicts with the desire that they curb their impulses for the benefit of others. Thus, we have an American education system in a perpetual identity crisis. Parents, teachers, and students are unclear about the core purpose of education, and students from working-class families wind up being the most perpetually underserved.
I summary Hymowitz's argument, respond from my own experiences, and suggest a path forward for resolving this contradiction. Read the whole thing here.
Comments