HINDSIGHT

How Useful is Looking Back?

Maybe you're like me and you feel that hindsight has limited use as a learning tool. When I think back to the days when Secretary of State Colin Powell was discussing the need to go to war with Iraq, it really seemed like it was necessary. Saddam appeared to be a very dangerous person with biological weapons in his possession. Now, a few years later, it looks like the information was wrong. It cost thousands of lives and divided the United States.
Can I learn anything from that bit of hindsight? Other than to practice more skepticism and don't believe government officials, there's not much to take away from being deceived. That's not exactly what I would like to focus on going forward!
Education has a long history of hindsight. Since 1965, the year that President Johnson added secondary and elementary education to his "Great Society" agenda, educators have been looking back to find answers. There are certainly many studies that indicate what a great job educators used to do. Again, not much to learn here. As investors are always told: past performance is not an indicator of future returns!
Despite billions of dollars, innovative programs, teacher training and standards, political interference (from both parties) and quite a lot of excellent thinking from quality people, America has an educational system that is failing. Colleges only graduate about 50% of incoming freshman. Almost 30% of high school seniors will drop out this year. Studies struggle to spin poor data, like illiteracy, in a positive light.
Is there an answer? Yes; first parents need to be involved beyond the 6th grade. As students move on to middle and high school, parents drop off the radar. Parents are the only people that can hold their children accountable for what they can accomplish in school. Teachers are tools for learning, not paid performers who keep kids entertained a few hours a day.
Second, students have to believe that there is a future and a reason to invest in learning. Minimum wage jobs are great for high school years but not for creating an independent adult. When manufacturing ruled work options, students knew that what they learned in high school would serve them well for many years. With jobs in a constant state of change, what do you expect students to do? College has never been an option for every student.
Third, communities need to push the long honored vocations of craftsmanship and farming. Farmers are not poor kids that can't do anything else. They have been and always will be a vital part of the economic system (does alternative fuels ring any bells?). People who learn plumbing, electricians, woodworking and truck drivers are going to be in great demand over the next 20 years. So there are alternatives.
If there is anything to learn from hindsight is that it is never as bad as it seems (or as wonderful either). What is needed are people to express hope and options.