“Education is the most powerful tool that you can use to change the world.”
—Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa

Some thoughts on the state of education in America. But first, a few disclaimers:
• Any time one addresses as big and complex a topic as education, it’s the very definition of “painting with a broad brush.” Generalizations are necessary, and exceptions are acknowledged.
• I am not an educator. I’m not a pilot either, but I know what I want and expect from the pilot of the flight I’m on.

The state of our education system is in crisis. Americans are aware of it and people are writing about it. In a September 2026 Gallup article, Megan Brenan cited several statistics, including a startling one: a record-low thirty-two percent of Americans are satisfied with the quality of U.S. K-12 education.

In the U.S., we have a public-school system dominated by two national unions: the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. What would seem to be two unions whose utmost concern would be the certainty of good education for America’s children is almost anything but. In his October 2026 article in The Hill, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley characterized the state of education in America as “a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating political alliance of unions and politicians.”

He also reported that in 2025, the Chicago Teachers Union spent $4.2 million on lobbying and politics, but less than eighteen percent of their budget on teacher support. This in a city where thirty-five percent of public schools are half full or less. Is it any wonder families are fleeing the public school system and opting for charter or private schools?

Hospitals have peer review committees for each medical specialty, responsible for overseeing the practice of their colleagues. Should egregious conduct occur, the issue is taken to a higher level: the medical staff’s credentials committee. These “checks” on physician behavior and practice are in place to maintain the highest level of accountability to patients. Don’t we want a similar system to assure educational accountability to our students and their parents?

Through the strength of the teachers unions, their members know two things: 1. Teachers are tenured for life. 2. Teacher compensation is not tied to performance. Both are counterproductive to having the best teachers in place. Rather than school systems insisting on excellence, proficiency standards are lowered. The result? Weaker student performance. An example: Turley reported that over half of third- to fifth-grade students in New York City failed their reading-proficiency testing.

When K-12 students aren’t properly educated, the problem spills over into colleges. When the University of California eliminated standardized testing in the name of greater equity in their admissions, they witnessed a startling lack of math knowledge among new students. On the university’s San Diego campus, over the last six years there’s been a thirty-fold increase in incoming students whose math skills fall below the high-school level. Highly-regarded Harvard University also witnessed weak math skills in many of the students they admitted.

As I’ve reported before, many incoming college students are unable to focus on and completely read a novel. Professors have had to dumb down their expectations of their students, assigning chapters or passages instead.

As President Mandela said, education is the most powerful tool available to us to change the world. We’re selling short our students of all backgrounds and ethnic origins when we don’t insist on exemplary teaching. Parents know this, but are defenseless when it comes to fighting the teachers unions.

What can we do?
• Acknowledge teaching as the esteemed profession it is, recognize the good teachers, and weed out the bad ones.
• Return to a meritocracy system for teachers, where the better they teach and the better their students learn and score on testing, the higher their compensation will be.
• Insist on higher standards of performance in our public schools rather than lowering expectations. Stronger public schools will reduce the flight to private and charter schools.
• States should consider school vouchers and school choice. If a school is underperforming, close it or improve it. It is unreasonable to require children to attend a poorly-performing school simply because they share the same zip code and their parents can’t afford an alternative educational venue.
• Locally, we need to elect stronger school boards and hold them accountable.
• If we are to have teachers unions, put people in leadership positions who “walk the walk,” not just “talk the talk.” They should be more interested in improving educational proficiency than in any self-serving lobbying or political activity.
• Change the curricula in K-12 schools. At the elementary level, first and foremost, our kids need to focus on reading, writing, and math. At the high-school level, continue that focus but add civics, government, basic economics, and personal finance. Don’t we want our kids to be able to balance a check book, address an envelope, and read a novel?

God gave us brains to develop, use, and apply to everyday problems, as well as life-changing ones. Our children deserve the best possible opportunity to do just that.