The Antidote to America’s Educational Decline

To reverse educational decline, we must reject indoctrination and rekindle wonder

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I first became an educator in my childhood living room where I would teach my stuffed animals, then my siblings, and later my neighborhood friends from the 13-volume Junior Book of Knowledge my parents proudly gave me. That early and insatiable curiosity led me to study philosophy, become a freethinking journalist and a contemplative playwright, and later serve as a heterodox professor. Along the way, I also became a concerned parent. That concern led me to homeschool my children, co-found a private accredited school for grades 6–12 in Atlanta, and help establish a classical elementary school in California. Most recently, I’ve continued my educational journey in Tennessee, where I serve as a Chapter Leader for FAIR For All.

From each of these vantage points, I’ve seen American education at its best and at its worst. I’ve seen its promises and its perils. Throughout, I find myself returning to one central question: How can we expect the next generation to become wiser, more creative, and more capable than we were if we are systematically depriving them of the education that once made this country exceptional?

The data confirm what many of us feel anecdotally: the United States is in educational decline. We currently rank 31st globally in education, and 28th in mathematics among developed nations. Nearly half of American fourth graders read below the basic level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and the numbers do not improve by eighth grade. These outcomes persist despite staggering increases in per-pupil spending from $2,000 in 1980 to over $15,000 today. States like New York and California spend upwards of $24,000 per student, yet they underperform states like Mississippi, which spends less than half and has climbed from 48th to 16th in national rankings.

Funding doesn’t appear to be the problem or the solution. More money hasn’t netted better outcomes. Neither has adopting curriculums tied to New Math, Whole Language, Common Core or Standardized Testing. America’s decline in education has to do with focus. We’ve diverted attention away from foundational literacy, history, mathematics, and critical thinking skills and instead elevated the presence of activism and political ideologies in the classroom. Instead of encouraging students to ask questions and explore ideas for themselves, students are handed ready-made ideological dogma. They are discouraged from thinking, shamed for questioning, and no longer taught how to engage in effective discussions.

Despite these declines, American culture, innovation, and institutions remain global magnets. Our universities and corporations attract top international talent. Our films and technology dominate the world stage. People from across the globe still dream of moving here. Why? Because America has been known to offer something rare: liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, and the right to pursue knowledge and meaning unimpeded by political ideology.

It is our culture of freedom, rooted in the tenets of a liberal education, that has set us apart. We harbor a tradition of inquiry and dissent, of understanding opposing viewpoints, of honoring reason and evidence over conformity. If we lose our pro-human based culture, we lose more than academic ground. We lose the soul of who we are as individuals.

These concerns are why I became involved with FAIR. As a non-profit, non-political organization, FAIR is founded on the basic and fundamental principles of treating every person as unique individuals capable of acquiring the skills of critical analysis, independent thinking, and civil discourse. FAIR’s work in education, and in particular in the development of its new American Experience Curriculum offers a path for teachers to move away from indoctrination and towards encouraging a wonder that prompts questions, exploration, and discussion. Continuing down a path that trains children to become activists aligned with a single worldview will not only bring about the demise of their innate ability to question, but it will also inhibit them from becoming thoughtful citizens who can listen, inquire, create, innovate, and lead. To reach their potential, we need students to be able to look up at the stars and wonder, and we need teachers who encourage them to do so.

I’ve had the opportunity to review several of the lessons in the American Experience Curriculum, which is currently being evaluated by Johns Hopkins University School of Education. The course is grounded in the principles of liberal education, and provides students and teachers with the tools to engage in informed and thoughtful dialogue, as well as navigate historical and contemporary complexities.

FAIR’s curriculum encourages students to examine primary texts, analyze philosophical debates, and consider diverse perspectives. They are guided to not only build historical knowledge but also the habits-of-mind essential to democratic life: intellectual humility, analytical reasoning, and respect for others.

When I think back to my own childhood, reciting passages from the Junior Book of Knowledge with unabashed enthusiasm, I never imagined I’d later find myself confronting a nationwide collapse in education. But that is the reality we face. Will we allow our schools to become further politicized, hollowed out by conformity and fear? Or will we reclaim education as a space of freedom, exploration, and genuine learning? Are we able to refocus schools to develop citizens who appreciate the freedoms they have inherited and revitalize a mindset steeped in curiosity?

Changing a failing education system that has been darkened by an activist agenda would be an insurmountable task if we didn’t already have a pre-programmed and natural instinct to think freely, to explore, and to leave the world better than how we found it. To this end, FAIR’s American Experience Curriculum is more than just a start; it provides a way of thinking and educating that brings us back to who we are as teachers and learners. It cultivates wisdom and builds civility. It’s one of many steps we can take to restore the kind of education that strengthens our unity, encourages a clarity of reasoning, and improves our rankings on the global stage.

The choice before us is clear: we can either continue down a path of indoctrination, compelling students to regurgitate approved opinions rather than think for themselves, or we can recommit to the educational tradition that made America exceptional. Our children’s capacity to wonder, to question, and to think freely hangs in the balance—and with it, the future of the country they will inherit and must choose to preserve.

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