Education’s ‘Groundhog Day’

By Gerald W. Bracey

Media stories about public schools show the reporters as non-Bill Murray characters in “Groundhog Day.” In the 1993 movie, the same Groundhog Day repeats itself over and over again, but only Murray’s character sees the repetition. About schools, the media report the present with no apparent historical awareness that it’s the same story once again. As a consequence, Americans keep waking up to headlines declaring that, apparently for the first time ever, the public school sky is falling. The public doesn’t seem to notice the recurrences, either.

On Dec. 7, 2004, papers presented the results from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA 2003, announcing,“U.S. Teens Have Weak Practical Math Skills” ( USA Today ). The Wall Street Journal and The Christian Science Monitor tied for scariest headline of the day: “Economic Time Bomb,” said the Journal ; “Math + Test = Trouble for the U.S. Economy,” said the Monitor .The Monitor quoted Susan Traiman of the Business Roundtable: “It’s very disturbing for business if the capacity to take what you know … and apply it to something novel is difficult for U.S. teenagers.” (The OECD’s assertions that PISA measures “application” are both glib and without theoretical or conceptual grounding.)

On Dec. 14, 2004, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS 2003, presented us with better news, and most of the media overlooked it. Those that did report it expressed worries that other countries, “particularly in Asia, continue to outperform the United States [in] fields at the heart of research, innovation, and...