Many Americans view our nation's best days as behind us. About one-fourth of Americans - only 26% - feel that the country is headed in the right direction, based on a recent Rasmussen survey of 2,500 likely U.S. voters.
Across both sides of the aisle, Presidential hopefuls argue that their platforms will restore hope, promise and opportunity - but other than taking aim at Common Core or mislabeling "choice" as a proven reform solution, informed dialogue on K-12 public education remains in short supply.
It is time to take America's greatest promise for the future - its public education system - off the back burner and prioritize it within our national dialogue.
America is only as strong as its citizens, with America's most important citizens our children. Nine out of every 10 school-age children attend our nation's public schools - more than 50 million nationwide. While pundits debate America's future, short shrift around public education risks leaving America's K-12 students, teachers and schools without public champions.
For America to be a "shining city upon a hill," a home that, in President Reagan's words, "hums with commerce and creativity," we must have the best public education system in the world. When we educate our youth to the highest standard possible we develop the minds and talent necessary to protect and defend our nation, improve local and national economies and cultivate innovation.
Is public education perfect? No - but with strong public advocates behind it, it is the pathway to a better future. While today the high school graduation rate stands at an all-time high - 81 percent - this key accomplishment rarely receives public mention.
President John F. Kennedy once said, "This is no time for complacency. This is no time to abandon the drive and the optimism and the imaginative creativity," that can build a party or advance a nation. A strong nation is dependent on an educated and empowered citizenry.
Public education gives every child in this great Republic, regardless of socio-economic status, race or class, the ability to pursue their dreams. America is an incubator, a center of innovation - and our classrooms must be poised to embolden young minds so that America can remain a global innovation leader.
Those who are betting our country's future on private or parochial education are funneling finite resources toward the few, the 10 percent, to the detriment of the many. "Choice" for some removes opportunity for others as the public education system is left to absorb the aftershocks of the transfer of public funds to private institutions. As private entities often "cherry pick" students, a further risk imposed by "choice" is the re-segregation of schools.
Great societies do not work this way. Providing equity and access to every child in our country to high-quality teaching and learning - regardless of zip code - honors the principles of democracy on which our great nation was founded, while furthering our country's economic and security interests.
A 2015 White House report on national security strategy states that "the drivers of change in this century [are] young people and entrepreneurs," with President Obama urging our nation's leaders to "make ... smart investments in the foundations of our national power." Yet the report largely overlooks a key, connective step - helping students prepare for and "persist" (complete the degree) in community college or college programs is dependent on a high-quality K-12 experience.
We must "de-silo" the education continuum. Today, K-16 partnerships remain the exception, not the rule. To strengthen college readiness, we must build bridges between K-12 and higher education systems.
Empowering America's 50 million public schoolchildren ensures that students from Boston, Boise, or Birmingham are poised to compete with those educated in Beijing, Bangalore, and Berlin. While schools are not workforce development factories, as global citizens in a global economy, today's students must learn to think critically and engage in lifelong learning to keep pace with a time of exponential change.
Today's workplaces are changing rapidly; many jobs K-12 students will compete for have yet to be invented. According to Cambridge News, a U.K. publication, "a whole host of new highly-paid careers are entering the employment market," many of which did not exist 10 years ago.
The stakes are high: Those who advocate for great public schools take a direct hand in determining America's fate. Our best days are ahead of us only if we each take it upon ourselves to make informed discussion around public education part of our national dialogue.
David A. Pickler, J.D., is president of the American Public Education Foundation, a past president of the National School Boards Association, and Vice-Chair of a new Standards Recommendation Committee for Mathematics and English Language Arts formed by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and other state officials.