Education always seems to be a big topic in politics. The talking heads would have us believe that education is worse now than ever before and that if something soon isn’t done we’re all headed for the trash heap. Politicians love education. They can pontificate about the perils of failing to address education issues, posit new ideas and write new laws, then point to the positive changes the laws wrought. Problem is, it is unlikely that their new laws made any difference. I’m inclined to think that any fundamental changes in education would not become evident until a class has gone through the entire educational process – one taking twelve years. By that time the politician is history. He knows that, but he can show how aggressive he is about education without having to face the consequences of his meddling.

The fact is that the drop out rate today is lower than ever before. The fact is that students are learning more today than ever before. As a teacher, I sometimes look at a student and wonder how he manage to get out of bed without help in the morning, he seem so dense. But recently I began to realize why that is. You see, education has lost its way. Perhaps it has to do with all the meddling the politicians have done. Perhaps it’s because education has begun to internalize the negative messages about itself. Or, perhaps it has to do with the fact that education no longer knows what it’s really supposed to be accomplishing.

Recently I read a blog about personal finance. Some on the blog argued that the schools should require a personal finance course. Others argued that this was the domain of the parent (who also, it must be noted, lacks skills in personal finance). The argument was that schools have so many other responsibilities to meet that a personal finance course is way down the list. We have to prepare students for college, let’s don’t forget, when is there time in the curriculum for personal finance?

Maybe it’s time for education to take a step back and figure out exactly what its role is in society.

I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood. My father worked in the offices of a trucking company. On one side, my neighbor drove a bread delivery truck. My other neighbor ran a restaurant. Across the street, there was a mechanic, an architect, an engineer, a teacher and a man that worked in local plant. Some had college educations, many didn’t. Yet they all lived in the same neighbor and shared the same values and provided the same standard of living to their families. My father never attended college, yet he was as knowledgeable on many subjects as anyone else. The discussions between these neighbors often reflected an awareness and understanding of the world around them that was as good, if not better than what you’ll often find today. These people managed to handle their lives in positive, effective ways. They understood the need to live within their means while reaching for just a little more. They understood the threat that dependence on credit posed. Where did they learn these things? Where did they develop the skills for understanding the world around them, if not from their high school education?

So, what is the purpose of education? Is it, as some have said, to prepare us for college? Or, is it to prepare us for life?

Ask any high school principal about the goals of the school and he or she will tell you that it is to prepare students for college. High school counselors talk to the students less about their career plans than about their college plans. High School graduation is no longer an end goal, it is simply a way station.

Every politician talks about the right of every child to a college education. I don’t think this has always been the goal, nor do I think it should be now. If everyone goes to college, who will collect our trash, trim the lawns at the local park, repair our homes and vehicles, pave our roads and the myriad of other jobs required to keep our society humming along? We NEED people who don’t have a college degree.

More importantly, there are people who simply aren’t college material, either because they lack the mental wherewithal, or because they are simply not interested in it. Perhaps their interests are more technical. They want to be a carpenter, electrician, mechanic or beautician. These careers don’t require a college education. If you stop and look around, there are literally hundreds, even thousands, of jobs that don’t require a college degree and still provide a solid, stable living for the worker.

And, while schools have focused more and more on preparing students for college, colleges have complained that students come to them unprepared for the rigors of collegiate academics. The number of remedial courses continues to increase, as colleges work to bring their students up to a reasonable academic level. This further extends the time to completion and the cost. How can this happen if the public schools are teaching “college prep”?

The focus is wrong. Schools have lost sight of the goal.

One of the metrics used to determine the quality of a school is the number of students who graduate within four years of entering the program. How does that determine quality? I can graduate you in four years without problem – if I don’t set high standards that demand that you actually know how to read, write and do math. It seems to me the better metric is the number of students who, upon graduation, can carry on an intelligent conversation, write a coherent sentence and actually make change without a calculator. If it takes more than four years to get the student to that level, then so be it. Which is more important? That the student possesses the skills, or that he graduate in four years?

It seems to me that a high school graduate should have the requisite skills for living while possessing the foundation knowledge needed for continuing on. Yes, let’s teach him English and math and science and history and political science. But let’s also teach him how to interview for a job (or for a college admission), how to comprehend an application and how to balance his checkbook. Let’s teach them, in the form of teaching math, how credit works and what the long-term impact can be on his future. Let’s give him the skills he needs to perform meaningful work NOW so that he can deal with whatever comes his way even while he is in college. Let’s get back to looking at high school as an end point upon which we can build a college education. And, let’s make sure that if the student chooses to go on to college that he has the skills to succeed there.