In April 1983 the renowned ?A Nation At Risk? report was released after two years of research. The report did not shy away from warning the public how government education was ?being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity.? From this analysis education reformers began calling those protecting the system GOMs, Gatekeepers of Mediocrity; or the BLOB, Big Learning Organization Bureaucracies.
Greg Toppo of USA Today reports on those who believe the report gave an accurate portrayal and those who blame the report for the negative attitude towards our government education system. Toppo stated federal K-12 education has grown from $16 billion in 1980 to almost $72 billion in 2007. This does not account for state and local increases in education spending, The big question: Are our children better educated now than they were 25 years ago?
Jennie Allen at Center for Education Reform answers ?that despite progress, we still send vast numbers of students to college in need of remedial education, and those that never make it to college, much less graduate high school, represent an untenable deficiency in the way we do education – which we must solve. To do that, we must continue to uncover what works and what does not, and issue reports and commentaries to amplify the problems.?
We also must elect General Assembly Members and a Governor with courage to go against the GOMs and the BLOB. Unless this happens another 25 years will pass with little academic advancement.
