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---
title: American Education Reform
description: Thoughts on typography and education.
date: 2012-08-18 00:00:00
category: writing
layout: post
redirect_from: "/writing/american-education-reform/"
---
This was going to be a snarky piece on how good typographic practice is rarely found outside of the professional realm, but nobody would want to read that. Except, perhaps, for other typography nerds. And that is part of what I have to say. But a small part.
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Our public education system has declined in effectiveness to the point of being nearly worthless. The basic subjects — writing, reading, arithmetic, history, and geography — have remained static for a century while the world around us has changed immensely.
It is time to introduce new subjects into the basic collection that every child learns. We must teach electronics, robotics, and programming starting early on. It is absolutely essential that every child have some basic understanding of these in the modern world. (There is research to suggest that POGIL may be especially relevant and effective in STEM education.) We must expand our education in the arts and music, inspiring creativity and aesthetic sensibilities.
But not only must we vary our subject matter; we must be prepared to accept sub-stellar performance in one or two areas in compromise for truly great understanding in others. In short, we need to expose children to a wider variety of material so as to determine their natural abilities and focus their education in those areas. By lowering the bar in some areas, we can raise it in others. So, for instance, instead of requiring a 60 to pass on each of five tests, we allow a 50 to pass on one of them so long as all the others are above a 75.
This is not to say that a student who excels in historical recollection and analysis should not also learn arithmetic. They should simply not be forced to perform at as high a level as a student whose gifts are in that field. The purpose of elementary education should be primarily to inspire creativity and a passion for knowledge in a generation of innovators in whatever field they choose. Additionally, students must gain at least basic knowledge in all fields of study.
Now for my shameless typographical education spiel: it is rather a silly thing that students are being required to use computers to write papers but are not being instructed in their proper use. Papers handed in to English teachers (or any teacher, for that matter) should be graded not only on structure, spelling, and grammar, but also on typographical style. There are correct and incorrect ways to set type, and in an age where it is so easy to do it correctly, it is shameful that we don’t inform students of what the proper way is.
I have focused on the elementary education system because it is the component I have the most distance from. I would find it difficult, as a college student, to write objectively about college education. The topics I have discussed apply, to some extent, to high school education as well.
_N.B. The ideas presented here do not represent a fully functional plan (obviously). Rather, they are intended to be food for thought. Let me know what you think [@bburwell](https://twitter.com/bburwell)._
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