During our nation's first century, wealthy landowners did not want free public education to be available to all children. They feared that an educated public would challenge their power. In contrast, those who favored a broad-based democracy wanted to provide free public education so that more people could gain a foundation for giving themselves an economic advantage. The latter group won out, and public schools sprang up in nearly every community. These schools were open free of charge to any child who could attend.

1 The United States today invests more heavily in public education at all levels than any other country. The curriculum in American schools is also relatively standardized. Unlike those countries that divide children even at the grade school level into different tracks that lead ultimately to different occupations, the United States aims to educate all children in much the same way. Of course, public education is not a uniform experience for American children. The quality of education depends significantly on the wealth of the community in which a child resides since schools are funded primarily through local property taxes.

2 Nevertheless, the United States through its public schools educates a broad segment of the population. Arguably, no country in the world has made an equivalent effort to give children, whatever their parents' background, an equal opportunity in life through education. This spending level on public elementary and secondary schools averages roughly $6,000 per pupil, compared with less than $4,000 per pupil in western Europe.

3 America's commitment to broad-based education extends to college. The United States is far and away the world leader in terms of the proportion of adults receiving a college education.

4 The nation's education system preserves both the myth and reality of the American dream. The belief that success can be had by anyone who works for it could not be sustained if the education system were tailored for a privileged elite. And educational attainment is related to personal success, at least as measured by annual incomes. In fact, the gap in income between those with and without a college education is now greater than at any time in the country's history.

5 In part because the public schools have such a large role in creating an equal opportunity society, they have been heavily criticized in recent years. Violence in the schools is a major parental concern. So, too, is poor performance on standardized tests, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The United States is not even in the top ten nations as judged by students' test scores in science or math.

6 Disgruntled parents have demanded changes, and these demands have led some communities to allow parents to choose the public school their children will attend. Under this policy, the schools compete for students, and those that attract the most students are rewarded with the largest budgets. Gallup Polls indicate that Americans favor such a policy by more than a 2 to 1 margin. Advocates of the policy contend that it compels school administrators and teachers to do a better job and gives students the option of rejecting a school that is performing poorly. Opponents of the policy say that it creates a few well-funded schools and a lot of poorly funded ones, yielding no net gain in educational quality. Critics also claim that the policy discriminates against poor and minority group children, whose parents are less likely to be in a position to steer them toward the better schools.

7 The issue of school choice goes to the heart of the issue of equal opportunity. On the one hand, an elite-centered school system widens the gap between the country's richer and poorer groups. On the other hand, making students compete with one another for the best education can be justified in terms of the country's individualistic tradition.

Source: Abridged from Thomas E. Patterson, We the People: A Concise Introduction to American Politics, 4th ed. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002, pp. 501-03.

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