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Twenty years ago this week, a national commission formed by a Utahn and chaired by another Utahn gave the nation a meaningful blue print for educational reform.
The report called "A Nation at Risk" resonated with practical recommendations for improving American education. Yet two decades later, little has changed and the risk remains. "The educational foundations of our society," as the report said then, are still "being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people."
Attempts at meaningful reform have been made over the years. Most recently, the Bush Administration’s "No Child Left Behind" initiative is filled with good intentions. Locally, the Utah Board of Education is moving toward a system based on subject competency rather than mere "seat time."
However, as last year’s Employers’ Education Coalition in Utah affirmed, far too many children are completing high school without basic, indispensable skills. And there is still inherent reticence among lawmakers and the education establishment to make bold changes.
KSL reaffirms what we said in 1983 when the "Nation at Risk" report first came out. We believe "significant changes are necessary in order to achieve excellence in education." As we said then, "The recommendations of the commission are a good beginning."
