Don't you find it interesting how muted the media coverage was of President Obama's powerful speech on education. There was a lot of bold insights and strategies in that speech and yet it was greeted with a yawn.
I think this tells us there is a lot complacency in the public these days about the value of education and the quality of education children are receiving. Famous business author Clayton Christensen in his book Disrupting Class argued that America was lagging in education in large part because children don't want it as much. They are growing up in a comfortable life style, catered to at every turn and so what's the big deal. Things will turn out fine. In Korea though, kids grow up in poverty and so they are motivated to get to a better place, so they work hard. In fact the whole population is focused on pulling themselves up to a better place through education.
The reaction to Obama's speech I think proves Christensen's point. I think it also explains why change in US education happens at a glacial place. New programs such as the Fast ForWord reading program or approaches take decades to take hold. The feeling for a large majority of the constituents -- parents, educators, tax payers -- is that the education stakes are just not that high.
This reactive mindset may have onset at exactly the wrong time. The current high school generation may be in for a shock as a confluence of factors collide: less economic opportunity, a virtual business world where employees world wide compete for the same jobs, and educationally inferior standards in the US. This more than anything may define our economic future.