the liberty to learn

The United States boasts the world's largest higher education system, offering nearly 4,000 colleges and universities students can choose from. Most are public institutions created by local and state governments , supported in substantial part by local and state taxpayers. Our K-12 education system is even more decentralized, funded and managed almost entirely at the local and state levels. Despite protestations that our K-12 schools are underfunded, the United States spends more per pupil on primary and secondary education than does every nation, both before and after adjusting for GDP.

We invest as heavily as we do in our education systems because of our unique political culture. If American individualism is to be upheld, each community must work together to promote self-reliance among its people. And for true equality among those individuals to be possible, educational opportunities must be available to all. It took the COVID-19 lockdowns to remind us all of a faded truth; public education remains America’s greatest equalizer. When they operate above the political fray, our public schools help preserve our civic ideals, promote public virtues, and prepare each new generation for a future we divine from our shared history.

Our past reveals that few truths are permanent in our collective memory. Statues are toppled, status quos are upended, and culture wars breach the schoolhouse doors. Yet each new chapter of our nation’s story must be discovered and cannot be assigned. There was, is, and always will be only one principle capable of uniting educators and preserving the trust of our citizens.

American teachers defend the liberty to learn.

Jordan O’Connell
September 23, 2024