Josh Lederman

In 1983 the Reagan Administration’s National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE) published A Nation at Risk, a report calling for urgent reforms in the American education system. The commission warned that the current system was severely flawed and, as a result, was leading the country as a whole in a dangerous direction. To address this problem, the NCEE argued that the American education system needed to reach students of diverse backgrounds, or “to develop the talents of all to their fullest” (NCEE). The report states, “Part of what is at risk is the promise first made on this continent: All... children by virtue of their own efforts... can hope to attain the mature and informed judgment needed to secure gainful employment, and to manage their own lives, thereby serving not only their own interests but also the progress of society itself”(NCEE). When the commission repeatedly mentions the need to reach “all” students, they are clearly talking about diversity, certainly a crucial factor to consider when attempting to revamp America’s flawed education system. But when we look carefully at the report, we will see that the commission did not fully understand the issues related to diversity on a deep enough level. As a result, many of their suggested methods for overcoming problems with American education were severely flawed. Considering the large impact A Nation at Risk had and continues to have on American education, it is crucial that we understand where the commission went wrong and why.

Even though the NCEE wanted to find ways to reach all students through the American school system, they did not seem to understand why some students were being left out. At times they misattributed this fact to what they call a “let it slide” attitude, to laziness (NCEE). But this is too simple a solution. If there was a deeper problem with the curriculum in the very way it spoke to students of diverse populations, then we will see that simply asking them to “buck up” was not only an ineffective solution, it may indeed have driven these students further away from the goals of the education system. In this essay, I will use some slightly unorthodox sources as a counterpoint to A Nation at Risk, specifically regarding its attempt to reach “all” students. Since the commission’s goal was in part to close the gap between the mainstream majority and the disenfranchised minority, I would like to use some voices from that disenfranchised minority in this essay. I am speaking particularly of two hip-hop/rap artists, Kanye West and Dead Prez (Clayton Gavin and Mutulu Olugabala), all of whom, not ironically, attended inner-city high schools in the wake of A Nation at Risk. These artists represent a fairly wide spectrum of today's music culture: West is a consistent chart-topper, perhaps one of the most famous American musicians today; Dead Prez is more of an underground political group that, while popular, does not enjoy the mainstream success of Kanye West. But both groups speak of education in their music, and they do so with deep perception and eloquence. It seems only fair that after listening to the NCEE's report, composed by professional educators and policy makers, we then listen to the other side as well, the students who actually sat in those classrooms under this “philosophy of excellence.” The idea behind this paper is that you cannot effectively solve a problem if you don't understand what is actually causing it; in fact, you may only make it worse. In an attempt to find some of these causes we will listen to some voices representing the at-risk students themselves.

A Nation at Risk declares that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people” (NCEE). The commission felt that the students weren't trying, the parents weren't caring, and the curriculum had lost its purpose and focus. The report continues, “For our country to function, citizens must be able to reach some common understandings on complex issues, often on short notice and on the basis of conflicting or incomplete evidence” (NCEE). The commission's ultimate reason for writing this report was the idea that “education helps form these common understandings” (NCEE). All of this indeed seems true. It would seem that they were speaking of the need for critical thinking skills, saying that a democracy cannot run if its citizens don't possess these skills. It makes sense. If a nation is to be run “by the people, for the people”—if it is not supposed to be a mass of unquestioning workers following the commands of an oppressive monarch—then those people need to be able to make the type of decisions that will make their society great and keep it free. It also seems correct, perhaps even more so in 2007 than in 1983, that the decisions we have to make as a people must be based on information that comes at us quickly, and rarely completely. The commission was saying that we need citizens with strong reasoning skills, with “higher-order intellectual skills” (NCEE). to keep this country a true democracy. I couldn't agree more. But if we look closer at the words A Nation at Risk just used, we start to find some problems in the NCEE's underlying assumptions.

First, notice the wording about how this mediocrity “threatens our very future as a Nation and a people”(my italics). We need to ask which people they are talking about. The very idea the America is a people is a dangerous one. America does not consist of one culture, one people. If the very goal of A Nation at Risk was to make education equal to all people, then from the outset, they may have needed to shift their thinking. It may seem petty to cause such a fuss over one word here, but I argue that this is not just a word; it reflects an entire misunderstanding of the very problem they were attempting to solve. Let's look at some lines from Dead Prez's song “They Schools” to see how this notion that America consists of one culture, one people, is a damaging notion, one that may in fact be causing the disenfranchisement of minority cultures, not presenting them with an equal opportunity.

“They Schools” starts with a recording of a man screaming “Why haven't you learned anything?” It is almost chilling when you hear the anger in his voice. While Dead Prez doesn't answer this directly, the end of verse one may give some insight[1]. “Get your lessons / Thats what my moms kept stressin / I tried to pay attention / but they classes wasn't interestin / They seemed to only glorify the europeans / Claimin africans were only three-fifths a human being” (Gavin et al.). I wouldn't want to sit in a classroom that taught me I wasn't fully human. If I did sit in that classroom, I certainly wouldn't want to excel in the study of how I was less worthy than the people in the books we read. Clearly, the teachers and school systems believe that they are just teaching these students about America and its founding, but to some of the students whose ancestor were on the lesser end of that bargain, this story is not so simple. If rising out of mediocrity starts with accepting the “truth” of these ideas, it is no wonder that the songwriters here don't even want to be more than mediocre in the eyes of the school system. This last point is something that the NCEE failed to even consider: there may be specific reasons why some students wouldn’t want to succeed in the American school system. And these reasons may not even be conscious on the part of the learners; even as unspoken messages, they could encourage students that the contents of the lessons are slanted and insulting, something to avoid, not to embrace.

The other line from A Nation at Risk mentioned above was, “For our country to function, citizens must be able to reach some common understandings on complex issues, often on short notice and on the basis of conflicting or incomplete evidence.” Again, I expressed how much I agreed with the idea that a democracy is only truly free when the people who live there are strong critical thinkers and decision makers. That is not the problem I see with this line. The problem arises with the phrase “common understandings.” This ideas is right in line with the concept of Americans as a people. The belief that the best understanding of a complex issue is the most common understanding perpetuates the idea that there is one right answer to life's problems. It implies, “The best thing you can do as a person is remember that answer after we tell you what it is,” thus taking away any true thinking on the part of the student, who later becomes the citizen. This idea is the beginning of the end of democracy. If we only teach students how to look for the “right” answer (and all educators know how some students just cannot rest until someone assures them that they “got it right”), when do we expect them to develop the critical reasoning skills needed to keep this country a true democracy? If A Nation at Risk was trying to keep our democracy alive, they were going in the wrong direction with this fundamental premise.

The overall goal of A Nation at Risk was indeed to save the country, and they believed that it had to start in the classroom. If this idea is true, then the schools need to engage, not stifle the minds of the students, to encourage them to become critical decision makers. The NCEE did not seem to understand that feeding the students answers (or “common understandings”) could be counterproductive to this end. They confused a skepticism on the part of the students with a acceptance of mediocrity. But perhaps it was the notion we've been discussing, the idea of one right answer (“our answer”) to every problem that turned some students against the system, not their “let it slide” attitude.

Kanye West explores the idea of how damaging it is when the curriculum is composed of set “answers” that the students have no part in creating. In “School Spirit” he says, “Told 'em I finished school, and I started my own business / They say, 'Oh you graduated?' / No, I decided I was finished / Chasin' y'all dreams and what you've got planned” (West). West isn't talking about someone who dropped out because of laziness, or “the attitude that says 'let it slide',” as the NCEE warned us about. He was “finished chasin' y'all dreams.” When the school system believes that its job is to inculcate students into a set of existing ideas, they are doing damage, not good to the future of the democracy. If these “dreams” already exist and belong to the system, the student is not learning how to think for himself or dream his own dreams; he is only “chasin” the ones already laid out for him. Your dreams are only truly dreams, truly understanding, when you arrive at them on your own. Kanye West knows this, but it seems that the NCEE didn't. A diverse population has diverse dreams, and if the NCEE wanted to truly reach all children, they needed to start by considering this underlying truth of diversity. Extra homework cannot make a student want to work harder at chasing someone else's dreams.

These lines from “School Spirit” also address the NCEE's notion that the students are slipping into mediocrity because of apathy or laziness. The song’s narrator has motivation; he does want excellence in his life, but he feels that school is the very thing in his way. The song continues, “Back to school and I hate it there, I hate it there /Everything I want I gotta wait a year, I wait a year / This [guy] graduated at the top of my class / I went to Cheesecake, he was a [wretched] waiter there” (West). This is ambition, not apathy. It's not that he is lagging behind in school—he wants more. The school is what keeps telling him to “wait a year.” His solution was to drop out and “start his own business.” There is no implication that school was too hard or that he lacked the motivation to excel. This character believes that school is keeping him away from success, not leading him toward it. This belief may not be accurate; it is probably true that dropping out of school is not the way to find success in this country. But the fact is that this belief exists among certain populations. And it goes even further: West makes the point the the students who do “play the game,” who study hard and get all the answers right, end up working just to serve others. The song's narrator drops out of school and becomes a success; that may have just been luck. But when he goes to the Cheesecake Factory and the valedictorian of his class is the waiter, now we see the accusation that when you do what you're supposed to, all the schools are really teaching you is how to become a servant. This idea is presented even more directly by Dead Prez.

In “They Schools” Dead Prez reacts to the way the schools constantly tell the students that they need to get educated so that they can get a job. Most of us believe that this is large part of education. As A Nation at Risk put it earlier, “All... children by virtue of their own efforts, competently guided, can hope to attain the mature and informed judgment needed to secure gainful employment, and to manage their own lives, thereby serving not only their own interests but also the progress of society itself.” But this is how Dead Prez sees it: The school are “tellin [students] get a diploma so you can get a job / … but they dont never tell you how the job / Gonna exploit you every time /... the schools aint teachin us nothin… but how to be slaves and hardworkers / For white people to build up they shit / Make they businesses successful while its exploitin us,” and again later, “they just teachin us / How to build they shit up” (Gavin et al.). What a tragic disconnect between the goals of the NCEE and the message these students are actually receiving. The NCEE was trying to send a message of democracy and freedom; these students feel they are being trained for slavery, figuratively and literally.

Without understanding why all students were not excelling in school, the NCEE prematurely leapt to ideas for solving these problems. Just from the lines we have seen, it is clear that A Nation at Risk was indeed looking past some of the true problems putting us and our school system in danger. The commission says up front, “We do not believe that a public commitment to excellence and educational reform must be made at the expense of a strong public commitment to the equitable treatment of our diverse population” (NCEE). But so far, they seem to lack a full appreciation of the deeper implications of this last concept. Also, A Nation at Risk says, “The people of the United States need to know that individuals in our society who do not possess the levels of skill, literacy, and training essential to this new era will be effectively disenfranchised, not simply from the material rewards that accompany competent performance, but also from the chance to participate fully in our national life” (NCEE). From what we've seen so far, if Kanye West and Dead Prez are right— and if as artists, they represent the voice of untold others—, then the NCEE had this backwards. West and Dead Prez feel disenfranchised by the training and even literacy mentioned above[2], and they seem to be saying that the schools and their curricula are the agents of this disenfranchisement, not the pathway out. (I even believe that the “incorrect” grammar and spelling they use are important but subtle jabs right back at the schools that told them they would only find success by following their rules.)

If we look at some of the solutions the NCEE proposed in light of the present discussion, it becomes even more clear why these ideas would either completely miss the mark, or serve only to worsen the real problems. The first proposed idea under the heading “Recommendation C: Time” reads, “Students in high schools should be assigned far more homework than is now the case” (NCEE). It seems pretty clear that if the students are perceiving the contents of the curriculum similar to the views of Kanye West and Dead Prez, this solution is at best empty. If they don't want to learn this content, if they find the content disconnected from their reality, or even belittling to them as people, then simply assigning them a larger amount of this work does nothing to solve the real problem.

Another solution from A Nation at Risk states, “Standardized tests of achievement... should be administered at major transition points from one level of schooling to another” (NCEE). I can see how this would sound like a good idea. They want to make sure that every student is caught up before moving on. It would be terrible to pass from one grade to the next, only to find out that you were not fully ready. But again, this is not addressing the real problems going on in the country surrounding the idea of diversity. They can test all they want to see if the students “get” the concepts and content of the curriculum, but as we saw from West and Dead Prez, some of these students feel that those elements are the very problem. You can make them memorize ideas that they find dehumanizing and stagnating, but what good does that really do? And who is it really good for? Is it good for the students or for the ideal of maintaining an orderly society? Our artists here certainly argue the latter. As many other thinkers have suggested, they believe that the mainstream majority only cares that the disenfranchised minority finds a place to fit in; but they fail to question whether simply fitting into a pre-existing and unquestioned order is a good thing. (Martin Luther King, Jr. and Paulo Freire immediately come to mind.) Forcing the disenfranchised to fit in with the mainstream is the surest way to exterminate diversity. If we all believe one thing, no matter what we look like or where our ancestors grew up, we are not a diverse nation.

One other solution proposed by A Nation at Risk states, “The burden on teachers for maintaining discipline should be reduced through the development of firm and fair codes of student conduct that are enforced consistently, and by considering alternative classrooms, programs, and schools to meet the needs of continually disruptive students” (NCEE). Here is where they seem to give up on the idea of real diversity. On the surface this may seems like an obvious and necessary plan of action for those students who make a class difficult to run and stand in the way of other students' learning. But if we really look at what they are saying, especially after hearing the input from West and Dead Prez, it seems bleak. They seem to be saying, For those students who do not accept the cannon of our ideas, we have classrooms, programs, even entire schools, where they won't “disrupt” those of us who do. Perhaps I am reading too much into the word disruptive. They may simply mean students with behavioral issues. But is the line really that clearly drawn? Once again, let's turn to Dead Prez and listen to their perspective on being that disruptive student: “I went to school with some redneck crackers/... But I was readin malcolm / I changed my name in 89 cleaning parts of my brain/... I took a history class serious / Front row, every day of the week, 3rd period / [messing] with the teachers head, callin em racist / I tried to show them crackers some light, they couldnt face it” (Gavin et al.). Now that is disruption. No teacher would enjoy having this student in the front row everyday. But there is a purpose behind the disruption here; it is not simply a behavioral issue. The student here doesn't believe in what he is being asked to believe, and it looks to him like all the other students do. He is disruptive because he is studious, because he is really paying attention, not because he doesn't want to learn. If the solution to this type of disruption is sending the “perpetrators” to a separate classroom or an “alternative” school (essentially punishing, even quarantining the students), hopefully we can see that this “solution” does nothing to help the real problem, and only serves to further disenfranchise these students and any students who want to know more about what's behind this curriculum. And if the NCEE wanted to classify all disruptive students together and ship them away from the mainstream schools, we can see how seriously they erred by not considering the some of the real causes behind the problems they saw in the country's schools. What is particularly regrettable here is that the entire goal of A Nation at Risk, as we saw earlier, was to help create/maintain a true democracy, a thing that cannot work without people who are able to think critically. But what we see now is them punishing and exiling the very spirit that they are trying to foster. Or maybe I misread that too. After all, they did say that citizens must reach “common understandings on complex issues,” not original or insightful understandings, but the same understanding. If that was their goal, if it wasn't just poorly worded, maybe this recommendation is indeed a step toward reaching it.

All in all, I do believe that the NCEE had great intentions when they set out: they wanted equality in education across the barriers of race and class; they wanted American education to be the true meritocracy that America itself aspired to be. But they just didn't get it. They did not see the truth behind some of the risk indicators, and so their solutions proved to be at times ineffective, at times out-of-touch, and at times downright backwards. We are still struggling with the same issues from A Nation at Risk. I have tried to show some of the reasons why the ideas of the NCEE never could have worked. But these ideas show no signs of fading in popularity. If anything, No Child Left Behind seems to have taken some of A Nation at Risk’s principles even further by federally mandating some of the NCEE’s suggestions. I mentioned earlier that Dead Prez’s “They Schools” begins with a man’s voice shouting, “Why haven’t you learned anything?” After looking back through A Nation at Risk and comparing it to today’s education system some twenty-four years later, I now wonder if that voice is not meant to be a frustrated teacher at the end of his wits, screaming at his indolent students; I wonder if that voice is Dead Prez themselves, asking the American schools system, Why haven’t you learned anything?

West, Kanye. “School Spirit.” College Dropout. Roc-A-Fella, Island Def Jam, 2004.

[1] When I cite lines from these artists' songs, I will leave in the original mechanics and spelling, which is not always grammatically correct.

[2] When I say literacy here, I mean the idea of only reading and comprehending the ideas of others, not true literacy, which would be the skills of questioning and synthesizing your own ideas from what you have read.