Real Education, by Charles Murray

I picked up this book at the library last week. I have plenty of (strong) opinions about education, so I thought it looked interesting. Murray thinks we have forgotten four truths about education:

1. Ability varies
2. Half of the children are below average
3. Too many people are going to college
4. America's future depends on how we educate the academically gifted

Ouch.

I'll admit this book was pretty tough to read. We don't want to spend much time thinking about Murray's ideas, because they don't fit into our ideal world. But they are very practical. And as you dig below the surface of his statements, parts of them do make a lot of sense.

1. Murray talks about how ability varies, and we acknowledge this in every area of life except reading and mathematics. No one gets upset over the superior athlete, the gifted musician, etc, but when we start talking about some kids being academically gifted we freak out and talk about how every child needs to reach their "potential." But Murray reminds us that we should let children reach their own potential - push them as far as they are capable of going - but let them reach their own potential, not the potential the education bureaucracy has decided they should have.

2. When we use averages, half the kids are going to be below average. Even as the grades improve, half the kids will always score better than the other half of kids.

3. Picking up with Alan Bloom's ideas, Murray thinks too many kids go to college. We've cheapened a traditional liberal arts degree. Murray believes we need to let go of the idea that you have to have a B.A. to be successful, and accept that going to a technical school is not a failure, but can be the right choice for many, many students.

4. Murray says that like it or not, our society is ruled by an elite class of politicians, businessmen, educators, journalists, etc. Nothing is going to change that, so we might as well make sure the elite are well-educated people.

Overall, I agreed with a lot of his points and disagreed with others. But it definitely got me thinking!