Secretary of Education Duncan speaks on future

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke on the importance of improving the American education system at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on Wednesday. The event, which was sponsored by the Wilson School, was free and open to the public.

Duncan said improvements are important for three primary reasons: pursuing the civil rights issue of poverty, economic imperative and national security.

According to Duncan, the United States now ranks ninth in the world for college graduation rates after having fallen behind in the past few decades. Over one million students drop out each year, he said, and because there are few good jobs for high school dropouts in the market the country is “perpetuating poverty and social failure.”

Duncan also emphasized the economic importance of improving education, as many people are unable to take available jobs because they lack the skills.

The lack of qualifications is also hindering national security, Duncan said. Less than 25 percent of young people qualify to serve in the armed forces, he explained, often because they lack the educational background.

Duncan emphasized the need to “get better faster than we ever have educationally” to catch up with the other countries that passed by the United States while it “stagnated.”

He also cited backward traditions, such as the continued use of an agrarian calendar, that are hindering development.

“Not many of our students are working in the fields,” he explained.

The lack of technology use is also alarming, Duncan explained. The rapid development of technology has “transformed” how the world communicates and conducts business but “has barely moved how we educate young people,” he said.

Duncan said that educational reform also faces many additional challenges in the coming years, including reforming the No Child Left Behind Act, investing in early childhood education, making people work together, recruiting new teachers and turning around underperforming schools.

No Child Left Behind, according to Duncan, is far too punitive and restrictive, encourages the “dumbing down” of standards and provides disincentives for people who do the “right thing” in education. The Obama administration hopes to revise and change the law in a “bipartisan way,” Duncan noted.

Duncan also stressed the importance of better early childhood education in closing the education gap and called on citizens to work together and “move outside their comfort zones,” saying that “adult dysfunction has hurt children.”

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Another serious issue, Duncan said, is the need to recruit better teachers. He explained that the education industry needs one million new instructors in the next four to six years to accommodate the baby boomers.

He expressed hope that the occupation would attract “the next generation of talent” by removing the “vow of poverty” that teachers currently experience through the use of “income-based repayment.” Under this system, debtors’ payments are sized according to their incomes, and, after 10 years of public service such as teaching, debts are erased.

Duncan also cited the need to turn around underperforming schools. Of the 100,000 schools in the country, 2,000 produce half of the nation’s dropouts, Duncan said. He expressed the hope that, by pumping money into these schools, the country can reverse the poverty cycle.

Duncan said he has one overarching goal: “to lead the world in college graduates by 2020,” he explained, noting the need to elevate the teaching position, citing South Korea as an example. In South Korea, teachers are called “nation builders,” he said.

Following Duncan’s address, Wilson School professor Hugh Price moderated a question-and-answer session.

During the session, Duncan proposed achieving the goals he mentioned during his speech through rewarding excellence. He cited a recent bill in Illinois, which passed the state senate unanimously, that eliminates tenure, takes away teaching licenses for those who underperform over a span of seven years and eliminates the “last in, first out” policies that, Duncan said, are detrimental to the educational system.

Duncan also discussed ways to make college more accessible and affordable, citing a new bill that has put billions of dollars in the hands of students without using taxpayer dollars by ending subsidies to banks that make student loans.

Duncan was appointed to his position by President Barack Obama and previously served as chief executive of Chicago Public Schools. He previously ran the Ariel Education Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing education in underprivileged areas.