Investing in Public Education Will Strengthen the U.S.

Scientific American

7 hours ago

Public education in the U.S. is under attack. Whether at the local, state or federal level, political and religious groups have pushed for funding cuts while diverting more money to private-school vouchers, trying to alter curricula and removing books from children's reading lists. By not prioritizing free and equitable public education, the U.S. government is robbing our youths of the critical-thinking skills and knowledge that drive innovation and democracy.
These efforts fall heavily on science education in our classrooms, if not directly on classwork, then on its fundamental drivers—curiosity, imagination, ingenuity and innovation. To ask the kinds of questions of our natural world that would produce such things as artificial intelligence, spacecraft, medicines, and more, children need exposure to the ideas that have shaped our progress as a society, the status quo we have bucked against to bring about great changes for humanity, the declarations we have questioned and then reshaped.
The attempt to quell and control taxpayer-funded education is antithetical to a society that values evidence and knowledge. It's a concerted effort in thought control, racism, classism and sexism. It's not very democratic—or very smart.
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About 50 million children in the U.S. attend public school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That number was closer to 51 million in 2019, but many kids who left public school during the COVID pandemic didn't come back to public education. Children attending public school exercise a right that used to be a privilege, as schooling in the U.S. was generally tuition-based until the mid- to late 1800s. By 1870, about 78 percent of children ages five to 14 were enrolled in taxpayer-funded schools. In 2019 and 2020, between 80 and 90 percent of children who went to public school in the U.S. graduated from high school, depending on the locale.
Critical thinking and exposure to different ideas are fundamentals of not only democracy but also creativity and innovation.
Some of the biggest battles about the right to comprehensive knowledge have been waged in public schools. They include the fight over the ability to teach evolution at Rhea County High School in Tennessee, which was at the center of the Scopes Trial 100 years ago, and clashes over the inclusion of climate change science in textbooks that serve millions of public school students in Texas and elsewhere. School districts nationwide have removed school library books that contain information on changing bodies or that explore mental health, not to mention ones that discuss slavery, race and gender identity. Under the guise of protecting children from harm, censors instead seek to whitewash the inconvenient truths that make it harder for them to maintain their profiteering and social hegemony: Earth is warming, and humans are responsible; slavery did happen; neither race nor gender is hierarchical.
Among the most egregious examples of the drive to undermine public education are school voucher programs. These efforts funnel taxpayer dollars to private and parochial schools, frequently at the expense of the long-term funding of public education. Often sold as 'school choice,' these legislative initiatives are championed as a way to help students escape poorly performing public schools or to give families of lesser means more options in education. But problems abound.
Arizona is hemorrhaging money to keep its voucher program afloat. In Indiana, educational gains in voucher-eligible schools are debatable. Joseph Waddington, an education researcher at the University of Notre Dame, says his and others' examination of Indiana's program showed that when children initially transitioned to private schools, their math scores fell significantly. It took a while for them to rebound. The researchers found no difference in English scores. The idea in some corners has been that voucher programs will stimulate the development of more religious or for-profit schools, which would, of course, enrich the entities opening the schools. But in many rural areas, there are no such schools. Many Texas counties have no private option. This lack was the basis for one of the bigger criticisms of Texas's new voucher program, passed during the state's January 2025 legislative session. Such examples beg the question of why these funds shouldn't just be used for public education that everyone can benefit from.
Critical thinking and exposure to different ideas are fundamentals of not only democracy but also creativity and innovation. For the U.S. to maintain its status as an economic powerhouse and driver of the global economy, we need problem-solvers, inventors, iterative thinkers and people who view failure as part of progress. This is the realm of science and mathematics, the realm of history and geography, the realm of a broad-based and well-rounded education. Diverting funds from public education while stifling certain ideas in public schools would certainly diminish our footprint in the world.
And although public education in the U.S. is a local and state issue, federal support does matter. Efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, which helps students with disabilities, gives grants and funds to equalize educational opportunity, and carries out research on different aspects of education, leave students at every level in the lurch, especially in less affluent school districts. Schooling may be local, but national support is critical.
What does appropriate funding for public education look like? Higher teacher salaries. Better buildings, not just stadiums. More reliable transportation. More comprehensive, influence-free textbooks. Better laboratories. More subject options. Better training in trades. More preschool. Mental health services. Physical health services. More nutritious meals. Better and free after-school programs.
The idea that we can defund public education in favor of alternatives belies reality and common sense. Public education provides community, refuge and opportunity. It is a common good that we must nurture. The U.S. became a world leader thanks in no small part to universal, standard public education. We owe it to future generations to keep it that way.