The Nation at Risk

In 1983, The Nation at Risk was published/released. The Nation at Risk pointed out how poor the education system was in America at the time and it emphasized the importance of improving the education system in America. The article included a list of statistics related to the weakness of education in the United States. One of the more astonishing statistics that the article pointed out was that 23 million Americans were illiterate at the time. Other countries were beginning to catch up with the United States and in order for the United States to not fall behind (let alone remain “number one”) education needed to be taken more seriously and an educational reform was needed. Twenty-five years later a report was released showing that it is uncertain whether the education system has seen significant improvement since The Nation at Risk was published

I understand why there is some criticism that The Nation at Risk was too “harsh.” At the same time, the article seemed more like tough love to me. There were, and still are, problems with education in America and it should be taken seriously. Different methods should be experimented with. Teachers must be certain that they are sending their students positive messages about school. The teachers are not the only factor, however. Students might be losing their drive to succeed due to other reasons. Young Americans should be shown that education is important and why education is important to not only themselves but their families and communities.