Why are we all suddenly talking about education?

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Hi Gillian! Thanks for your comment. Yes, your school can participate! I will email you right now about this.
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Why are we all suddenly talking about education?

By Tyler on December 17th, 2010

It seems that everyone is finally talking about education these days. “Our generation’s Sputnik moment is back,” President Obama hailed in a speech just last week. “Our nation’s education crisis demands ‘the fierce urgency of now,’” Arianna Huffington said in a press release announcing the launch of Huffington Post’s new education section in October.

I had a conversation with two colleagues yesterday about the so-called school reform “movement,” and it got me thinking afterwards about what it is that seems to have raised the status of education to the level of “big issue.”

Is it the attention President Obama gave to the issue in his 2008 campaign and beyond — and the money he has helped make available to schools through ARRA and Race to the Top?

Is it the buzz and controversy surrounding the movie Waiting for Superman and other films taking on the issue of education?

Is it the Common Core State Standards movement that has led more than 40 states already to sign on in support of the same higher standards for students?

Is it the steady drumbeat of data and evidence over the years showing that millions of students can’t read, struggle in math, can’t match their peers in other countries in science and other subjects, and drop out of school at high rates?

Is it the growing sense that our world is changing fast and our schools are becoming increasingly irrelevant?

Or is it the economy (stupid)?

What do you think?

(Photo credit: Flickr photo by The Wanderer’s Eye)