Editor’s Note: Woke Wars, formerly an email newsletter from The Sentinel meant to cover the cultural insurgence of wokeness in our society, is now exclusively available on our website.
Between the efforts of Elon Musk to shrink the government and the vows of President Donald Trump to abolish the Department of Education, the eyes of the nation are on education reform.
Over the decades since President Jimmy Carter elevated the federal agency to the level of the Cabinet, spending per pupil has increased substantially, while outcomes have only plummeted.
The trend could not be more obvious. The necessity for reform could not be more clear.
We have to fix this.
Beyond the need for removing the federal government from the education system, the state of Utah offers some key insights into how we can more broadly cut costs and improve learning.
Utah spends the second lowest amount per every primary and secondary student relative to the rest of the nation. But the state has some of the highest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, an annual examination that tracks benchmark math and reading abilities.
The evident conclusion is that more spending does not necessarily mean better outcomes.
That insight was discussed by Brad Wilcox, a professor at the University of Virginia and the Institute for Family Studies, who observed that Utah is also ranked first for family stability.
Utah is highly religious, and although they are broadly Mormon rather than broadly Christian, high rates of religiosity are linked to lower divorces, more intact families, and similar trends.
That means they have less reason to count on the government to raise their children for them.
We need robust homes.
The newfound emphasis on reforming the federal government, particularly by abolishing the Department of Education and ending their influence, is very much welcome and necessary.
But much more is needed to truly improve the outcomes of young people in this country.
We need robust families that at the very least remain intact, and which do not merely outsource the education of their children to the local government schools, instead taking an active interest in their education and ensuring the transmission of the values which set this nation apart.
