Global Positioning — Some Thoughts on America’s
Current Priorities
Thomas Friedman’s satirical column in yesterday’s New York Times, written as a mock cable from Chinese diplomats, makes it painfully clear how different America is compared with other nations in terms of our priorities—including the need to raise the bar on educational achievement. Friedman writes, in jest, of course, that “we [meaning the Chinese] at the embassy find it funny that Americans are now fighting over how ‘exceptional’ they are. Once again, we are not making this up. On the front page of The Washington Post on Monday there was an article noting that Republicans Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are denouncing Obama for denying ‘American exceptionalism.’ The Americans have replaced working to be exceptional with talking about how exceptional they still are. They don’t seem to understand that you can’t declare yourself ‘exceptional,’ only others can bestow that adjective upon you.”
New data on the existing state of educational achievement show just how unexceptional the United States really is, at least in terms of preparing our students for college. No one should miss the recent study from ACT examining whether the increasing numbers of students taking the ACT college entrance exam—most of whom say they aspire to attain at least a bachelor’s degree—are ready to succeed in entry-level college courses. The numbers have barely budged in recent years, and they aren’t good. Only about one-quarter of those taking the ACT are college-ready, based on all four benchmarks (reading, math, English, and science). Twenty-eight percent met none of the benchmarks. Only 4 percent of African Americans and 11 percent of Hispanics were judged college-ready in all four basic areas!
Clearly we face an uphill battle, especially given the expanding list of essential learning outcomes students need. And educators are not ignoring the need to continue to work to be exceptional. Registrations for the January 2011 annual meeting are pouring in to AAC&U—this could be our biggest meeting ever. Seems like the meeting theme—Global Positioning—has struck a nerve. My guess—and it is a just a guess—is that many registrants are motivated to attend because they recognize the harm of empty claims to exceptionalism, both national and institutional. They are eager to explore ways to earn prominence in a global environment by ensuring the value of their degrees. And perhaps they are even thinking that global positioning includes elements of cooperation and collaboration as well as competition. Just as students require new knowledge about the world and new sets of skills to engage the world, institutions must rethink ways to work to be exceptional.
Join us in San Francisco to discuss these issues and many more—all of importance to the future of higher education and our shared future.
