March 2, 2015

An Educational Culture: The Right Angle on Education

The basic problem with America’s educational system is not that college is too expensive. Nor is the basic problem that public school teachers are underpaid or that educators are poorly trained. The basic problem with America’s educational system today is that far too many children are given the implicit message at home that education is not a priority. “Perhaps the nerds and the geeks need these educational skills, but in our home, they just are not that important.”

Our schools face a huge challenge today, because the educational message that teachers are trying to inculcate into their students is far too often dismissed at home. If you live in a subculture where education is not valued, it is unlikely you will come to value your own educational opportunities. We cannot expect our schools to inculcate values of learning when there is little to no reinforcement at home.

The reality of life is that education and learning is not always fun. I was, and still am, an eager learner; nevertheless, some topics were uninteresting and seemed pointless when I first learned them. Some things are not intuitive; being sick and missing math class the day we were introduced to right angles, I was totally confused the day I returned to school. I could not figure out whether a right angle was the opposite of a left angle or the opposite of a wrong angle. That, of course, was an easy fix with a few questions that evening around the dinner table – an easy fix because my parents and my older siblings cared about education.

The college opportunity was not available to my father-in-law, but one of his primary goals in life was to enable his children to be college graduates. In order to fund this educational goal, he worked a factory job in addition to farming his own property. He only liked one of these jobs, but he worked them both, because he wanted to make sure his children had every educational opportunity. In “Look Homeward, Angel,” Thomas Wolfe says, “He loved a farm better than anything in the world except a school.” My father-in-law communicated that value to his children.

My father-in-law saw both of his children succeed in college, and recently celebrated the diplomas of all four of his grandchildren. He fostered an educational culture in which education was important. His children and grandchildren were motivated by his own continuing love of learning.

President Obama has sought to increase the number of college graduates in America, and is currently proposing that the federal and state governments pay the tuition for community college students. As Michael Horn recently stated in a CNN column, however, community colleges have not been particularly successful (only 22 percent of students complete their two-year degree within three years and 28 percent within four years), in spite of the fact that tuition is already heavily subsidized. He concludes that 60 percent of tuition is already covered by federal, state, and local programs, and, for needy students, the remaining 40 percent is entirely covered by Pell Grants.

Horn argues that providing free tuition will not fix the educational system. Indeed, the problem begins in American homes. When parents and caregivers communicate that education provides access to jobs and opportunities, and when parents demonstrate that college tuition is high on their list of priorities, students will come to value their educational opportunities. President Obama’s current proposal will not fix the problem unless the core issue of educational value becomes the focus.

If we want to improve our educational system, creating an educational culture is the essential and right angle.  


Dr. Gary L. Welton is assistant dean for institutional assessment, professor of psychology at Grove City College, and a contributor to The Center for Vision & Values. He is a recipient of a major research grant from the Templeton Foundation to investigate positive youth development.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.