Invest in Public Education

Cuts to funding and curricula endanger the U.S.’s status as a global powerhouse

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PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE U.S. is under attack. Whether at the local, state or federal level, political and religious groups have pushed for funding cuts while diverting more money to private-school vouchers, trying to alter curricula and removing books from children’s reading lists. By not prioritizing free and equitable public education, the U.S. government is robbing our youths of the critical-thinking skills and knowledge that drive innovation and democracy.

These efforts fall heavily on science education in our classrooms, if not directly on classwork, then on its fundamental drivers—curiosity, imagination, ingenuity and innovation. To ask the kinds of questions of our natural world that would produce such things as artificial intelligence, spacecraft, medicines, and more, children need exposure to the ideas that have shaped our progress as a society, the status quo we have bucked against to bring about great changes for humanity, the declarations we have questioned and then reshaped.

The attempt to quell and control taxpayer-funded education is antithetical to a society that values evidence and knowledge. It’s a concerted effort in thought control, racism, classism and sexism. It’s not very democratic—or very smart.