I talk to a lot of parents and students about education. When I discuss either the things that I have seen, or, all the bad news that comes out about education, they agree that it is awful. Then we start talking about their own experiences with the system – and we are off to Lake Wobegon. They or their kids got a great educaion. They went to a good college. They had cool professors. They made A’s. They learned everything they needed. Maybe their son/daugher is living at home and doesn’t have a good job, but it’s just that you have to have a master’s degree, or a law degree, or, the economy is bad.
Sometimes people ask me when I think things are going to change. I say, “When parents go to the teacher and say that their little Johny or Sally isn’t good at algebra and doesn’t work, so what is with this A? Are you scamming me? Is the administration making you do this? What is going on?”
But, if so many people keep believing that they are living in Lake Wobegon, not much will change. It will be hard for people not to believe they are in Lake Wobegon, though, because many schools, university professors and administrators will continue to work hard to keep people believing that they are in Lake Wobegon. When things don’t work out, they will explain that it’s just the economy, companies, whatever…
(For an idea of how professors do this, see my post How to Make Calculus Students Believe They Know Calculus When They Don’t)
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