Education for a complex age

It was with some sense of irony that I read two seemingly unconnected news stories last week. The first concerned the serious funding problems that face education throughout the United States because of the weak economy and the decisions by many legislative bodies, including our own here in Kansas, not to raise taxes in support of maintaining budgets.

The second story concerned the discovery that American intelligence services continue to have a serious shortage of analysts with skills in Arabic, Pashto and other Middle Eastern languages because so few schools, colleges and universities offer courses in these subjects. As I heard these two stories presented, I thought that far from being unconnected, they were, in fact, closely interrelated.

In recent months, many legislators, particularly in the Kansas House, made it clear they did not want to raise taxes even it meant K-12 and higher education would suffer catastrophic budgetary cuts. Indeed, while the Legislature did finally approve a tax package, the package it approved would appear to be $50 million or so short of what is needed and will possibly still require some degree of cuts.

Much of the rhetoric which was used concerned the belief that there was still “too much fat” in state government operations, including in education. In my experience, many of those individuals who complain there is “too much fat” in schools actually mean they don’t approve of the diversity of program offerings. In recent years, when budget cuts have been forced on schools and universities, “enhancement” programs, such as foreign language instruction, have suffered.

In the past few months, one of the arguments made by schools and universities has been that education, particularly in the sciences, contributes substantially to the state’s economy. This is absolutely true. But last week’s news stories should remind us that it is not just sciences which contribute to our state and nation. Our country also needs men and women who are competent in languages, who can write well, who understand geography and history and other cultures. We need these skills not simply to bolster our economy but in the interests of national security.

It has become a truism that we are living in an information society. If we cannot understand the information our computers collect and organize, then we cannot hope to prevent future tragedies like that of Sept. 11.

The fact of the matter is that education, good education, prepares students to deal with an increasingly complex and often unpredictable world. In 19th century Britain, students were required to master Latin and Greek, not because the British educational authorities expected that these languages would ever be spoken, but because they taught students intellectual discipline and hard work.

It is too late now to do much about the 2003 budget. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky to have a budget at all. But next year, both at election time and during the legislative session, I think we should all remember that when educational authorities ask for sufficient funding to do their job, they are asking for the means by which not only to secure our economic well-being but also to help us cope with an increasingly complex, unpredictable and often threatening world.


 Mike Hoeflich is a professor in the Kansas University School of Law.