Don't Bogart My Blog: Opinion Today: What is school for?

September 3, 2022

The New York Times

By Eleanor Barkhorn

Editor at Large, Opinion

America's K-12 schools have been through a lot these past two and a half years.

The Covid pandemic sent teachers and students home. The murder of George Floyd, a tense election in 2020 and other issues along social fault lines generated a wave of parental activism and angry confrontations over which books students should read and how history should be taught. And just this week, news broke that math and reading scores have dropped significantly for America's 9-year-olds.

It's a moment of crisis: Public school enrollment has plunged, and the math and reading score declines erased decades of academic progress.

But this crisis also presents a chance to step back and think anew about what we're really trying to do with education in this country. To that end, the editors at Times Opinion asked a range of people — parents, students, writers and academics who spend a lot of time thinking about education and opportunity — the same question: What is school for?

They came back with fascinating answers, resulting in essays that urge us to recommit to the diverse, inclusive ideals of our public school system's founding; remind us of the hope schools offer immigrant families; tell us that public schools waste time and money; and so much more.

We hope you spend time with these essays and that they prompt you to consider the same question. What's the most important thing that school offers — or offered — you, in either the long term or the short term? Tell us about your experiences by writing us at letters@nytimes.com.

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What Is School For?

Writers, parents and students make sense of education's purpose in America.

Illustration by Chloe Scheffe; photographs by Internet Archive; Ansel Adams, Esther Bubley, Warren K. Leffler and Russell Lee, via Library of Congress; Museums Victoria, Muhammad Haikal Sjurki, Note Thanun and New York Public Library, via Unsplash; and Mikus, via Wikimedia Commons

Guest Essay

School Is for Everyone

Our democracy sprouts in the nursery of public schools — where students grapple, together, with our messy history and learn to negotiate differences.

By Anya Kamenetz

Illustration by Chloe Scheffe; photographs by Internet Archive; the Met Collection; Jordan Graff and Robo Wunderkind, via Unsplash; and Calsidyrose and Vacuumfan7072, via Wikimedia Commons

Guest Essay

School Is for Social Mobility

If politics is the art of the possible, perhaps the biggest silver lining of these past two years has been to redefine what is possible.

By John N. Friedman

Illustration by Chloe Scheffe; photographs by Internet Archive; Jordan Rowland and the New York Public Library, via Unsplash; and Mikus, via Wikimedia Commons

School Is for Care

It can be a safe haven for our most vulnerable children.

By Jessica Grose

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