What is the Real Question in Education?

What problem are we trying to solve here?

I hate to go all Clauswitz here, but

The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish . . . the kind of war on which they are embarking.♠

And so it is with education.  What we are today trying to achieve has come about without serious discussion and a lot of assumptions.  Things have been added and things have been taken away, with the consumers, us citizens, believing we are doing the same thing we were doing too years ago.

The future of our nation, and of its economy, is dependent on the education we are providing to children today.  As I noted previously, people are getting hired during this "Great Recession".  The problem is, it is people with the skills and work habits that are in demand.  A lot of those people are foreign born.  I don't see any recognition of this, and I don't see any solutions being proposed.

In this particular case, cited by Professor Ann Althouse, in Madison, Wisconsin, I think it is about creating a strong (Black) middle class:

Caire views the school as a key step toward building a stronger black middle class in Madison....

An underdeveloped black middle class in Madison means fewer positive role models for youth, Caire said, which partly explains why the city has disproportionately lower graduation rates and higher incarceration rates among minorities.

If that is the issue, then perhaps the current paradigm is broken.  If the current paradigm is broken, it must be thrown to the floor, so it breaks into many pieces.  Then we can pick out the good pieces and sweep up the rest and throw it in the trash.

Doing more of the same in the area of education makes little sense.  Throwing more money at the same solution also makes no sense.

Am I wrong here?

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  My source for this quote is this web site, which cites former National War College Professor Lani Kass as the source for this selection from Carl von Clauswitz.