A century of public education: How are we doing?

The model for our public school system was factory training for the masses.  We wanted to train employees for industry so they could move out of farming and into a job requiring conformity and strict rules.  Schools were also designed for white males to best succeed in a competitive environment so they could go to college and be successful in professional work.  

How has that been going?  You might think, well, yeah, that's the way schools were first created, but they have changed now.  Really?  Have they changed?  During the 50's and 60's, we wanted to train society to be competitive in a free market so  we could beat other countries.  In the 70's and 80's, we said schools had to get back to the basics and we implemented standards and expectations for student success but the testing was on the acquisition of intellectual skills so white males were in a huge advantage and they continued to outscore everyone else.  After another thirty or more years we are still using the same type of tests to measure school success and guess what?  The scores on these tests have not changed for decades and decades.  The system works well for some students with white males having the biggest advantage, but for the rest of the population the system continues to keep them in their place and prepare them for taking orders in the work place.   

Has there really been any changes?  We think we are creating new educational opportunities and improving schools with multiple programs.  But we continue to do the same thing over and over but we expect different results.  That's often referred to as either stupidity or insanity.  Looking back at reading and math scores over the last half a century, the results are not changing.  We have not made any progress in improving student test scores after all these years.  Why?  Because we are doing the same thing and we expect different results.  Please stop this insanity and let's get rid of competitive testing and make schools a place for everyone to enhance their intellectual, social, emotional, and psychological growth and development.  

One century of our educational system and we hold on to a dead end.  I would say we are not doing well at all.