The Hill News

In the most recent Gallup poll, 82 percent of Americans said they disapprove of the job Congress is doing. Still, in a separate poll a month earlier, 54 percent said they like their own congressperson and would vote to keep him or her in office. Clearly there is a disconnect between what Americans think of our nation broadly and what they think about what’s going on in their little sliver of it.

In my experience meeting parents around the country, the same phenomenon can be seen in education. If you ask most Americans how they feel about education in general, their view is very dim. They’re worried that students in countries like China and Japan are overtaking U.S. students. They worry about lagging test scores and about whether their children will even be prepared for a job, much less college, upon high school graduation.

But if you ask parents how they feel about their own child’s teacher, principal or school, their outlook is much more optim! istic. They may have quibbles, but their perspective is certainly not as dark as it is when talking about the U.S. education system in general.

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