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Fewer Americans place a high value on what have long been bedrocks of our nation: patriotism, religion and community involvement, according to a new poll from The Wall Street Journal and NORC at the University of Chicago.
For example, 38% of Americans consider patriotism “very important,” compared with 70% in 1998. Just 27% of Americans say community involvement is “very important,” down from 62% in 2019.
Additionally, most Americans are pessimistic about the state of our country: 80% describe the U.S. economy as “poor” or “not so good,” and 78% don’t feel confident that life for our children’s generation will be better than it’s been for us.
These troubling results underscore the anxieties many Americans feel, driven in part by growing political divisions and income disparities between lower- and higher-income households. Without hope for his or her future, why would someone feel invested in our country and its foundational values?
To shore up our democracy, I’m convinced the place to focus is boosting educational attainment levels and connecting people with well-paying jobs. In addition to the great work already happening across Indiana’s public, private and not-for-profit sectors to improve education and employment outcomes, we must intensify our efforts in three key areas.
First, we must address Indiana’s low K-12 educational attainment rates by helping students who are performing below grade level catch up to their peers. Recent national research identified tutoring as the key to closing learning gaps, noting: “There are no magic bullets in education, but tutoring comes as close to one as you get.” Successful tutoring is defined as daily instruction provided by well-trained tutors using proven curricula aligned with grade-level expectations. Students will rise to high expectations.
Second, we should help more high school students access higher education and training that develops the skills employers need. There’s no question we need to boost college enrollment and completion, but we also must offer alternative pathways to a successful future. Work-based learning initiatives like Ascend Indiana and EmployIndy’s Modern Apprenticeship program—which provides three-year, paid work-and-learn experiences starting in 11th grade that culminate in a high school diploma, college credits and an industry credential—are exciting new opportunities we should expand to thousands more students statewide.
Third, we must provide better guidance to students to help them navigate education and career pathways. Nationally, Indiana ranks last in such guidance, with a school counselor-to-student ratio of 1-to-694. Given persistent labor shortages, coupled with finite taxpayer dollars that necessarily limit the amount of new money Indiana can allocate to education, we need to fundamentally rethink the design of Indiana’s career and college guidance systems.
For example, what if a school district joined forces with neighboring districts and forged a counseling partnership that leveraged publicly funded assets like Ivy Tech Community College and Work One employment centers? Braiding different funding streams would expand the resource pie, enabling Indiana to provide more customized advising for students and adults. Additionally, connecting and aligning K-12, higher education and workforce development systems that currently provide counseling services independently might help unearth new sources of talent.
Americans’ belief in the importance of our nation’s defining values has sharply declined over the past 25 years. Indiana can do its part to help reverse this trend by boosting educational attainment levels and connecting people with well-paying jobs—thereby helping more Hoosiers achieve the American dream.•
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Fiddian-Green is president and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, whose mission is to advance the vitality of Indianapolis and the well-being of its people. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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