At the Californians for Equal Rights (CFER) 3rd Annual Conference on August 11th, Lance Izumi, Ph.D., delivered a speech and introduced his new book, “The Great Classroom Collapse.” Through real personal experiences, he showcased the conflicts and transformations taking place in schools across the country.
Izumi expressed gratitude to CFER for awarding him the “Education Reform Award” and said, “We all believe in the principles of freedom, non-discrimination, and true equality, CFER brings us together to voice out, and I have also made many new friends.”
Dr. Izumi is the Senior Director at the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute and has published several works on education and documentaries; he serves on the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the largest higher education system in the U.S. Furthermore, he has been the chief speechwriter for the 35th Governor of California and the speechwriter for the U.S. Department of Justice under the Reagan administration. He has also served as a Lieutenant in the California State Military Reserve, received awards, and served twice as civil assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon.
“The Great Classroom Collapse” was released on Amazon in June and garnered a five-star rating. Izumi stated, “This is one of the most challenging yet crucial books I have ever written, identifying the reasons behind the sharp decline in students’ performance in California and nationwide.” He added, “National test scores have plummeted to the lowest levels in decades, and while it’s easy to attribute it to the COVID pandemic, the decline was ongoing even before that.”
Izumi aims to uncover the fundamental flaws causing the collapse in academic performance and school systems. He delved deep into grassroots interviews and identified three main factors affecting classroom education: the imposition of “social justice practices” driven by “equity,” which sidelines individual excellence, initiative, and performance; lowering standards; and the use of untested teaching methods in classrooms to deceive students.
Summarizing in the preface of his book, Izumi listed the causes of the classroom collapse, including prioritizing “fairness and social justice” over equal opportunities and meritocracy; lack of evidence-based teaching methods and curriculum; flawed teacher training programs; and continuing bureaucratic failures in educational plans. He believes, “In many parts of America, classroom learning has collapsed, but it can be improved to provide children with greater chances of succeeding in the future.”
“As a think tank member, presenting research findings and statistical data usually convinces people,” Izumi said. “However, in the current situation, the opposing side comes up with compelling stories that overshadow your research and all the data.” Therefore, he adopted a similar strategy, focusing on telling stories of parents, students, teachers, counselors, and others in his book. He stated that sharing personal stories can change people’s perspectives, especially if one happens to know the individuals.
Charlotte (pseudonym) attended a public high school in California where students were previously admitted based on their good grades through exams. However, the district deemed this unfair and switched to a random lottery system. When Charlotte spoke out against this unfair practice at a district meeting, she was attacked and accused of being a white supremacist due to her Asian heritage.
Charlotte described how the school used “fair grading” to lower the scores of high achievers and raise the scores of low achievers after weighting; teachers also provided extensions and multiple retests for low-scoring students. Due to varying student levels, teachers reduced teaching new content and instead repeated old lessons; algebra meant for 8th grade was pushed to 9th grade, replaced with social justice classes. She said, “The school doesn’t want excellence, everyone is at the same level to be politically safe.”
Izumi noted that this Marxist ideology can be seen in districts worldwide. How do you differentiate between “equality” and “equity”? He explained, “Equality gives people equal opportunities to achieve success through hard work, while equity ensures everyone gets the same results regardless of effort.”
A study by the University of Pittsburgh found that a disruptive student significantly increases the negative behavior of other students, leading to a domino effect that negatively impacts the grades of all students. Izumi said this is common knowledge, but schools now attribute negative events to racial oppression – stemming from a Marxist-style narrative, resulting in racial division.
“The equity agenda is being implemented in schools in many subtle ways,” Izumi said. A parent (whose child is in primary school in California) mentioned the “group learning” approach, where “one or two children do all the work in group learning, leading to ‘social loafing’ among the others. It sends out the wrong message that you can achieve the same results without putting in effort,” causing excellent students to resent collective learning. However, schools believe individual learning breeds competition, rewarding talented or hardworking students, making others feel like failures.
Taylor, a mother who immigrated from Africa to the U.S., likened the government’s education system to a massive money laundering scheme, costing taxpayers a high price. If schools receive more funding for every failure, it will only lead to more failures. She believes that changing the incentive mechanism for public education can transform the American education system. She also advocates for giving parents the right to choose education because competition can repair the public school system.