O problema da educação nas próximas eleições americanas

David Brooks escreve um artigo magistral - A critique of pure reason - na edição de hoje do International Herald Tribune [que me passa a fazer companhia três vezes por semana]. O artigo é restrito aos subscritores on-line mas deixo aqui algumas passagens:

(...) They [the creative candidates] will understand that schools filled with students who can't control their impulses, who can't focus their attention and who can't regulate tehir emotions will not succeed, no matter how many reforms are made by governors, superintendents or presidents. These candidates will emphasize that education is a cumulative process that begins at the dawn of life and builds early in life as children learn how to learn.

These candidates will point out that powerful social trends - the doubling of single-parent families over the past generation, the rise of divorce rates - mean that the government has to rethink its role. They'll note that if we want to have successful human capital policies, we have to get over the deifinition of education as something that takes place in schools between the months of September and June, and between the ages of 5 and 18 (...)

The question of course is, What can government do about any of this? The answer is that there are programs that do work to help young and stressed mothers establish healthier attachements. ..