April 2013
| Business World Magazine | 299
In dollars doled out to schools, America spends more than any other of the leading econom-
ic superpowers, yet student scores in math or science routinely rank behind other countries
and gaps in skills contribute to millions of jobs going unfilled each year. Disappointing per-
formance outcomes have recently coalesced with budget shortfalls to prompt historic levels
of public school closings throughout the country with a lot of finger-pointing to appropriate
blame. Amidst public debates, there is equally contentious and questionable proposing of leg-
islation to correct course, but when all that combines with recent headlines of cheating scan-
dals, professional teaching deficiencies and incidents of violence, there is seeming veracity to
widespread assertions the education system is broken and in-need of repair. While easy fixes
are elusive, one means of correcting a wrong is to look to the example of what is right. In the
case of University School in Cleveland, Ohio, students are encountering a character-building
model and curriculum complemented by certain moments of truth that help lead to a lifetime
of success.
