Many words have entirely lost their impact. In the same way that Hollywood has desensitized people to death, “journalists" and advertisers have only continued to find words with more ‘oomph’ to catch the doom-scrolling eye. "BREAKING news! Archeologists have found the tomb of King Bigboy The Biggest!” Except that the discovery was eight years ago. “MAGA is in a CIVIL WAR over statements made by Redhat Bobby!” Except it’s not. A disagreement between people in a political party is not the same as a fight, and a fight isn't the same as a battle, and a battle is not the same as a campaign, and that is not the same as a civil war. Nor is news which came out five months ago, a year, or more “breaking news.”

In disregard of artistic or journalistic integrity given up for greed (ad-revenue), so called “journalists," (or honesty bad editors who think only in terms of ‘clicks’ and ad revenue) have been directly responsible for people skipping past real news, or even becoming angry, or happy at things reported on in the news which doesn’t deserve a reader’s hate, passion or otherwise joy.

Of course, there is also the mass introduction of A.I. language models like ChatGPT and Claude that, at their best conceivable moments, write with the same flair and prose as a college maths-enthusiast student. In conversations with other journalists and writers, we are very confident that we can spot people who secretly use A.I. to write for them because the language models are so generalized – and boring. It is like you are looking at a math problem rather than a dirge from a human soul, and a human experience. Since A.I. is a model which cannot dream of new things on its own and merely copies what is already out there, the more that humans rely on it, the less new language will be dreamt and written – and further yet the less it will have to learn from and the more muted, and droll English will become as it only then learns from itself.

To combat this future-now, there always comes the “give more funds to schools “ counterargument, which often follows when someone makes a case against any cultural negative. However, the whole point of this essay is actually to remark on the word “reform” as we use it in America, and as an example, I will use it in regard to education. As always, the definition of any word in English differs from source to source. Many websites that I’ve checked out whittle the word ‘reform’ down to ‘change’ in a sentence or less. Wikipedia, however, did not disappoint:

“Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc.”

The New York Times had an article: “When Reform Means a Process of Elimination,” by Beverly Gagem, which spoke to how there isn’t a good hard line between ‘reform’ and ‘revolution’. It is easy to suppose that to some, a simple reform could seem like a revolution, or that such a facet of a thing is so ingrained that reforming it would necessitate a total overhaul.

Too often are words juiced up to draw attention in media – and certainly in politics (see: “SAVE America Act!!” who wouldn’t want to save America?). People will talk about “reforming education” or even “overhauling” it, but has anything critical changed? Ah, except for children being unable to enjoy snow days, since school follows them on their time off via a tablet. I see we are continuing to train children to be ready for a world in which their work will follow them home and contact them on their phones whenever the boss feels like it.

For all the thirty-plus years of my life (eleven of those spent working with children), I have seen educators become somewhat more emotionally aware of a child’s needs, but beyond that, the same issues that have long been lamented in education still persist. The most fundamental of which is that classrooms still move at the pace of the slowest child. No matter how quickly a child learns, the class will be slowed to the pace of the child who struggles the most. This isn’t any elite or pompous stance, either: one child who is good at math may be terrible at English.

Mostly, education ‘reform’ in political terms seems to be trying to throw more tax dollars to expand a school and pay administrators mor– I mean teachers, and to buy tablets and such.

How would we stop children from using AI chatbots to finish their homework? (I currently work with ten-year-old girls who admit to shrugging off homework onto A.I. nightly). Would throwing more money at schools change that? Or slowing the pace of lessons for all students to accommodate one? Children are more sedentary and unhealthier than they’ve ever been in the United States. A study done by the Brookings Institution found that fewer than half of American high schools believe they are learning much each day. How about the poor quality of food? (I refuse to source data here. I have eaten this food recently.) How about the terrible behavior in classrooms? A survey by EducationWeek found that similarly, half of all teachers believed that child behavior was ‘a lot’ worse than the previous year, and EducationWeek also found that behavior was reported as worse each year since the pandemic.

Reform? That word is gouged and hollowed out. I’ve heard of “reforming” schools all of my life, with little to nothing to show for it.

“Reform” is a word like many others that has lost its meaning, like “BREAKING NEWS” and “Civil War” (recent examples which I see daily on news feeds). “Ukrainian Breakthrough!” (measured in the distance which a person could throw a baseball) or “Russians seize ten times more land today than yesterday!” (ten feet that day, one foot of land the day before).

Reforming education in any way less than a revolution of education is no reform at all, but a band-aid on a function of society which has been slowly dying for as long as I’ve experienced it and listened to adults around me bemoan the ugly state of things. I’d say let’s “revolutionize” schooling, but I think that word has been killed by over saturation and under (actual) utilization like the rest.

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.