How Education Can Cure America from Itself?

Michael Keany

School Leadership 2.0 | October 2026

Can America’s schools help reverse the selfishness, distrust, materialism, and institutional decline that threaten our democracy?

America’s Troubling Reflection

In his provocative September 26, 2026, New York Times essay, “The Four TV Shows That Explain America,” Stephen Marche argues that four celebrated television dramas—The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire, and Mad Men—anticipated the troubling direction of American society.

Although their stories differ, they share disturbing themes: unchecked ambition, institutional corruption, moral compromise, materialism, and the elevation of individual success above collective responsibility.

Marche suggests that these programs reveal something uncomfortable about America itself. We admire ruthless winners, tolerate dishonesty when it benefits us, and increasingly distrust the institutions intended to serve the public.

His analysis raises an important educational question:

If America has developed destructive cultural habits, can our schools help create a healthier society?

The answer is yes—but only if we reconsider what education is supposed to accomplish.

1. Teach Character, Not Simply Achievement

In Breaking Bad, Walter White gradually abandons his moral principles in pursuit of power and wealth. His transformation illustrates the dangers of intelligence without integrity.

American schools often reward achievement while giving insufficient attention to how success is obtained.

Grades, test scores, college admissions, and career earnings dominate conversations about educational excellence.

But what good is producing brilliant graduates who lack compassion, honesty, or responsibility?

Schools must deliberately cultivate ethical reasoning.

Students should regularly examine moral dilemmas, discuss competing obligations, and consider the consequences of their decisions.

Character education cannot be reduced to inspirational posters. It must become part of everyday instruction, relationships, and leadership.

2. Restore Faith in Institutions

The Wire portrays institutions—schools, government, law enforcement, and journalism—that repeatedly fail the communities they serve.

Its message is especially relevant to education.

Students learn about institutions not merely through textbooks but through their daily experiences with schools.

When rules are arbitrary, discipline is inconsistent, or adults disregard student concerns, young people learn that institutions cannot be trusted.

Conversely, schools that demonstrate fairness, transparency, accountability, and respect teach democracy through experience.

The National Academy of Education’s 2021 report, Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse, emphasizes that democratic citizenship requires reasoning, dialogue, empathy, and engagement with different perspectives.

Schools should become living demonstrations of the democratic principles they teach.

3. Challenge Materialism and Redefine Success

Mad Men depicts a society in which advertising manufactures desires and commercial success frequently substitutes for genuine happiness.

How different is today’s America?

Children encounter relentless messages equating personal worth with wealth, popularity, appearance, and possessions.

Social media intensifies these pressures.

Schools can offer a powerful countermessage.

Imagine asking graduating seniors not simply, “Where are you going to college?” but also:

“What problems do you hope to solve?”

“How will you contribute to your community?”

“What kind of person do you intend to become?”

Service learning, community partnerships, and authentic problem-solving can help students discover meaning beyond personal advancement.

4. Teach Students to Recognize Manipulation

The Sopranos challenges viewers by making a deeply unethical character strangely sympathetic.

It reminds us how easily charisma, familiarity, and emotional identification can interfere with moral judgment.

Today’s students face similar challenges when navigating political messaging, advertising, influencers, and algorithm-driven information.

Schools must teach students to distinguish evidence from persuasion, recognize misinformation, examine bias, and question appealing narratives.

Research on civic online reasoning by McGrew and colleagues (2022) found that curriculum-based instruction significantly improved students’ ability to evaluate online information.

Critical thinking is no longer simply an academic skill. It is essential preparation for responsible citizenship.

5. Make Democracy a Daily Experience

Perhaps America’s greatest educational challenge is teaching young people to disagree without becoming enemies.

Political polarization increasingly encourages citizens to regard opponents as threats rather than fellow Americans.

Schools can interrupt this pattern.

Students should practice discussing controversial questions, listening carefully, supporting claims with evidence, and respectfully challenging opposing viewpoints.

Research from Tufts University’s CIRCLE (2023) emphasizes the importance of equitable civic learning, media literacy, and democratic school environments in preparing young people for civic participation.

Student councils, classroom deliberations, peer mediation, and collaborative community projects provide practical opportunities to develop these abilities.

The Leadership Challenge

None of these reforms requires abandoning academic excellence.

Indeed, literacy, historical understanding, scientific reasoning, and mathematical competence remain essential foundations of informed citizenship.

But academic achievement alone cannot sustain a healthy democracy.

Principals must ask whether their schools are producing merely successful individuals or responsible members of a shared society.

That distinction should influence curriculum, school culture, discipline, extracurricular programs, and leadership decisions.

Schools cannot independently repair economic inequality, political dysfunction, or every cultural failing.

Nevertheless, they remain among America’s most powerful institutions for shaping future generations.

The ultimate purpose of education is not simply to prepare young people to succeed in the America they inherit. It is to prepare them to create an America better than the one we leave behind.

References

Original inspiration

Marche, S. (2026, September 26). The Four TV Shows That Explain America. The New York Times.

Three additional references

1. Lee, C. D., White, G., & Dong, D. (Eds.). (2021). Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse. National Academy of Education. https://doi.org/10.31094/2021/2
2. McGrew, S., et al. (2022). Civic Online Reasoning Across the Curriculum: Developing and Testing the Efficacy of Digital Literacy Lessons. Stanford Digital Repository. https://doi.org/10.25740/dd707pp9195
3. Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). (2023, March 3). Equitable Civic Learning for All: How K–12 Schools Can Grow Voters. Tufts University.

The three additional references support the article’s discussion of civic education, digital literacy, and democratic participation. 

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Prepared with the assistance of AI software OpenAI. (2026). ChatGPT (5.2) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com