America’s Achilles Heel
How disparities in education endanger our freedom and economic prosperity—and what to do about it
Why has the richest, most powerful nation in the world failed to substantively address its shortcomings in education? While gains have undoubtedly been made for low-income students and people of color in the United States over the past half century, deep divides remain. These gaps are more than troubling—they threaten our democracy. And they are getting worse. In America’s Achilles Heel, Dr. Ronald Crutcher, a nationally recognized leader in education, argues that persistent inequities and the failure to develop a capacity for civic engagement in all of its students have become the nation’s proverbial weak spot, leaving the United States vulnerable to a fatal fracturing of its democracy and disastrous economic instability.
With this book, Crutcher presents concrete steps toward achieving full access to quality education, at all levels, for low-income students and ensuring that institutions prepare their students to engage in effective democratic practices—an object in which we all have a stake. America’ Achilles Heel offers an antidote to the sense of hopelessness experienced by too many Americans today.
- Esther L. Jones, Brown University, author of Medicine and Ethics in Black Women’s Speculative FictionAn important contribution. Dr. Crutcher succinctly maps out the role of education in preparing students for participation in civil society, and highlights the essential value of equitable access. This is a book for anyone interested in the current state of our democracy and the role education plays in perfecting and improving it.
- Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, author of What We Value: Public Health, Social Justice, and Educating for DemocracyAmerica's Achilles Heel is a timely and compelling call to recognize educational inequity as one of the greatest threats to our democracy. Drawing on decades of experience as a higher education leader, Ronald Crutcher demonstrates why expanding access to quality education, strengthening civic learning, and fostering dialogue across differences are essential to America's future. At a moment of deep polarization, this hopeful and persuasive book offers a powerful vision for renewing both educational opportunity and democratic life.
- Tom Stritikus, President of Occidental College and Past Board Chair of the American Council on EducationDespite decades of concern and sustained efforts to close gaps in academic outcomes across racial and economic groups, profound inequities persist. Why do we continue to tolerate them as a society, and what are the consequences for the health of our democracy? These are among the urgent questions addressed by Ron Crutcher, one of the most thoughtful and important educational leaders of our time. America’s Achilles Heel challenges us to confront both the causes of educational inequity and the cost of our failure to overcome it.
Ronald A. Crutcher is President Emeritus and University Professor at the University of Richmond and the author of I Had No Idea You Were Black: Navigating Race on the Road to Leadership.
