Robin Brooks, a retired public school teacher, lives in Topsham.

My training as a visual artist taught me to step back and see the whole picture before judging its individual parts. That habit has shaped my perspective on public education. Schools do not exist apart from society; they reflect it. If we want to understand why students struggle today, we need to look beyond classrooms and consider the economic, technological and cultural forces shaping their young lives.

That is why I was so concerned to read the recent Maine Sunday Telegram op-ed by Scott Harrison headlined “Local control is holding education back in Maine” (June 21).

Harrison and his associates are part of a growing ecosystem of for-profit consultants who claim to know how to improve our schools while often overlooking the professionals best positioned to do that work — the teachers themselves.

Coincidentally, the New York Times recently published an opinion piece, “The No Child Left Behind nostalgia is delusional,” by Ross Wiener, who once championed standards-based reform. Wiener now argues for the opposite approach: more local control, not less. That shift reflects an important lesson learned over the past two decades. Standardization has not produced the transformation its advocates promised.

Today’s students are growing up amid climate instability, endless wars, excessive reliance on technology — especially smartphones and social media — widening income inequality, housing shortages, the rising cost of living and increasing job insecurity. These realities shape students’ lives every day, and they inevitably shape what happens in classrooms.

Ask almost any classroom teacher about another proposal for top-down reform, and they are likely to roll their eyes. For decades, public education has been the target of reform efforts dating back to the now widely criticized “A Nation at Risk” report in 1983. Since then, think tanks, advocacy groups, testing companies, consultants and charter school organizations have promoted wave after wave of reforms while diverting public resources away from neighborhood public schools.

Meanwhile, the promise that education alone guarantees economic security has become increasingly uncertain. College no longer assures graduates a stable career, student loan debt has risen dramatically and many young adults struggle to find work in their chosen fields. These economic realities inevitably affect students’ motivation and outlook long before they graduate.

What qualifies me to comment? I taught in public schools from 1979 until 2020, primarily in Maine. Although I am now retired, my husband continues to teach high school after more than 30 years in the classroom. Together, we have witnessed decades of reforms come and go, while the social challenges confronting students have only intensified.

Educating young people is a complex undertaking shaped by forces that extend well beyond school walls. If standardized teacher evaluations or other one-size-fits-all reforms were the solution, they would have produced lasting results by now.

As we continue this conversation, we should broaden it by listening to teachers alongside psychologists, social workers and demographers who study the social forces affecting children and families. The question is not simply how to reform schools, but how to strengthen the society in which schools exist.

Public education will improve not by blaming teachers, but by understanding — and addressing— the realities that students face every day. Schools are mirrors of the communities they serve. If we want better schools, we must also build a society in which children can thrive.