Do Schools Secure Support Through Spectacle Rather Than Substance?

The enduring power of panem et circenses in shaping modern education’s priorities.

The Roman poet Juvenal captured the method by which rulers maintained public favor with the phrase panem et circenses, bread and circuses. He recognized that political authority endured when people were distracted from serious matters by food and entertainment. The same principle has become visible in modern education. Schools gain and maintain public support not through a reputation for academic excellence but through an abundance of extracurricular programs that capture attention, generate loyalty, and divert taxpayers from questioning the depth of actual learning. In this sense, educational institutions have adopted the strategy of bread and circuses by emphasizing spectacle over substance.

“Panem et circenses” describes the reality that many schools do not build their reputation through success in mathematics, analytical thinking, writing, or the evaluation of primary sources. Academic excellence remains difficult to measure, often slow to develop, and requires sustained investment. Instead, institutions cultivate public goodwill by expanding extracurricular programs such as athletics, music, theater, and clubs that appeal to broad audiences and are easy to advertise. These programs showcase visible results: a winning football team, a celebrated marching band, or a polished school play. Such activities provide entertainment for the community and satisfaction for parents who wish to see their children participate. As a result, schools secure praise not for intellectual rigor but for the vibrancy of their extracurricular offerings.

The expansion of these programs also diverts attention from structural weaknesses in academic preparation. A school may graduate students with limited proficiency in writing or problem-solving, but this reality receives less scrutiny when athletic teams perform well or when extracurricular achievements dominate local media coverage. Taxpayers, observing the spectacle, feel reassured that their investment produces visible returns. The annual parade of sports victories and cultural showcases sustains community pride, even as the essential mission of the cultivating of disciplined, knowledgeable, and critical thinkers receives less emphasis.

This strategy reflects a form of consumerism. Parents and students are treated as consumers of experiences, and schools respond by offering a menu of activities designed to satisfy demand. Extracurricular courses become a form of entertainment marketed as opportunity, ensuring that families perceive value in the institution regardless of academic outcomes. The pursuit of credits, often earned through participation in these programs, replaces the pursuit of knowledge and transferable skills. In this way, the educational system protects itself from criticism by ensuring that the most basic requirements of advancement are met while attention is redirected toward the more immediately gratifying arena of extracurricular spectacle.

The result is a cycle in which institutions maintain legitimacy through the satisfaction of entertainment rather than the cultivation of intellect. Taxpayers remain supportive when they see their communities represented on sports fields or stages, even as the deeper academic mission is overshadowed. The principle of bread and circuses ensures that questions about declining literacy, weakened critical thinking, or insufficient preparation for higher education are muted by the glow of extracurricular success.

In adopting this model, schools echo the ancient lesson that public approval is most easily secured through distraction. Extracurricular programs deliver the entertainment value that shields institutions from scrutiny and sustains funding. Until the focus of support shifts back to measurable academic achievement, the phrase panem et circenses will remain an accurate description of how modern education builds loyalty and diverts attention from its most essential responsibilities.