America's Education System

Few matters have a more long term effect than a civilization's education system. You can tell so much about what they value, what they think of themselves and their children, and whether or not they have the maturity and discipline to grow in the right way. Like many others, I am deeply concerned that after 200 years, we still put such a marginal investment as a society into the education of our children. There has never been a teacher in my familiy, so there is no hidden ax to grind - it is just one of those things that gets me worked up. I'm aware our education system has developed into a very complex problem - I just don't think it needs to be. If one were to expound on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs a bit - from the individual to a society, one could conclude that "survival" of the society depends upon an investment beyond a single generation. The question is simply "are we ready for the pain of surgery" in order to get cured.

Having served on a public school board for a while, I was fortunate enough to get a bird's eye view of the interactions between the various stakeholders in a given system: the county board of education, the school administrators, the faculty, the board, the parents and very ocassionally, the students. It was a big education indeed. If it would not have been viewed as depressing - it would have rivaled the Osbornes for a dysfunctional reality show. I am convinced that this particular group was on the "good" end of the scale - they really, truly cared - and there were a number of stars but the mechanism was so unstructured that I am unable to determine the threads that held it together. I have read about similar dysfunctional systems both local and across the nation. Hierarchy and control have developed such bad connotations. Skeptiscm, paranoia, and conspiracy theories have overgrown like a set of bad weeds. Short term self-interest at the cost of others is rationalized as 'that's just the way its done.' I could have even rationalized some of the painful behavior if it were being done for the long term health of the school - but it was often to serve a small, vocal few - who's heart may have truly been in the right place, but lacked true wisdom and courage to see the big picture.

There needs to be an ongoing contingent that works on long term solutions to big problems like this - where major, fundamental changes to the system are designed and deployed. Just a few big changes for consideration...

Teachers

• Structure teacher salaries based on the value they provide - i.e. are they as important as doctors, dentists, accountants, lawyers or any other professional service? If you pay poor wages, why would you expect to attract the cream of the society - the best and the brightest must be rewarded fairly.
• Replace the socialist pay scales of simple years of service/degree held with a performance based method - this outdated method works for simple apprentice/craft work - but teachers have a much longer term value.
• Vacations are important, but three months in the summer indicates the second class it holds in our society where we expect the luxuries of a video store that is open 365 days/year.
• Develop mechanisms for high quality substitute teachers to allow for continuing education and vacations for the core faculty.
• Put in the right metrics. No you can't choose your students - so test results are only one metric. But there has to be a set of measurable outcomes to which a teacher can be held accountable.
• Teachers should be prepared to lose a raise or a job if performance is inadequate. That may sound harsh - but isn't that what students learn? Isn't that how every other job is? Granted, this has to be done with the same common sense and discipline of any well run, professional organization.

Parents

• Create a set of appropriate boundaries for deep parent involvement - and hold them accountable. School is not a glorified babysitter where blame can be assigned from the sidelines. Yes, you CAN be held accountable for whether your child's homework is done
• Develop ancillary classes to support parents in their involvement - they need to be informed and prepared with a clear definition of success with crisp achievable milestones - just like the students. This will help stimulate an environment of learning and expecation of achievement at home.

Administrators etal.

• Eliminate the pervasive waste of time and paperwork that stimulates and fosters manipulation. Most people don't realize that if your child is sick, the school is not paid for that day (ADA or Average Daily Attendance). I struggle with who or how this helps. It would seem to be an outdated solution to eliminating fraud - let's come up with a better solution.
• "Practice what you preach" - We often hear about the ongoing love of learning and how important it is to instill in our children. Let's do this at the administrative level as well. The love of learning how to improve the ongoing operation of our schools; learning how to make them more efficient and effective; learning how to support the teachers in getting the right job done.

Public at large

• Let's go through some simple, but indisputable logic - at least to me it is indisputable. 1) nearly all violent crime is based on or significantly influenced by economic conditions. 2) nearly all economic conditions are based on or influenced by poor education. 3) the majority of instances of violent crime are committed by those without a high school diploma and/or a college degree. Can we draw a conclusion that if a complete generation (yes - every single person) of youth were fully educated at least through college - that violent crime and poverty would diminish and overall personal economic welfare would improve? I think so - but this will need to become important enough to the public at large and backed up by their whole-hearted commitment, before we could test it, or any modified version of it.
• Politicians must investigate why school bonds or sales tax hikes to support schools typically fail. Is it because they don't value education or because the public does not believe the schools will actually get the money? Few people realize that as big lotteries (a crime in and of themselves) allege to give some percentage to schools - that money is offset from the general fund. This means that if your school received $1000 from the lottery commission, it would recieve $1000 less from the state's public school fund - netting $0. Couldn't we just convince the public to take the money they paid to the lottery and just walk in and give it to the school to buy books? The prize? Instead of one individual becoming rich because of the ignorance of everyone else; everyone becomes richer because of the rising intellect of our youth.
• Why do we see smart, aggressive individuals raise millions of dollars for political campaigns which last only a few months, but we can't raise millions for classrooms that last decades?
• If you don't think the tax dollar is going in the right spot - speak up. Give a call to a member of congress, city council member, or county supervisor. If you don't know where your money is going - ask for a summary. If you don't understand something - make them explain it to you in terms you understand. Then if its not the way you think it should be write a letter - handwrite it if you have to. You may not get your way - but you can be certain you won't get your way if your voice isn't heard. If education is important to you, say so to someone that you think has the power to influence change. Even if you just want more of the dollar you are already paying to go to what's important to you - be it the fundamentals (reading, math, science) or the arts (music, art, languages) - let someone know your thoughts and feelings. It is a privilege that you must exercise if you care to cause a positive change.

I am confident that I could go on all night on this subject as it is something that I perceive as a silver bullet so to speak. Some real focus and commitment in this area can cause a number of very positive, long term outcomes with regard to matters close to the heart of all of us: better economics for all, less overall crime, improved science yields, enriched art/culture, more efficient government spending and generally a more self-sufficient society. The benefits would not happen overnight, even if the systemic changes happened overnight. But without the changes, the benefits might not ever occur.