Making education a priority
Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful weekend!
Over the weekend, I was thinking about our fight for education reform (not that that comes as much of a surprise, I’m sure)- and I had to wonder where it “ranks” for most folks. As I see the political campaigns out doing their door-to-door walks, and watch one campaign commercial after another on tv- I hear about “transportation solutions” and “jobs,” but when it comes to education reforms, things seem to go quiet.
Okay, so I’ve seen plenty of political surveys- and I know that usually generic “education” ranks as a top priority for most voters. Sadly when it comes to “solutions” for education- too many politicians come up short.
Oh sure, we all hear their soundbites: “I’m FOR education.” (What does that even mean??) “I’m for increasing education funding.” (But can you show me where that funding will produce measurable results??) “I support our public schools.” (Gee, that’s great, but what about those public schools that aren’t working for all our kids?)
And what gets me even more is those politicians- like my neighbor- who simply stick the teachers’ union “endorsed” stickers to their yard signs. As if that is going to convince me they are really strong on education. If anything that tells me that they are going to put unions first, which too often means putting kids last.
Derrell Bradford, of E3 (Excellent Education for Everyone)- an awesome organization out of New Jersey working for ed reform- was on MSNBC last week and had a great line about “our schools are organized in ways that make adults happy, but are not serving our children…”
And sadly that seems all too true. But what is worse- why won’t anyone do anything about it?
Shouldn’t parents demand more from the educational system? Shouldn’t we demand more of politicians? They are quick to offer “solutions” for so many other areas of our lives (whether government has any business getting involved or not), but when it comes to our kids, why do so many of them seem more worried about appeasing the teachers’ unions than actually proposing real solutions that will help children to actually succeed?
In this article, Education – ‘the great equalizer’ from One News Now, Mr. Bradford explains:
“Every person has to make education a priority — every child, every parent,” he contends. “It is a serious thing, it is the thing, it is the great equalizer, and it is how we will fix much that ails this great nation.”
And we couldn’t agree more. And in making education a priority, we have to stop letting unions dictate what needs to be done to improve education. Parents need to recognize that the unions are in it to protect their membership- not stand up for children. Parents have to be the ones to stand up for their children and demand better.
He adds that at the same time leaders cannot tell children to take education seriously and then continue to send them to failing schools. Bradford believes that educational choice is key to success — and that with choice, children can get a superior education at a fraction of the cost the government is currently spending per child.
We can no longer sit back and allow politicians to feed us empty lines about “supporting education.” We can no longer allow solutions that do not put kids first. And bottom line- we can no longer accept education reforms that do not allow parental choice to be a part of the solution.
Comments
One Response to “Making education a priority”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Have you seen the new sequel to the film Two Million Minutes? I think you’ll like it. It gives a model – and solutions – for change.
You can read about it in today’s eSchool News at http://bit.ly/ctTy1 or view the trailer at http://2mminutes.com/