Stuck in the Middle With You

There is more and more evidence that our current educational efforts for our young are failing. The recent report of the results of math and science competition with the world is but the most recent. The drop out rate, the poor performance on end of grade tests, the number of parents home-schooling, and the impact of technology on the learning styles of the coming generation all are major factors in the discussion.

What is also more and more evident is that we are all stuck in the middle with old ideas. The Republican philosophy seems to be pushing for two different solutions. One is the return of neighborhood schools which would result, most likely, in the re-segregating the schools. Most neighborhoods that I see are single ethnic groupings. The other direction that the Republicans talk about is vouchers for parents. This would give parental choice to families but would result in leaving the public schools with the neglected and ignored children.

But the Democratic Leadership does not seem to have any new or better ideas or programs. They talk about pushing for excellence and for new approaches but they are politically tied historically to Teachers Unions which have resisted changes and especially resisted the demand for competency in teaching. They refuse to support or offer ways to evaluate teachers' performances. It is the duty of Unions to work for its members and so Teacher's Union are for protecting the teachers and their first focus is not the education of the student.

There seems to me to be a major need to re-examine the whole educational system. How can we get all of our children to the place of reading and basic math. We need the ability to say that all students will achieve a certain level of skill before moving forward. Nobody gets passed the third grade until they can read, write, and do math at that level. That means pulling out those that do not pass first grade standards at the first grade. It means holding back a second grade child until they can do second grade work. It means a lot of remedial and special attention in these early grades. It may mean that the population of elementary schools will shoot up wildly.

There is a need to develop more educational tracks besides Hard knocks and college. More service skills are needed. Not every child is college material nor wants to be college educated, but almost all work now requires some kind of education beyond high school. Most education needs cooperation of others. It is not apparent that we as a nation are getting our value from our investment in education. We need some people to find away to think outside of the limits of the Republicans and the Democrats and to think about how to prepare our youth for the new world they will be living in.