A Bolder Plan for REAL Change...

 

 

"When finding yourself in a ditch, it is best to stop driving in the same direction..."

"Quit yer bitchin'! Try to change what you can change, and what you can't change, learn to live with it. And guess what? At your pay grade, there ain't much you can change". So said one of my former CPOs. I believe his words were a nautical version of The Serenity Prayer. He was right however - it is time to quit belly aching and offer a way out.

What am I talking about? Our education system. The President, who ran for office as a "change agent", an "agent of change", has done NOTHING to fix this expensive, bloated, broken system. Our kids are being dumbed down, PC'd, and many graduate knowing nothing about civics, American history or math. They are however fluent in inclusion, diversity, bullying and the differences between G,L,B,T, and Q.

Here are some ideas for radical change:

• Dissolve the Department of Education - the monies which fund this waste of space would be sent back to the states on a proportionate basis.
• Extend the School Year - most school districts in the country have kids going to school between 180 and 185 days a year. The new school year would be three months on, one month off repeated two more times. With this formula, each district must have a minimum of 200 days of instruction.
• Quitting is not an Option - No more quitting school at age 16. As minors, kids have very few rights - in other words, not being the age of majority, they must do as they are told. The earliest they would be allowed to leave school is age 18. To leave any sooner not only disadvantages the student, but society as well.
• Extend the School Day - Getting out  of school at 2 in the afternoon is just plain wrong. Most of the afternoon is wasted. Start the school day at 8 and go until 4 for all grades.
• Extend the Number of Grades - First, let me get this off my chest. I am sick and tired of hearing the "Pre-K" crowd. If can be shown it is worth the time and effort, then offer it to everyone. Saying it is only for poor kids because they have more trouble learning is insulting. Either make it for everyone or no one. Our schools should be structured as follows: 1) K (or Pre-K) through 5th grade - Elementary School; 2) 6th through 9th grade - Middle School; 3) 10th through 14th grade - High School. That is right - school will have an additional two years. Some schools already have a version of this called PSEO (Post Secondary Education Opportunity).
• Funding -The funding to accomplish these changes will be obtained by 1) Monies received from the Federal Government due to closing of the Department of Education and 2) Massive consolidation of the states school districts.
• Teach a "World Class" Curriculum - No more "Mr. Nice Guy" on this one. Any class or instruction which does not yield a world class education for our kids to compete in the world economy will be eliminated. We will stop focusing on how kids feel and replace it with helping them learn. Teachers who are not up to the task of doing this will be immediately terminated and replaced with someone who can.
• No More Unions -  All employees of a school system will be "at will" employees just like most professions. History has proven that school unions have hurt much more than helped the learning process.

These are just some ideas for bold change in education. Every year we hear the same thing and get the same results. Money is not the answer - that has been proven over and over again. We can either fix it, or see another generation of Americans suffer under this broken system.