What does it take to fix education?
You heard me. Don’t believe it if a political figure says, “I’m going to fix education,” or if they call it “our broken educational system” it’s all the same. Well let me soften it a bit and say don’t believe them unless they give you a well constructed description of what is broken or needs fixing. Then you should insist on a well-constructed, real world, doable, unemotional solution. I know that sounds like a lot, so…
Start by defining the problem.
There are those who say: “Schools are failing our children. The educational system in America is broken.” Those are some really scary and yet very common sound bites. They are full of fear and anger but short on what they mean, and short on solutions. So, why would anyone say that?
Let’s be honest. Despite U.S. leadership in creativity in the world (such as high tech innovations, and entertainment), despite being an economic power house in the world, there are a lot of Americans who are woefully undereducated. A cruel person would say stupid but I’m not that cruel. So, one way our schools are letting us down – we’re putting a lot of people out on the street with diplomas and no ability to think or use facts.