21ST CENTURY EDUCATION INITIATIVE
by Justme

Why do we have so many difficult problems in our education system? Why is improving our education system so hard? The answer is somewhat simple. Our society has changed. When I started school in the 1940's we did not have distractions as we do today. We did not even have television. Our teachers had the respect of our families and learning was their one job. Today the school system has a multitude of jobs and learning is not always the first priority. Our challenge is to get learning back to the first priority, and keep learning as the top priority.

Do we really think we can fix the current education problem with a few more dollars by hiring more teachers and repairing the school house? You get the same overworked professional in the same unacceptable environment. How many decades now have we been hearing the same drum beat … just spend more money on education …. No, hire more teachers … no … do both. This is the standard response from all kinds of people in various positions because they are/have been asked to provide a solution to a real crisis in education and no one has anything new or current that will work. Some are even suggesting we pay the students for each achievement. Some have proposed we provide individual instruction. That would be fantastic but where is the plan, what are the goals? Yes… vouchers and charter schools have not and will not work. Neither one is a real change. Both require a teacher to stand in front of a class of students in various abilities and suffering from “who cares…â€